Tom Lavin co-founded New Science Ventures in 2004 and handles the firm's financial, legal, and administrative work, bringing a finance-heavy background that's unusual for a science-focused investor—before NSV, he led real-estate investment banking at First Boston and Smith Barney and headed commercial mortgage lending at MetLife. He now sits on the boards of Achronix Semiconductor and Dali Wireless and serves as a board observer at Vorago, showing a consistent pull toward semiconductor and wireless companies.