Dan Gladney was a first-time CEO when he assumed the helm of Acist Medical Systems, a Twin Cities med-tech company, in 1996. During his first board meetings, he paraded Acist’s vice presidents past the directors to report on the goings-on in their respective departments. It wasn’t long before Norman Dann, an advisor to the Acist board, took the rookie CEO aside and explained that as the young company matured, he needed to ease up on the company-level status reports and start engaging the board in more strategy-level discussions.
“Norm said the board should spend time on the significant issues that are taking place in that company that could prevent us from taking it to the next level,” Gladney recalls. “And that forced me, as a CEO, to rethink, ‘How should I be using my time? What are the really important issues?’
“Say, for example, we can’t seem to get XYZ product through a very significant testing program because the product’s not working. And as a result, that’s going to slow down our applications to the [Food and Drug Administration], and we’ll need more cash for testing. That’s a big issue; it’s an issue you want to share with the board and be prepared to explore.”
When Gladney moved on to cofound Heart Leaflet Technologies in 2002, he asked Dann to join the company’s board. “There is just no wasted time with Norm,” says Gladney, whose Maple Grove firm has developed a minimally invasive treatment for damaged heart valves. “He’s very specific, very direct. Any good CEO is going to appreciate that.”
After earning a degree in industrial engineering from Penn State University, Dann started a company that provided medical-equipment service and support for universities regionally. “I held on for about three years, but unfortunately, I didn’t understand anything about how to finance an operation like that,” he recalls. “I tried to borrow money, but they told me I was unbankable. Plus, I was going with a young lady at the time who turned out to be my wife, and it was tough living on $25 a week.”
By 1980, Dann was vice president of sales and marketing and senior vice president of development at Twin Cities med-tech giant Medtronic. He then cofounded Pathfinder Venture Capital Funds, which helped shepherd dozens of medical device start-ups from launch to exit. “I did a count one time of the number of companies I’ve been involved with, and the number exceeds 50,” says Dann, who was with Pathfinder from 1980 to 1995.
Today, Dann, 80, sits on four boards besides that of Heart Leaflet Technologies. He’s also an advisor to the board of a Florida-based firm called Bioheart, which has devised cell therapies for treating heart failure. “This company has gone through about $50 million, and we’re still in clinical trials,” says Dann, who notes that Bioheart is positioning itself to go public. “That’s one of the problems with this business—it costs a lot of dough, and it’s a long time to market.” (Heart Leaflet Technologies has raised roughly $17 million, Gladney says, though an FDA-approved product is five years away.)
As a director, Dann loves working with start-ups: “You’re thinking about broad concepts, which I find extremely stimulating.”
