Team Members

ZOHAR LOSHITZER

Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Zohar Loshitzer is the Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer effective May 1, 2019. Zohar Loshitzer has served as a director of the Company since February 2014. He served as a director of Presbia Holdings from May 2007 until its liquidation in 2015. He served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from February 2014 to October 2014, served as the Company’s President from February 2014 to January 2015, served as the Company’s President from February 2014 to January 2015, served as the Company’s Chief Business Development Officer from January 2015 to September 2015, and has also provided management consulting services to the Company. Since 2016, Mr. Loshitzer has served as principal at OCV. Since January 2005, Mr. Loshitzer has served as a principal at Orchard Capital. OCV and Orchard Capital are majority owned by Richard Ressler (one of our directors and the beneficial owner of the majority of the ordinary shares of our Company), where he supports the portfolio companies of Orchard Capital by designing operational efficiencies and cost reductions, and he has served since August 2000 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Telecom Services, Inc., a provider of telecommunications services and solutions to emerging markets. He has served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy of j2 Global since June 2001 and from July 1997 through June 2001 he served as the Chief Information Officer at j2 Global. Mr. Loshitzer was the founder and President of MTP Consulting, Inc., a business consulting firm, from January 2011 to August 2013, and he was the founder and President of Imali, Inc., another business consulting firm, from January 2007 to December 2010. Since 1995, he has been a Managing Director at Orchard Telecom, a provider of telecommunications products. He previously served as a consultant to MAI Systems Corporation, a provider of information technology solutions, and as a General Manager and Managing Director at Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc., a provider of security services for the elderly, which Mr. Loshitzer co-founded. He was a director of the publicly-traded OCATA Therapeutics (formerly Advanced Cell Technology Inc.) from December 2011 to February 2016, when the company was sold to a Japanese private company. He was also a director of publicly-traded Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc. from January 2011 to December 2015. He graduated from Tel Aviv ORT Yad Singalovsky with a degree in Electronics Engineering.

Mark Yung

Member of Board

Mark Yung was a Co-Founder and Managing Principal of OCV Management, LLC (“OCV”), an investor, owner and operator of technology and life science companies based in Los Angeles. Previously, Mr. Yung was a Managing Director at Orchard Capital Corp., a firm he joined in 2006. Through his affiliation with OCV and Orchard Capital, Mr. Yung has and continues to serve in various senior capacities including, among others, as Chairman and CEO of Presbia, as Executive Chairman of the board of directors of Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc., a clean technology company focused on the reduction of diesel emissions, as Chief Financial Officer and director of Polymer Plainfield Holdings, Inc., an OEM automotive supplier with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, as Chairman of the Board of Vantage Surgical Systems, Inc., and as director and/or officer of Coreolis Holdings and Tradewinds Holdings.  Prior to joining Orchard Capital Corp., Mr. Yung was a Senior Vice President in the Corporate Strategy and Merger and Acquisitions groups of Citigroup in New York and ABN AMRO in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Prior to his corporate strategy roles, Mr. Yung was an investment professional at JPMorgan Partners (“JPMP”). At JPMP, Mr. Yung focused on venture capital, growth equity and buyout transactions in Latin America and served as board member for various emerging companies in the region. Mr. Yung began his career in 1996 at Chase Securities, Inc., focusing on leveraged finance for cross-border buyouts and privatizations.  Mr. Yung is a Director of PacWest Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ “PACW”).  Mr. Yung holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an MBA from INSEAD.

GERD U. AUFFARTH, M.D., Ph.D., F.E.B.O.

MEMBER OF THE BOARD

Dr. Gerd U. Auffarth joined the Presbia Board of Directors in August 2015.  Dr. Auffarth is the Chairman and Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Germany.  Dr. Auffarth is also the Director of the International Vision Correction Research Centre (IVCRC) and The David J. Apple International Laboratory for Ophthalmic Pathology.  Additionally he is the CEO of the Steinbeis Technology Transfer Research Company IVCRS (Steinbeis SU, Inc.)

His core research focuses on cornea, corneal surgery, presbyopia, cataracts and intraocular lens implants.  Dr. Auffarth’s expertise includes IOL’s, multi-focal IOL’s, refractive laser technologies and presbyopia surgery.  He is considered a pioneer in Femtosecond laser surgery.  In an article published by The Ophthalmologist Dr. Auffarth was ranked among the top 20 ophthalmologists in the world.

Dr. Auffarth possesses a depth of experience in ophthalmic surgical procedures having performed more than 40,000 cataract, refractive or presbyopic lens exchange, Femtosecond laser procedures or related surgeries.  He was Principle Investigator in numerous Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CE-Mark approval GCP studies.  Dr. Auffarth is widely-published in close to 200 peer reviewed papers and more than 300 articles in book chapters and trade journals as well as giving more than 150 Keynote lectures.

