Charles A. Schliebs | Managing Director, iNetworks Advisors, Inc.

Prior to co-founding iNetworks, a private equity and venture capital firm, Mr. Schliebs was a partner from 1988 through 1999 in Jones Day, a 2,500-lawyer, international law firm. His substantive expertise was as a securities/corporate finance partner and international business law specialist, and his industry specialization was healthcare/life sciences, counseling primarily multinational chemical/healthcare/life science companies. At Jones Day, he was the entrepreneurial founder of the highly successful Pittsburgh office in 1989. Mr. Schliebs formed the Life Sciences Practice Group at Jones Day, and was the Group’s worldwide head until he left the firm to co-found iNetworks in late 1999.

While at Jones Day, Mr. Schliebs was the lawyer responsible for all client service worldwide to Bayer AG, the international pharmaceutical and chemical conglomerate, for which Mr. Schliebs acted not only as counsel but also as a trusted senior business advisor and dealmaker. In a creative arrangement with Bayer in response to the client’s requests, Mr. Schliebs took on business responsibility decisions for Bayer’s venture capital commitments in US life science companies, resulting in an IRR of over 40%. For Bayer and many other multinational companies, Mr. Schliebs regularly led the negotiation of research and collaboration agreements, product co-development agreements, co-promotion and co-marketing agreements, and license agreements, as well as all types of investment, acquisition and finance transactions.

Prior to joining Jones Day, Mr. Schliebs served in a variety of executive positions at NYSE companies such as Hospital Corporation of America (“HCA”) and National Intergroup/National Steel, where he sold half of National Steel to Nippon Kokan K.K. In addition, he was a partner in a large regional law firm in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, now Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP. Throughout the legal portion of his career, Mr. Schliebs represented publicly- held companies, banks and trust companies as a securities lawyer, providing the full range of securities law counseling (e.g., initial public offerings and follow-on offerings, debt securities, overseas securities offerings, corporate governance, ‘34 Act compliance, Williams Act filings and executive compensation). In addition, Mr. Schliebs counseled clients with respect to the Investment Company Act of 1940, and while in Kansas City was the primary outside counsel for Investors Fiduciary Trust Company (IFTC). IFTC services mutual funds and unit investment trusts, and is now owned by State Street Boston Corp.

Mr. Schliebs was the Elliot E. Cheatham Scholar in Law at, and received his J.D. from, the Vanderbilt University School of Law (receiving a full, merit-based scholarship award covering tuition, room and board, and other expenses, Vanderbilt’s largest scholar award at the time). He also holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.A. and a B.S. Econ. from the Wharton School (concentration and senior thesis in international business). He attended Penn on a competitive merit scholarship for children of pipefitters, provided by the Pipe Fitting & Air Conditioning Council.

In addition to serving on the boards of for-profit companies in fields ranging from cardiovascular devices to medical simulation to healthcare IT, he serves on a variety of boards involving entrepreneurship and social issues, including Chatham University’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship, Pittsburgh’s Institute for Cross-Cultural Ethics (Board Chair), and the President’s Visiting Committee on Social Justice at West Virginia University.