A highly visible and respected venture capitalist, particularly for his leadership in life sciences investing, Sam Colella co-founded Versant Ventures following 20 years of successful operational roles in high technology industries and more than 17 years with Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). Mr. Colella joined IVP as a general partner in 1984 and launched the firm's Life Science Group in 1985, the first such focused group within a venture capital firm in the industry.

With investments focused in medical devices, biotechnology and e-Health companies, Mr. Colella is credited with an extensive list of successful public life science companies, including Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Vivus, Pharmacopoeia, CV Therapeutics, Symyx Technologies, Aviron, Tularik and Argonaut Technologies. He is currently a director of Argonaut, Symyx, DoubleTwist, Thermage Inc., Fluidigm, Genomic Health Inc., BenefitPoint, Collabrys, SurroMed and MedPool, and is Chairman of Syrrx Inc.

Prior to IVP, he was president of a New York Stock Exchange company and held a variety of functional positions in a broad array of diverse businesses, including president of Spectra-Physics, the world's leading laser supplier, and senior manager of the Technical Products Division of Corning Glass.

His professional affiliations include a term as an officer in the National Venture Capital Association, the Western Association of Venture Capitalists and the American Entrepreneurs for Economic Growth.

Mr. Colella has a B.S. in Business and Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.