Dr. Auffarth received his M.D. degree from RWTH Aachen Medical School, Aachen University of Technology, Germany, and his Ph.D. in Ocular Pathology of the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg.   He was a Senior Research Fellow with a Stipend from the Max Kade Foundation, New York, at the Center for Ocular Therapeutic and Biodevices at the Storm Eye Institute, Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC, Charleston, SC under David J. Apple, M.D.

Dr. Auffarth is Emeritus Board Member of the European Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgeons and is currently President of the German Society for IOL Implantation and Refractive Surgery and Board Member of the German Ophthalmology Society.

RICHARD RESSLER

Member of the Board

Mr. Ressler is the founder and President of Orchard Capital Corp. (“Orchard Capital”), a firm through which Mr. Ressler oversees companies in which Orchard Capital or its affiliates invest. Through his affiliation with Orchard Capital, Mr. Ressler serves in various senior capacities with, among others, CIM Group, LLC (together with its controlled affiliates, “CIM”), a vertically-integrated owner and operator of real assets, Orchard First Source Asset Management (together with its controlled affiliates, “OFSAM”), a full-service provider of capital and leveraged  finance solutions to U.S. corporations, and OCV Management, LLC (“OCV”), an investor, owner and operator of  technology companies.  Mr. Ressler also serves as a board member for various public and private companies in which Orchard Capital or its affiliates invest, including as chairman of j2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQ “JCOM”), director of Presbia PLC (NASDAQ “LENS”), and chairman of CIM Commercial Trust Corporation (NASDAQ “CMCT”).  Mr. Ressler served as Chairman and CEO of JCOM from 1997 to 2000 and, through an agreement with Orchard Capital, currently serves as its non-executive Chairman. Mr. Ressler has served as a director of LENS since January 2015 and as chairman of CMCT since 2014.

Mr. Ressler co-founded CIM in 1994 and, through an agreement with Orchard Capital, chairs its executive, investment, allocation and asset management committees and serves on its credit committee.  CIM Investment Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of CIM, is registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as a registered investment adviser.

Mr. Ressler co-founded the predecessor of OFSAM in 2001 and, through an agreement with Orchard Capital, chairs its executive committee.  OFS Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of OFSAM, is registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission as a registered investment adviser.

Mr. Ressler co-founded OCV in 2016 and, through an agreement with Orchard Capital, chairs its executive committee.  OCV is a relying adviser of OFS Capital Management, LLC.

Prior to founding Orchard Capital, from 1988 until 1994, Mr. Ressler served as Vice Chairman of Brooke Group Limited, the predecessor of Vector Group, Ltd. (NYSE “VGR”) and served in various executive capacities at VGR and its subsidiaries.  Prior to VGR, Mr. Ressler was with Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., where he focused on merger and acquisition transactions and the financing needs of middle-market companies.  Mr. Ressler began his career in 1983 with Cravath, Swaine and Moore, working on public offerings, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions. Mr. Ressler holds a B.A. from Brown University, and J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Columbia University.

Robert J. Cresci

Member of the Board

Mr. Cresci has served as a director of Presbia PLC since March 2015. He has been a managing director of Pecks Management Partners Ltd., an investment management firm, since 1990. He currently serves on the boards of j2 Global, Inc., Luminex Corporation, OFS Capital Corporation, CIM Commercial Trust Corporation, and several private companies. Mr. Cresci previously served on the board of Continucare Corporation until 2011 and the board of Sepracor, Inc. until 2009. By virtue of his time with Pecks Management Partners and the other business entities mentioned, Mr. Cresci brings to our board of directors his broad expertise and experience in accounting issues, and public company matters.

Mr. Cresci holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a M.B.A. in Finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Gerald Farrell, Ph.D

Member of the Board

Dr. Gerald Farrell joined the Presbia Board of Directors in January 2016. Dr. Farrell has been involved the pharmaceutical industry for more than 25 years, and worked for Eli Lilly Company Limited in Ireland and the United Kingdom for the majority of his successful career. Dr. Farrell’s tenure at Eli Lilly included positions of Managing Director, leading the commercial sales and marketing in Ireland where he launched several major products in Europe; Director Strategy, Commercial and Business in the UK accountable for long-term strategic planning and business operations as well as other positions related to compliance, production, sales, and planning.

Dr. Farrell earned a Ph.D. Plant Biotechnology from University College, Cork, and a BSc Honours – Plant Science and Higher Diploma Education with Honours from University College, Galway. Dr. Farrell serves on the Board for UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, serves as a director, and previously served as president, for Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, and serves as a council member for the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. Previously, from 2003 until 2014, Dr. Farrell served as a director of Eli Lilly and Company (Ireland) Ltd.

