Noel Lindsay, Founder, Chairman & CEO
Noel Lindsay founded Sleep Science Partners, Inc. (SSPI) in 2007 and is the Chairman and CEO. Noel’s personal battle with chronic snoring led him to seek out a noninvasive treatment that would allow him to regain quality sleep. After much searching, he became acquainted with the inventors of PureSleep, Dr. Douglas Fenton, DDS, and the late Dr. Bernard “Buzz” Kramer, MD, an ear, nose and throat specialist. Noel now sleeps well every night with the assistance of his PureSleep device. His entrepreneurial passion led him to launch SSPI which licensed the PureSleep device to make it more affordable and widely available to other chronic snorers seeking relief.
Prior to founding SSPI, Noel worked as a consultant and venture capitalist. He worked in investment banking for Hambrecht & Quist (now part of JPMorgan), Deutsche Bank, and Thematic Investments where he served as President. A serial entrepreneur, Noel helped start Crescendo Communications, which invented the key technology used in the “Fast Ethernet” standard and was an early developer of LAN switching systems – both now universally deployed. When Crescendo was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1993, Noel evangelized the new products throughout Cisco’s worldwide sales and marketing organizations. Noel also did product marketing for Sun Microsystems, designed communications systems at Hughes Aircraft and flight guidance and control systems at McDonnell Douglas.
Noel has a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.
Heather Flick: Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel
Heather Flick serves as Vice President and Chief Legal Counsel for Sleep Science Partners, Inc. (SSPI). She has worked with SSPI since its founding and has more than 19 years of experience in management, law, politics and communications. In addition to her role at SSPI, Heather is in private practice as a California attorney at The Flick Group where she specializes in corporate, commercial, trademark, political and election law, and litigation. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1996.
Prior to forming The Flick Group, Heather worked for two White House administrations and held multiple corporate board seats, including serving as an FDIC approved Director of Citizens Bancorp, Inc. throughout its acquisition by Community First Bankshares, Inc. (later acquired by BancWest/BNP). She has represented many start ups in all aspects of fundraising, formation, negotiation, compliance and general business matters.
She currently resides in San Francisco, where her political commentary has appeared in numerous news outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, Sacramento Bee, KRON-TV and KTVU-TV. She was a columnist for the now defunct TRADER DAILY Magazine and DEALMAKER Magazine and has been featured in the Financial Times and the New York Times DealBook column.
Heather holds a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, an A.B.A. approved Certificate in Chinese Law from China University of Politics and Law (Beijing) and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco. In her free time, Heather serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations and is an active competitive sailor.
Kim Larson, VP of Marketing
Kim Larson serves as the Vice President of Marketing for Sleep Science Partners, Inc. (SSPI). She has more than 11 years of experience in marketing, brand strategy and consumer experience development at a number of Fortune 500 companies.
Earlier in her career, Kim analyzed clinical trials data at Westat, Inc., a CRO that provides clinical research services to U.S. government agencies on both the state and federal level. As a former associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, she worked with large pharmaceutical clients and also helped to streamline the drug safety process at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by designing risk assessment tools to improve the post-market drug review process. Her scientific training and continued passion for healthcare led her to join SSPI in October 2009, helping to re-launch the company’s signature product-- PureSleep® anti-snoring dental device--and expand the product’s reach to a broader consumer market.
Prior to joining SSPI, Kim served as the Vice President for Brand Strategy and Marketing at Jamba Juice, where she led efforts to reposition the corporate brand and launch new food products. Kim also served as the New Concept Marketing Director for Nike, Inc., leading global go-to-market strategies for new apparel lines and developing retail concepts based on customer research insights.
She holds an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University.
Doug Meharry, Controller
Doug is a CPA with over 22 years of finance and information systems expertise and has performed all aspects of managerial and financial accounting, including tax planning, preparation, and compliance. He is also an experienced programmer who helped design, program, deploy, and maintain complex accounting systems, as well as more comprehensive management information systems. Doug has extensive experience using financial analysis to support corporate-level strategic planning and has developed and maintained financial models used to manage entire companies. In one recent role, Doug served as both COO and CFO for a multimedia startup that produced patient education materials. Doug also assumed control of a small bankrupt company with about 20 employees and three principal operating units, where he served as the company’s President and was successful at restructuring the company and then liquidating it for the benefit of its owners. Doug has worked with other companies that range in size from startups like Teknekron (acquired by Reuters Group PLC and subsequently spun-off as publicly-traded TIBCO Software, Inc.) to one of the world’s largest global multi-nationals, Nippon Steel. Doug has experience in the insurance, healthcare, real estate, entertainment, computer manufacturing, and software industries. He holds a B.S. in Accounting and has taken graduate-level classes at Golden Gate University. Prior to college, Doug served four years in the United States Coast Guard.