Ron Bache is the President and CEO of Bache, Inc. and an Operating Partner with Invus Opportunities. Bache was previously the President and CEO of AqueSys, Inc., a venture capital backed startup. AqueSys developed the XEN Gel Stent, the world’s first minimally invasive ab-interno surgical procedure for the leading cause of irreversible blindness, glaucoma. Bache joined AqueSys in 2009 while it was within a technology incubator and had just begun first in man trials. During his seven years as CEO, Ron spun the company out of the incubator, hired a full global team, raised $77 million in capital, patented multiple inventions, successfully executed an FDA clinical trial, obtained FDA clearance, obtained CE mark, created a CAT III code and obtained coverage from Medicare and private payers, and successfully commercialized globally. AqueSys was acquired by Allergan in 2015 for $300 million upfront plus milestones and Bache became a strategic advisor to Allergan for the next two years.
Prior to joining AqueSys, Bache was a Global Vice President at Advanced Medical Optics, the spinout of Allergan Surgical, and is now Johnson & Johnson Vision. Bache had marketing responsibility for the global refractive surgery business which included excimer lasers, custom wavefront guided and standard LASIK procedures, femtosecond lasers, wavefront abberrometers, multifocal intraocular lenses, phakic intraocular lenses, corneal inlays, and mechanical microkeratomes. During his tenure, AMO became the world’s #1 refractive surgery company through approximately $2 billion in acquisitions, partnerships, and internal R&D. Prior to AMO, Bache held commercial positions at Kraft General Foods, Johnson & Johnson (IOLAB Pharmaceuticals), Novartis (CIBA Ophthalmics), and Allergan Surgical.
Bache earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and has completed executive education programs at Stanford and Harvard Business School.