Canaan Partners promotes Wende Hutton to general partner

Canaan Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, said it has promoted Wende Hutton to general partner.

Hutton joined Canaan in March, 2004 and has helped lead investments in medical device, diagnostic and biotechnology companies, including Northstar Neuroscience, Inc. (NSTR), the second largest medtech initial public offering of 2006, the company said. She was previously a “venture partner,” a roll that generally includes fewer management responsibilities and less of a cut of the firm’s financial profits.

Hutton sits on the boards of directors of Alsius Corp., Apieron Inc., BiPar Sciences, Inc., Northstar Neuroscience, Inc.(NASDAQ: NSTR), Oculir Inc., ReVision Optics, Inc., and Spaltudaq Corp.

Prior to joining Canaan, Hutton was general partner at Spring Ridge Ventures from 2001 to 2003, where her investments included Northstar Neuroscience, Inc. and Spine Wave, Inc. Her venture career began at Mayfield Fund in 1993 in the firm’s health care technology group. She served as a general partner at Mayfield from 1995 to 2001.

Ms. Hutton holds an AB in Human Biology from Stanford University and a MBA from Harvard Business School where she was a Baker Scholar.

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