Allan Will is a seasoned executive with extensive experience at every stage of the medtech company life cycle. In his 30+ years in the industry, he has founded, led, built, sold, and funded numerous medical device companies, creating more than $2 billion in shareholder value. He currently serves as executive chairman of the board of EBR Systems and chairs the boards of Fractyl Labs and Setpoint Medical.
While his accomplishments and contributions to the healthcare field are vast, what gets him going each morning is people—he believes the ability to help patients and entrepreneurs be successful is a privilege and that few careers are more impactful on society and more rewarding to individuals than medtech.
With a remarkable record of building strong teams and leaders, Allan has spent the last 30+ years of his career as CEO of various Bay Area venture-backed startups. He also has founded or co-founded 11 companies including The Foundry, Evalve, Concentric Medical and Ardian. The companies he has led, founded or chaired have
He added another element to his extensive experience in the field by joining St Paul Venture Capital and subsequently founding Split Rock Partners.
His entrepreneurial passion began as CEO of Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI), a startup that he grew from 16 to more than 600 employees. This is where he first worked with Dr. Tom Fogarty, who sat on the DVI board; a partnership that continued as Allan spearheaded one of Dr Fogarty’s companies, AneurRx.
An inventor on more than 30 issued patents, Allan believes his work at Fogarty Innovation is critical as it allows him to seed the future of medtech with promising entrepreneurs, while honoring his friend and mentor, Dr. Fogarty. He subscribes to the philosophy of “Give a man a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach them to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime,” which he feels aligns well with the organization’s philosophy.
A University of Maryland Distinguished Alumnus and recipient of the ASTIA/Deloitte Excellence in Mentoring Women Executives Award, he has served on the MIT Entrepreneurship Center Shareholders’ Board and the University of Maryland President’s Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Maryland and his master’s degree in management from MIT.