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Marty Sutter is one of the two founding managing directors of Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, one of the oldest and largest life sciences/healthcare focused venture capital firms with nearly $3 billion under management. Educated in chemical engineering and finance, he has more than 30 years of management experience in operations, marketing, finance and venture capital.

In 1984, Sutter founded and managed The Woodlands Venture Capital Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitchell Energy & Development Corporation, and in 1988, he formed The Woodlands Venture Partners, an independent venture capital partnership. During his tenure with both organizations, he founded a number of successful healthcare companies originating from various institutions of the world renowned Texas Medical Center. Sutter merged his venture practice with Essex Venture Partners, founded by James Currie, to form Essex Woodlands Health Ventures in 1994.

Sutter has been directly involved with more than 30 of Essex Woodlands portfolio investments, and has served on numerous Boards of Directors of public and private companies including recent portfolio companies ATS Medical (acquired by Medtronic), BioForm Medical (acquired by Merz GmbH), Lifecell (acquired by Kinetic Concepts), St. Francis Medical (acquired by Kyphon [Medtronic]), Confluent Surgical (acquired by Tyco [Covidien]) and Rinat Neurosciences (acquired by Pfizer).

Sutter currently serves on the Board of Directors of Abiomed, Inc. (NASDAQ: ABMD), Prolacta Biosceience and TissueTech, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Houston.