Fergus joins Baird Venture Partners, Caden Bio

Madison, Wis. - Biotechnology executive Gregg Fergus has joined Baird Venture Partners as an executive-in-residence and Caden Biosciences as senior vice president of corporate development.

Fergus, a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who will be based in Baird Venture Partners' Madison office, comes to the Wisconsin firms from Affymetrix, a $360 million gene chip manufacturer based in Santa Clara, Calif.

Pete Shagory, a partner in Baird Venture Partners, said Fergus would reinforce Baird's focus on the life-science tools market. He will help Baird's healthcare and life science team evaluate new investment opportunities and manage its current portfolio of companies, which includes Caden Biosciences.

Bill Checovich, president and COO of Caden Biosciences, said Fergus would be part of bringing the company's technologies to the pharmaceutical and biotech markets. Caden, which was relocated to Madison last year as part of a $5.85 million venture financing deal led by Baird Venture Partners, has developed a research tool that could make it possible for researchers to screen for additional protein drug targets.

Fergus, 43, also has held executive positions with Amersham, now part of GE Healthcare, and Covance. He has a bachelor of science degree in bacteriology from UW-Madison. Related stories

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