Lilian Zhou.

  
LAKE FOREST, Calif.—STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of the EVO family of implantable collamer lenses (ICL) for myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia, announced the appointment of Lilian Zhou to its board of directors, effective Dec. 4, 2023. “We welcome Lilian Zhou as a new member to our board of directors. Lilian is an accomplished investment portfolio manager who worked at highly regarded Wall Street investment institutions before founding her own firm a decade ago,” said Aimee Weisner, chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee of STAAR Surgical’s board of directors.

"We look forward to Lilian’s contributions as a former institutional shareholder of STAAR with an in-depth and global perspective of health care, ophthalmology and STAAR’s opportunity," Weisner said.

Zhou brings more than two decades of capital markets and investment experience to STAAR. Most recently, Zhou was founder, chief investment officer and managing partner of Yulan Capital Management, a Tiger Seed, which operated out of New York and Shanghai from 2013 through June 2023. Prior to Yulan Capital, Zhou worked at Citadel, Kelusa Capital and Bear Stearns & Co.

 
 
She began her career as an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse in 2004. Zhou is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and holds a Bachelor of Arts, Economics and Mathematics-Statistics, from Columbia University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

STAAR also reported that Gil Kliman, MD, has decided to leave the board, effective December 1, in order to more fully devote his time and energies to his other commitments. Tom Frinzi, STAAR’s chair of the board, stated, “STAAR has benefited greatly from Dr. Kliman’s extensive ophthalmology, commercial and medical device experience and we sincerely thank Gil for his dedicated service. He has been a steadfast supporter of STAAR, and we hope to continue to benefit from his insights in the future.”

Other current members of STAAR’s board of directors include Stephen Farrell, Frinzi, Weisner, Elizabeth Yeu, MD, and K. Peony Yu, MD.