ZOHAR LOSHITZER

Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

Zohar Loshitzer is the Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer effective May 1, 2019. Zohar Loshitzer has served as a director of the Company since February 2014. He served as a director of Presbia Holdings from May 2007 until its liquidation in 2015. He served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from February 2014 to October 2014, served as the Company’s President from February 2014 to January 2015, served as the Company’s President from February 2014 to January 2015, served as the Company’s Chief Business Development Officer from January 2015 to September 2015, and has also provided management consulting services to the Company. Since 2016, Mr. Loshitzer has served as principal at OCV. Since January 2005, Mr. Loshitzer has served as a principal at Orchard Capital. OCV and Orchard Capital are majority owned by Richard Ressler (one of our directors and the beneficial owner of the majority of the ordinary shares of our Company), where he supports the portfolio companies of Orchard Capital by designing operational efficiencies and cost reductions, and he has served since August 2000 as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Telecom Services, Inc., a provider of telecommunications services and solutions to emerging markets. He has served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy of j2 Global since June 2001 and from July 1997 through June 2001 he served as the Chief Information Officer at j2 Global. Mr. Loshitzer was the founder and President of MTP Consulting, Inc., a business consulting firm, from January 2011 to August 2013, and he was the founder and President of Imali, Inc., another business consulting firm, from January 2007 to December 2010. Since 1995, he has been a Managing Director at Orchard Telecom, a provider of telecommunications products. He previously served as a consultant to MAI Systems Corporation, a provider of information technology solutions, and as a General Manager and Managing Director at Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc., a provider of security services for the elderly, which Mr. Loshitzer co-founded. He was a director of the publicly-traded OCATA Therapeutics (formerly Advanced Cell Technology Inc.) from December 2011 to February 2016, when the company was sold to a Japanese private company. He was also a director of publicly-traded Environmental Solutions Worldwide, Inc. from January 2011 to December 2015. He graduated from Tel Aviv ORT Yad Singalovsky with a degree in Electronics Engineering.

PROF. IOANNIS PALLIKARIS, M.D.

Chair, Medical Advisory Board

Presbia Medical Advisory Board Chair Prof. Ioannis Pallikaris, M.D. enjoys a long and distinguished career in ophthalmology as a procedural innovator, surgery pioneer and educator. Prof. Pallikaris is probably best known as the refractive surgeon who performed the first Lasik procedure on a human eye in 1989.

In his role with Presbia, Prof. Pallikaris is overseeing the post-market surveillance trials of the Presbia Flexivue Microlens™ and conducting training sessions for surgeons at the institute he founded and directs, the Vardinoyannion Eye Institute of Crete. Dr. Pallikaris is a professor and rector at the University of Crete, and serves as the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital, Heraklion, Crete.

His professional career is notable for multiple innovations, including the description and naming of a new surface ablation technique, epiLasik, in 2003. Prof. Pallikaris also holds multiple patents, including anti-rigidity devices and techniques such as the PALM technique (photoablative lenticular modulation) for corneal resurfacing.

A past president of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS), he also coordinates the organization’s fellowships in refractive surgery, as well as interdisciplinary postgraduate program conferences with top American and European doctors and institutions. The author of several books and countless journal articles on refractive surgery, Prof. Pallikaris has also received numerous awards for his contributions to the science and practice of ophthalmology. His honors and recognition include the Barraquer Award (1997); the Innovator’s Award of the German Opthamological Surgeon’s Society and the Casebeer Award from the International Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (2002); the Charles D. Kelman Innovator’s award (2003). In 2007, he was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and in 2009 was the recipient of the Binkhorst Medal by the European Society of Cataract and refractive Surgeons.

KERRY K. ASSIL, M.D.

Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Kerry K. Assil, founder and medical director of the Assil Eye Institute in Southern California, is one of the world’s foremost experts in refractive surgery. He has made significant advances in the field with numerous refractive inventions and has trained thousands of eye surgeons in the latest refractive surgical techniques.

Dr. Assil has authored more than 100 textbooks, textbook chapters and articles on refractive surgery. He has served as editor and reviewer of multiple scientific journals, and appears regularly on television news programs as an authority on refractive surgery. Since 1990, Dr. Assil has invented or pioneered numerous refractive procedures.

In addition, he has lead educational forums for eye care professionals, including featured lectureships at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Tokyo Universities.

In 1992, the International Society of Refractive Surgery honored Dr. Assil by naming him the youngest member to its board of directors. He holds a medical degree from the University of California at San Diego.

MARK S. BLUMENKRANZ, M.D., MMS

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Dr. Mark S. Blumenkranz has served as a director of Presbia Holdings since October 2013 and is a director of Presbia PLC. He is the H.J. Smead Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University, where he has served since January 1998. He is the founding director of the Byers Eye Institute, a nationally-recognized eye care center dedicated to combating blindness and preserving sight.

