Tom Woiwode

Biography

Dr. Thomas F. Woiwode, also known as Tom, Ph.D., has been Managing Director of Versant Venture Management, LLC. since 2014. Dr. Woiwode focuses on seed stage investments in the United States and Europe at Versant Ventures. He has been with Versant Venture Management, LLC. since 2002 and served as its Associate since November 2002. He served as Acting President of Euro Ventures 4, Inc. He was Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, Inc. since 2008 and served as its Principal. At Versant Ventures, he has served in a number of operating roles in a number of portfolio companies and has helped build its biotech practice in Europe. At Versant, Dr. Woiwode wrote the business plan and negotiated the license agreements that led to the formation of Synosia. He joined Versant from XenoPort, Inc. He was a Medicinal Chemist and Research Scientist at XenoPort, inc. He served as the Chief Operating Officer at Okairos AG from September 14, 2011 to 2013. Dr. Woiwode led the process that culminated in the sale of Okairos to GlaxoSmithKline plc for $325M. Prior to his role with Okairos, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Euro Ventures, Inc., which he co-founded. He served as the Chief Business Officer, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy and Vice President of Finance and Business Development at Biotie Therapies AG. He served as Vice President of Finance and Business Development at Synosis Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Woiwode served as Chief Business Officer and Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Synosia Therapeutics, Inc. He served as Chief Business Officer at Flexion Development Partners, Inc. and Flexion Therapeutics, Inc. He served as Head of Corporate Development at Flexion Therapeutics, Inc. He served as an Acting Chief Business Officer/Chief Business Officer at Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He serves as the Chairman and Director at TherAchon SAS. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of Vividion Therapeutics, Inc. and Jecure Therapeutics, Inc. He has been a Director of Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. since May 11, 2016. He serves as a Director of Kanyos Bio, Inc. He serves as a Director of Anokion SA, Euro Ventures 4, Inc., Gritstone Oncology Inc., Sentient Therapeutics, AAVLife and Inception IBD. He has been an Independent Director at CRISPR Therapeutics AG since April 2014. Dr. Woiwode served on the Boards of Antipodean Pharmaceuticals, Metabolex Inc. and Saegis Pharmaceuticals. He served as an Independent Director of Audentes Therapeutics, Inc. from July 18, 2013 to July 12, 2017. He earned Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry as a NSF fellow at Stanford University. Dr. Woiwode graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English and received the Departmental Citation for his BS in Chemistry from University of California, Berkeley.

Research Interest

 seed stage investments