Acucela

Dr. Kubota, a world-renowned ophthalmologist who has performed over 1,000 eye surgeries, founded Acucela in 2002 and serves as the company’s president and CEO.

Dr. Kubota spent his early career performing ocular research at Keio University, where he earned his M.D. and Ph.D. In the course of his work there, he discovered the glaucoma gene, myocilin, a discovery that earned him the Suda Award for his contribution to the field of neurodegenerative retinal disease. Dr. Kubota continued his research at the University of Washington and later licensed his findings from the university as the core technology on which Acucela was formed.

Dr. Kubota practiced ophthalmology in Japan for 10 years before moving back to Washington to become an assistant professor at the University of Washington. He then founded Acucela to have a global impact through the development of novel and safe therapies for patients with blinding eye diseases.

Dr. Kubota is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Japanese Ophthalmological Society, Keio Medical Society, and is a board member of the Japan-America Society of the State of Washington. In 2009, Dr. Kubota was named one of Seattle Business Magazine’s Top 25 Innovators & Entrepreneurs in Washington State. In August 2011, he was named one of the most inspiring people in the life sciences industry by PharmaVOICE and in October 2011 he was selected as one of the Nikkei Business 100, Nikkei Business Magazine’s inaugural list of the most influential people to Japan’s future. Dr. Kubota was also nominated as one of the Emerging Pharmaceutical Industry Leaders in 2010 by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine. The Emerging Leaders program recognizes professional accomplishments among the next generation of executives. Candidates for this award are age 45 or younger and display a track record of leadership in managing projects, operations, or people in private sector companies with a mission to develop and deliver medicines to patients.

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Mr. Kitao began his career at Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., where for more than two decades he was mainly engaged in the investment banking business. In 1995, he joined Softbank Corporation as Executive Vice President and CFO. He is CEO of several SBI group companies, including SBI Investment Co., Ltd., SBI Mortgage Co., Ltd., SBI VeriTrans Co., Ltd. and Morningstar Japan K.K. He also serves as Chairman of SBI E*TRADE Securities Co., Ltd. Mr. Kitao earned degrees in economics from Keio University and Cambridge University.

Mr. Kresel has had a distinguished, 40-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on regulatory affairs. Most recently, he was the Senior Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs at Allergan, where he facilitated the movement of new products through various regulatory agencies. This included such extremely successful products such as BOTOX, Alphagan and Lumigan, as well as products with difficult regulatory profiles, such as tazarotene. Prior to joining Allergan, he was the Director of Worldwide Regulatory Affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mr. Sato is a partner in the Life Sciences and Corporate practice groups of the law firm Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. Mr. Sato rejoined the Palo Alto, Calif. offices of Cooley Godward Kronish in 2006. Prior to rejoining the firm, Mr. Sato was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Protein Design Labs, Inc. and CFO and General Counsel at Exelixis, Inc. from the fall of 1999. Throughout his career, he has served in various legal, financial, operational and strategic planning positions at PDL, Exelixis and NeXT Computer, Inc. He began his career as an attorney at Cooley Godward Kronish in Palo Alto and Jones, Day in Washington, D.C. Mr. Sato received his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his B.S. degree from Wesleyan University