Dave Marver

Dave Marver is an accomplished chief executive and director with more than 25 years of international experience across public, private, and emerging companies, combining expertise in medical technology, consumer technology, wearables, and health monitoring. He holds a BA in Psychology from Duke University and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has been an advisor to the World Bank's International Finance Group, a member of Duke University's Health Sector Advisory Council, a director of the Health Industry Distributors Association, and a guest lecturer at the Duke, UCLA, and University of Washington business schools.

Marver spent nearly 15 years at Medtronic in a range of global leadership positions, including VP of Marketing for the Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) business in the US and Europe, VP of Sales for the Cardiac Surgery business, and VP of Strategy for the Diabetes business, along with roles in business development. He then joined NASDAQ-listed Cardiac Science Corporation — a ~600-employee company that was #2 in the world in automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and #1 in the US in cardiology diagnostic equipment — first as Chief Operating Officer and then, effective March 31, 2009, as President and CEO. Cardiac Science was later acquired by Opto Circuits.

After Cardiac Science, Marver co-founded and led VICIS, a Seattle sports-technology startup spun out of the University of Washington that built the ZERO1 high-tech football helmet designed to mitigate concussion-causing impacts. As founder, CEO, and board chair, he raised roughly $90M and the company produced two TIME Magazine "Inventions of the Year." He stepped down as CEO in 2019.

In July 2020, Marver was appointed CEO of GTX Medical, which subsequently rebranded as ONWARD Medical N.V. and completed a public listing (Euronext Amsterdam in 2021, adding a Nasdaq listing). ONWARD develops breakthrough neurostimulation therapies (its ARC platform) to restore movement, independence, and health in people with spinal cord injury. Across his career he has also served on the boards of several medtech companies that reached exits, including Cirtec Medical Systems (acquired by 3i Group), JointMetrix Medical (acquired by Zimmer), PreciSense A/S (acquired by Medtronic), and Precision Wire Components (acquired by Riverside Partners).

• Invests and advises primarily at the seed / early stage, drawing on an operator's lens as a former Fortune-500 medtech executive and multi-time founder.
• Sector focus centers on his lifelong domain: medical devices, neurotech, digital health, wearables and health-monitoring, and sports/consumer technology — areas where hardware, regulation, and clinical evidence intersect.
• Track record suggests he backs and joins science- and IP-driven ventures, often university spinouts (VICIS out of UW; ONWARD out of EPFL/NeuroRestore research) with defensible technology and a clear clinical or safety impact.
• Values companies that can navigate regulatory pathways and reach an exit — his board roles cluster around companies later acquired by strategics (Medtronic, Zimmer, 3i, Riverside).
• No publicly disclosed standard check size; his involvement typically combines capital with hands-on operating/board guidance rather than passive checks.