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Harvard Law School, J.D.
cum laude
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Brown University, B.A.
with distinction
- Florida
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Rhode Island
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American Bar Association, Business Law Section
- Florida Institute for Commercialization of Public Research, Inc., Advisory Board Member
- Enterprise Development Corporation of South Florida, Director and Past Chair
- Florida Bar Association, Business Law Section
- Florida Venture Forum, Inc., Director and Past Chair
- Florida Research Consortium, Board Member
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Jon has over 40 years of experience with venture capital, leveraged acquisitions, and emerging technology companies, particularly in software, information technology, telecom, biotech and life sciences and clean technology. He is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences on entrepreneurial venture finance, the venture capital industry and the life sciences capital markets and related transaction structures, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions.
Notable Experience
- Jon has represented several start-up companies which have outlicensed some intellectual property from The Scripps Research Institute, through its new campus in Palm Beach County, Florida.
- Jon often counsels early-stage and start-up enterprises and management teams, as well as VC fund investors, on organization, structure, equity incentive planning and financing strategies as well as capitalization structures in fields as varied as new drug development, cloud computing, storage and infrastructure, machine-to-machine (M2M) database information collection, communication and analysis; Web social networks, user generated content and other consumer facing web publishers; environmental monitoring services; alarm and reporting enterprise software for monitoring healthcare and other commercial enterprises.
- Jon is regularly involved in the representation of both Angel investors and institutional venture capital funds in investment transactions as well as single purpose and institutional fund formation matters.
- Jon and a team of colleagues represented an executive group in the $250 Million-plus equity capitalization of a start-up company that has concluded a high 9-figure acquisition transaction of an existing portfolio of proprietary therapeutic products.
- Jon was hired to represent a small publicly-traded multi-faceted optics company through turn-around strategy in connection with an equity infusion from a private equity group. Over a period of 15 months, he supervised a team handling the sale and restructuring of multiple operating units, a refinancing of debt and the ultimate 10-figure sale to a global optical network company.
Jon has nearly 40 years of experience with venture capital, leveraged acquisitions, and emerging technology companies, particularly in optical networks, and biotech and life sciences. He is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences on entrepreneurial venture finance, the venture capital industry and the life sciences capital markets and related transaction structures, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. Notable Experience: - Jon has recently represented a start-up company, financed by an experienced early stage biotech investor, which has outlicensed some intellectual property from The Scripps Research Institute, through its new campus in Palm Beach County, Florida.
- Jon often counsels early-stage and start-up enterprises and management teams, as well as VC fund investors, on organization, structure, equity incentive planning and financing strategies as well as capitalization structures in fields as varied as new drug development, wireless broadband access; pharmaceutical therapeutics and diagnostics; alarm and reporting enterprise software for healthcare monitoring; wireless transmission; and electronic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for vision impairment.
- Jon is regularly involved in the representation of both Angel investors and professional venture capital funds in investment transactions as well as single purpose and institutional fund formation matters.
- Jon and a team of colleagues represented an executive group in the $250 Million-plus equity capitalization of a start-up company that has concluded a high 9-figure acquisition transaction of an existing portfolio of proprietary therapeutic products.
- Jon was hired to represent a small publicly-traded multi-faceted optics company through turn-around strategy in connection with an equity infusion from a private equity group. Over a period of 15 months, he supervised a team handling the sale and restructuring of multiple operating units, a refinancing of debt and the ultimate 10-figure sale to a global optical network company.
Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications
Jon is often asked to speak at various conferences and seminars on a variety of private equity and venture capital related topics including life science investing; early stage investments, venture finance and IP-based start-ups, structuring and valuation considerations in VC investments, and capital raising and compensation planning for Biotech executives.
Jon and partner Les Croland co-authored the article "Scripps Is Catalyst for Florida's Life Sciences Industry" which appeared in the Venture Capital Journal.
In 2002, Jon's article, "Down Rounds - To Succeed You Must Survive," was published in London in Venture Capital 2002 (Euromoney Institutional Investor) and in the United States in The Journal of BioLaw & Business. In addition, Jon's article entitled "Structuring Venture Capital Investments" has been published in Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital Sources for seven consecutive years.
Jon's recent speaking engagements include:
- "Fund Formation Issues in Latin America," speaker, 2010 Americas Venture Capital Conference - Latin America: The New Mainstream, Miami, FL, December 2011.
- Early-Stage Venture Investing: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check!, panelist, Coral Gables, FL, February 25, 2010.
- "The Role of Directors in Venture-Backed Companies", panelist, National Association of Corporate Directors program, Miami, FL, May, 2008.
- "Value Creation in Venture Investing; The Realities", panel presentation, Thunderbird School of Management Global Private Equity Conference, Phoenix, AZ, April, 2008.
- "Valuations in Recovering," panel moderator, Florida Venture Capital Conference, Naples, FL, February 2012.
- "Convergence: Private Equity meets the Hedge Fund", panel presentation, Thunderbird School of Management Global Private Equity Conference, Phoenix, AZ, March, 2007.
- "Advising Start Ups and Entrepreneurs," panel moderator, AeA Venture Conference, Roswell, GA, March 2005.
Before Edwards Wildman
Jon is a "lifer" at the Firm, having joined the Providence office immediately after his graduation from Harvard Law School in 1971. He has been deeply involved in the Firm's strategy and expansion, serving nearly 20 years on the Firm's management committee, founding the Firm's Palm Beach office in 1981 and the Ft. Lauderdale office in 2001 and organizing and leading the Firm's Private Equity Practice Group for over a decade until 2002.
Besides Edwards Wildman
Jon is a Director and Founder of New World Angels, Inc., a Florida-focused angel investment group, as well as a member of a Limited Partner Advisory Board of an established venture capital fund.
Jon has been active in a number of charitable and civic organizations over the years. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Town of Palm Beach United Way (where he has served as Vice Chair, Treasurer and Campaign Chair) and the Paragon Foundation of Palm Beach County, Inc., ( http://www.paragonpbc.org/index.html), a non-profit fund created to invest in minority-owned enterprises in Palm Beach County. When not enjoying time with his grandchildren, Jon devotes his energy to golf, Asian/Latin fusion cooking and fly-fishing. He has also raised a French Brittany puppy, Lily, to be a first-class upland bird dog.
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