Dr. Blumenkranz is a founder and director of several privately-held early stage companies in the ophthalmic field. He was a founder and director of Peak Surgical, Inc., an innovator in pulsed plasma mediated electrosurgery that was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. in 2011. In 2004, he co-founded Optimedica Corporation, which was acquired by Abbott Medical Optics, Inc. in 2013. Dr. Blumenkranz co-founded, and has served as a director since July 2006 of, Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc., which company has been publicly traded since August 2014.

He received his Baccalaureate, Master of Medical Science, and M.D. degrees at Brown University, followed by a Residency in Ophthalmology at Stanford University and a fellowship in vitreoretinal diseases at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami, where he served on the faculty for five years.

Dr. Blumenkranz is a past-President of the American University Professors of Ophthalmology, Retina Society and Macula Society, and a Fellow of the Corporation of Brown University, where he serves as chairman of the Medical School Committee.

DR. MARCO FANTOZZI, M.D.

Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Marco Fantozzi, of Pescia, Italy, is an experienced, Presbia-certified ophthalmologic surgeon who has performed more than 10,000 refractive operations throughout his distinguished career. He is best known for performing the first refractive procedures using the femtosecond laser as well as the first procedures for keratoconus in Tuscany. He was also a member of the surgical team at the Ophthalmological Department of Prato Hospital that performed the world’s first corneal transplant using only a laser and no suturing.

In addition to his groundbreaking work in cataract and refractive surgery, Dr. Fantozzi has a cadre of other accomplishments in the field. He is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a published author with articles appearing in international ophthalmology and medical trade publications, and has worked with non-profit humanitarian organizations, such as Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International.

He began his career in ophthalmology as an intern at the Ophthalmology Clinic at the University of California-San Diego. From 1992 to 1999, Dr. Fantozzi served as an assistant in the Department of Ophthalmology at A.Segni in Orzieri Sassari, Italy. Dr. Fantozzi has also served as a Medical Director of the Ophthalmology Department at Camaiore Hospital in Lucca, Italy and as a Professor of Refractive Surgery and Corneal Transplant at the Rome campus of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. He is currently the Director of Clinica Oculistica Barbantini in Lucca.

Dr. Fantozzi received his medical degree, followed by a specialization in ophthalmology, from the University of Pisa.

MICHAEL GORDON, M.D.

Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Michael Gordon, founder of the Gordon Schanzlin New Vision Institute, San Diego, is recognized as a preeminent authority in the field of refractive surgery. Over the last two decades, he has been involved in every aspect of the discipline, performing thousands of LASIK procedures, making him one of the most experienced laser refractive surgeons in the world.

Dr. Gordon was the first surgeon to perform an all-laser High Definition Wavefront-guided laser procedure in 2003, and in 1989 pioneered the use of the Summit excimer laser to correct nearsightedness. He lectured and taught Summit laser techniques worldwide and was the only surgeon involved in all phases of clinical investigation for the Summit laser in the United States, prior and up to its approval.

A founding board member of the International LASIK Institute, Dr. Gordon has taught laser vision correction to ophthalmologists internationally, and has published and presented multiple papers at medical conferences worldwide. He is a recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Achievement Award for his years of distinguishing service.

Dr. Gordon holds a medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine, and pursued undergraduate studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

RONALD KRUEGER, M.D.

Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Ronald R. Krueger, Medical Director of Refractive Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute in Ohio, is a renowned ophthalmologic surgeon with more than 26 years of experience in the field of refractive surgery, specifically in excimer laser research.

Dr. Krueger has performed over 18,000 refractive surgery procedures and has published more than 114 peer-reviewed manuscripts, as well as numerous abstracts, book chapters and trade journal articles. He is also credited with documenting the first physical descriptions of the effects of the excimer lasers on corneal tissue.

Dr. Krueger currently serves as Professor of Ophthalmology at the Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He was a former Secretary of Education and board member of the International Society of Refractive Surgery prior to its merger with the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and now serves in both the executive committee and as the program committee chair of the new ISRS/AAO. In addition, Dr. Krueger has served as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Refractive Surgery for over 15 years, and has lectured on refractive surgery in more than 40 countries.

Dr. Krueger was named one of the Top Fifty Opinion Leaders by the readers of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today in 2005 and 2006, and he has also been appointed to the U.S. Physician’s Advisory Board. In addition, he has received numerous awards, including the National Leadership Award, Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors award in 2005 and 2010, the 2007 Kritzinger Memorial Award of the ISRS/AAO and the 2008 Lans Distinguished Award of the ISRS/AAO.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Rutgers University in New Jersey, his Master of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, and his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.