The Team
Melis Yilmaz Balban, PhD
Founder & CEO
Neuroscientist. Mom of two. Cat lady.
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Dr. Balban received her PhD from Harvard University and studied human stress responses and interventions as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford School of Medicine. She is the leading author on several peer reviewed articles on the stress response in high profile scientific journals.
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Outside of work: tennis, skiing, yoga
Henry D. Zhu
Software
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Software Engineer with expertise in Android development and distributed systems. Background prior to Neurosmart includes working as a Software Engineer at Meta on observability (distributed tracing and logging to gain insights onto the performance, reliability, and efficiency of messaging APIs).
Outside of work: spending time with my
wife and son, skiing, distance running
John Majeski
Advisor
Former founder and operator with multiple exits,
and big-tech exec (HP, Dell, Lenovo),
now an investor and advisor.
I empower high-potential tech founders with the
capital and strategies they need for a strong exit.
Deep experience in VC, PE, and M&A.
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Outside of work: hiking, biking, exploring,
skiing, and flying airplanes.
Vivian Vu (Yasutake)
Operations
​Chief wrangler with 15+ years in
fast paced environments.
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Outside of work: Sodoku enthusiast, tennis, traveling,
culinary delights + QT with those I love​
Debra Jonsson
Advisor