Board of Directors

Robert P. Badavas was appointed Chairman of the Board in May 2019 and has served as a director on our Board since March 2006. He is a private investor and, currently serves as President of Petros Ventures, Inc., a management and advisory services company, from 2009 to 2011 and since 2016. Mr. Badavas retired in August 2016 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PlumChoice, a venture-backed technology, software and services company (since December 2011). Mr. Badavas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of TAC Worldwide from 2005 through 2009, and was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TAC Worldwide from 2003 to 2005. Prior to joining TAC Worldwide, Mr. Badavas was Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Venture, an international venture capital firm, from 2001 to 2003. In addition, Mr. Badavas serves on the board of directors of Polyvinyl Films, Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of food-grade film products for consumer, retail and food-service markets worldwide, since 2019. In addition to being a certified public accountant with nine years of experience at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an independent registered public accounting firm, and the chief financial officer of a publicly traded company, Mr. Badavas has completed a program that studied strategies to make corporate boards more effective at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Badavas is active in board of director organizations and regularly attends professional seminars addressing issues of current import to boards of directors. Mr. Badavas is a graduate of Bentley University with a BS in Accounting and Finance.

Scott Bluestein was named chief executive officer and president, and appointed to the board of directors and in July 2019. He was appointed chief investment officer in 2014, and continues to serve in that role today. He joined Hercules in 2010 as chief credit officer and brings more than 22 years of financial services, direct investment and credit experience to Hercules. Before joining Hercules, he served as founder and partner of Century Tree Capital Management, a fund established to make senior secured debt investments with warrants and equity co-investments in small and micro cap public and private companies. Prior to that, he was managing director at Laurus - Valens Capital Management, where he had responsibility for a structured debt with equity investment portfolio, including new investments, portfolio management, and restructurings. Previously, Bluestein worked at UBS Investment Bank, where he was a member of the Financial Technology Coverage Group. Bluestein received his B.B.A. in Finance from Emory University.

DeAnne Aguirre was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in June 2022.  Ms. Aguirre is an experienced corporate executive and Board Director with more than 30 years in senior leadership managing large and complex domestic and international business units. Ms. Aguirre currently serves as a member of the board of directors and Audit Committee of Cisive, a global technology-enabled compliance solutions company, and as a member of the board of directors and Nominating/Governance Committee of EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading global provider of software product development and digital platform engineering services. She retired in 2020 from PricewaterhouseCoopers as Managing Partner (CEO equivalent) of the North America Strategy Business, where she was accountable for one-half of the global strategy business across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, including business development, profitability, talent and operations. From 1991 to 2015, Ms. Aguirre held positions at Booz & Co./Booz Allen Hamilton from Technology Leader to Global Co-leader, Organization & Strategic Leadership Business. At Booz Allen Hamilton, she led the Southern Cone (Brazil, Argentina and Chile) Technology business and was elected by her partners to the global board of directors, on which she served for nine years. During her board tenure, she was the chair of the audit and compensation committees. Ms. Aguirre received her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, with emphasis in Computer Science, from Fort Hays State University and her Master of Science in Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Ms. Crowell was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in February 2019. Ms. Crowell serves on several public and private boards of directors and is a highly experienced technology operating executive with extensive experience in both industry leading venture and private equity-backed companies. She formerly served as Senior Operating Consultant at Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm focused on growth investing, as a Member of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group from 2002 to 2019. Prior to Warburg Pincus, Ms. Crowell held executive roles at leading software companies, including Oracle Corporation, E.piphany, RightPoint Software, View Star, Mosaix, Recognition International, DSC and Cubix Corporation. She currently serves as a board member of Envestnet, Inc. (ENV), Pliant Therapeutics (PLRX), GTreasury and Instinct Science. Ms. Crowell received her BS in Education from the University of Nevada at Reno.

Thomas Fallon was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in 2014. Since 2022, Mr. Fallon serves as the Executive Vice President - Business Development at Sanmina Corporation.  Mr. Fallon formally served as chief executive officer of Infinera Corporation, a publicly traded optical telecommunications company, from 2010 to 2020 and has been a member of its board since 2009. From 2006 to June 2009, Mr. Fallon served as Infinera’s chief operating officer. Prior to that, he served as vice president of engineering and operations at Infinera. Before joining Infinera, Mr. Fallon served as vice president, corporate quality and development operations for Cisco Systems. Inc., a networking and telecommunications company. He joined Cisco Systems in 2001 as a general manager of its Optical Transport Business Unit in 2001. Mr. Fallon holds a BS in mechanical engineering and MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently a member of the Engineering Advisory Board of the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Loo was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in July 2021. Mr. Loo is a retired audit partner of KPMG. He has more than 40 years of business experience in finance, audit and strategy, business transformation and corporate development, both domestically and internationally. His clients ranged from financial services companies to energy companies to technology companies in both hardware and software. Mr. Loo currently serves as the Chair of the Board and past Audit Committee Chair for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Company. He also has served as Chair of the Board at JobTrain, a non-profit providing professional services and education in the Silicon Valley, and Audit Committee Chair at both Guidance Software and Kofax. Mr. Loo received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business.

Pam Randhawa was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in 2021. Ms. Randhawa has over 20 years of business leadership experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries and brings to Hercules a wide range of expertise ranging from policy, corporate strategy, product development, advanced analytics and marketing for Fortune 500 companies, startups and government entities. Since 2013, she has served as Chief Executive Officer and Founder at Empiriko Corporation, a company that has developed a novel in vitro biomimetic platform to accelerate small molecule drug development and is developing a point-of-care diagnostic platform for personalized immunologic/genetic biomarker and drug monitoring. Prior to founding Empiriko, Ms. Randhawa was President and Co-Founder of AgroGreen Biofuels, an alternative biofuels technology company. She has held several executive positions with major healthcare technology companies, including McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK), Phase Forward (acquired by Oracle), InfoMedics and Sermo. Ms. Randhawa currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Biotech Technology Council (MassBio). Ms. Randhawa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Rajasthan and her Master in Public Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Nikos Theodosopoulos was appointed to the Hercules’ board of directors in 2023.  Since August 2012, Mr. Theodosopoulos has served as an independent director, advisor, consultant, and angel investor in the technology industry. From August 1995 through July 2012, he has served in various capacities with UBS, a provider of financial services, most recently as managing director of technology equity research. From April 1994 to August 1995, he served as senior equity research analyst for Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm that was acquired in 2008 by JPMorgan Chase. From September 1985 to April 1994, Mr. Theodosopoulos served in various capacities at AT&T Bell Laboratories and AT&T Network Systems, a provider of communications equipment. He also serves on the board of directors of Adtran Holdings, Inc., a leading global provider of networking and communications equipment. Mr. Theodosopoulos holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from NYU Stern School of Business.