I have made the decision to step aside as CEO of our remarkable company. This decision comes at a time when I must prioritize a pressing family health issue that demands my full attention and care. I will remain at Openwater both as Chairman of the board and an active team member. 

 

In stepping aside, I also recognize a fundamental truth about leadership and growth. As we stand on the cusp of scaling our company to new heights, it is evident that my strengths lie in the vision and innovation that brought us to where we stand today, rather than in the operational and strategic expansion that will propel us into tomorrow. It is with this understanding that I announce we have initiated a search with Park Square for a new CEO, someone with the unique blend of skills, experience, and vision necessary to guide our company through its next phase of growth.

 

This is no ordinary leadership opportunity. We are at the forefront of a revolution in healthcare, with recent funding of $54 million fueling our journey forward, this in addition to the previous $50 million we have raised over the past 7 years from tier 1 investors.  Our technology is nothing short of extraordinary, promising to redefine treatment paradigms across aggressive cancers, mental diseases, and cardiovascular disorders. Through innovative use of infrared light, ultrasound, and electromagnetics, coupled with advanced silicon chip architectures, we are pioneering treatments that offer new hope where traditional methods have fallen short.

 

Our approach has not only shown clinical promise but has also reimagined the path to regulatory approval. We have streamlined the approval process, reducing costs and timeframes by orders of magnitude. Our open-source philosophy further accelerates this progress, fostering trust and collaboration that speeds innovation.

 

Many wonder how a company committed to open-source can be profitable. Let's address this directly. Our business model transforms our research and development into an asset that's "free as in speech," not "free as in beer." This means while our innovative blueprints are openly shared, the true challenge lies not in crafting a few prototypes but in achieving mass production at the quality standards required for FDA approval, specifically under ISO 13485.

 

Our solution? Openwater produces versatile chips capable of novel modulation of infrared light, ultrasound, and electromagnetics on a large scale, leveraging the manufacturing prowess of the same facilities that produce consumer electronics and puts these chips into a highly software reconfigurable device. This strategy allows us to manufacture high-quality, low-cost chips and devices swiftly, facilitating simultaneous clinical trials. These chips are configured with flexible software and AI, leading to pan-disease cost-effective and faster trials.  Through shared data on safety and adverse events across various diseases, we reduce clinical trial costs and durations by threefold in near term and and in time more than tenfold is in reach.

 

Our ISO 13485 certification ensures our exclusive market position upon the receipt of regulatory approvals.  It’s in reach for our customers to secure novel therapeutic medical device approvals in under three years with and under $10M total investment  — dramatically less than the $522 million average capitalized cost and 13-year timeline typical of the industry — we both revolutionize the development process and ensure a sustainable, profitable business model.

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Mary Lou Jepsen

Founder, CEO & Chairman of Openwater

March 17th 2024

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Job Description -  Openwater Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Search

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The new Chief Executive Officer of Openwater will report to the Board of Directors and work collaboratively with Dr. Jepsen, the leadership team, and the Board to develop actionable business strategies, objectives, and plans aligned with short and long-term goals. The CEO will oversee all company operations while building a highly inclusive culture to ensure team members thrive. This individual must be a creative, open-minded thinker who embraces Openwater’s novel business model as a for-profit, open source, hard-tech, hardware/software/healthtech organization, and at the same time brings a crisp focus and drive towards execution. At a high level, this person will establish the company’s short- and long-term plans, and then will develop actionable strategies to guide the team to successfully execute those objectives. The Chief Executive Officer will transcend disciplinary boundaries across hardware, software, and healthcare to formulate and implement organizational policies and procedures that prime the company for outsized growth and efficiency. This person will be expected to operate out of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco.

 

 

What we are looking for:

 

In terms of professional background, we seek an entrepreneurial leader who is committed to open-source medical devices and driving transformative healthcare initiatives at scale. However, professional experience in healthcare or life sciences is not required – what is most important is that this individual has had experience delivering highly sophisticated and novel product solutions to the marketplace at scale

 

This individual must bring deep experience in translating complex technologies and programs for example in hard tech hardware and software, artificial intelligence, open source, and or/healthcare components and devices into fully formed, commercially scaled products. 

 

Further, this individual must have energy and acumen in building enthusiastic, multi-disciplinary teams. It is critical that the Chief Executive Officer have a demonstrable track record in guiding an organization through rapid scale-up and the successful attainment of technical, corporate, and commercial milestones. This individual should have a history of leading successful fundraising efforts for later-stage technology and/or medical ventures, coupled with the ability to motivate, organize, and engage employees of diverse expertise. We are seeking an individual who is familiar and comfortable operating in high-growth, fast-paced environments.  

 

The Chief Executive Officer should have broad functional expertise across engineering (hardware and software), operations, product development, and ideally will be well-versed in managing corporate functions: finance, HR, legal, etc.. The Chief Executive Officer should also have a proven track record in forging creative partnerships, leveraging extensive networks, and executing deals while employing analytical acumen to navigate business directions. So, the Chief Executive Officer must demonstrate the ability to simultaneously provide long-term strategic direction for the organization, execute at a tactical level, and effectively function as the lead corporate spokesperson and evangelist for the company. This individual will also have an established reputation and visibility in technology or medical communities.

 

At a personal level, the position requires heightened intelligence, mature business judgment, decisiveness, an elevated work ethic, personal warmth, and rich imagination. This individual must possess well-developed leadership skills in order to motivate and retain high-quality individuals while inspiring hyper-achievement across the organization. Paramount to success in the role is executive seasoning, forcefulness of personality, and other strong charismatic qualities that will enable him/her to lead effectively. 

 

From an educational perspective, it is likely that this individual will have achieved an advanced degree in a business or technical discipline. Education, while important as an indicator of character, intellectual ability, and achievement, will be subordinate to personal qualities and professional accomplishments as variables in the selection process.

 

This position is based in San Francisco, California. Apply with a cover letter and resume sent to CEO-candidate@openwater.cc

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