Heru Makes Appointments to Its Executive Leadership Team
Heru announced several key executive appointments across its leadership team and board of directors designed to strengthen the company’s commercial operation and support its next phase of growth.
Fred Drasner has been appointed as Heru’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Drasner is currently the Chairman of Three Seasons Capital, a venture capital firm, and has been at the helm of numerous company portfolio exits. Mr. Drasner acquired both U.S. News & World Report where he served as CEO, and the New York Daily News where he served as CEO, and co-publisher. He was also the CEO and chairman of Applied Graphics Technologies, and chairman of the Vehicle Production Group.
Joining Heru’s Board of Directors is Ron Williams, who is the former Chairman, President, and CEO of Aetna Inc., and serves on the Board of Directors of American Express and Boeing. In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Williams to the President’s Management Advisory Board (PMAB), which was established to provide the President and Federal Government recommendations based on insights from the private and non-profit sectors on management and operations.
Chris Dewey has also joined Heru’s board. Mr. Dewey has decades of financial services experience that began at the high yield bond desk at Bear Sterns. He went on to become a founding board member and angel investor in Mako Surgical which was acquired by Stryker for $1.65 billion.
“The addition of Ron Williams and Chris Dewey to our board, with Fred Drasner as Chairman, complements Heru’s existing board structure,” said Mohamed Abou Shousha, MD, PhD, founder, and CEO of Heru. “Their vast experience in corporate development, finance, communications and public health strategy, will provide valuable perspectives aimed at enhancing value for Heru stakeholders.”
Heru is also expanding commercial operations in the U.S. and abroad with the appointment of Terrell (Terry) Herring as Chief Commercial Officer, and the promotion of Corey Nielson to Chief Business Development Officer.
Mr. Herring will lead Heru’s commercial team leveraging his decades of experience in building high-performance sales operations to oversee the company’s global commercialization and customer relationship initiatives. Mr. Herring joins Heru from Synergistix where he served as Chief Commercial Officer.
Mr. Nielson, who previously held the role of Heru’s Chief Customer Officer, will lead the company’s global expansion with key strategic accounts.
“With the appointments of Fred, Ron, Chris, Terry and Corey, our leadership team is strengthened. They are titans of business and bring unique blends of experience, skill, and industry perspective. I am eager to see how their influence unfolds as we continue to revolutionize vision care and begin developing new therapeutic applications for personalized augmented vision correction,” said Dr. Abou Shousha.