Managing Partner

Jean-Bernard Schmidt has been Chairman of Sofinnova from 1986 to 2007. He is a Managing Partner of Sofinnova Partners. He started with Sofinnova in Paris in 1973 as Investment Manager. In 1981, he became Chairman of Sofinnova Inc. in San Francisco, where he participated in Sofinnova's US funds as part of a partnership with Burr, Egan & Deléage, making investments in technology and life sciences. In 1987, he returned to Paris to head the Sofinnova group. Building on his experience in the United States, he began focusing Sofinnova's investments in France on early-stage opportunities in technology and life sciences. In 1989, he launched the first Sofinnova Capital fund. He is a graduate of the ESSEC business school in Paris and holds an MBA from Columbia University. He began his career with Sema, a French computer services group.
He is a past and current board member of technology companies in the United States and France.  He is a past board member of AFIC, the French Venture Capital Association, and was Chairman of EVCA, the European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association, from June 2003 to June 2004.