SYLMAR, Calif.—Second Sight Medical Products announced that John T. Blake has been appointed chief financial officer, effective immediately. Blake succeeds Thomas Miller, who has served as CFO since 2014. In June 2017, Mr. Miller submitted his resignation to pursue other opportunities but agreed at the company’s request to remain in the position until his successor was named. “We are delighted to welcome John to the Second Sight team. John’s financial acumen, track record of results and broad life sciences industry experience will support our efforts to grow Second Sight as we build on the momentum generated by the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (Argus II) and as we advance the development of the Orion Cortical Visual Prosthesis System,” said Will McGuire, Second Sight’s president and CEO. “In addition, John’s strengths and capabilities are well-known to me since we worked together at Volcano. It will be a genuine pleasure to work with him again.”

Blake most recently served as senior vice president, finance of aTyr Pharma, a publicly-traded biotechnology company he joined in March 2015. Prior to aTyr, he was responsible for the global financial planning and analysis function at Volcano Corp.

Blake was also previously an auditor in public accounting and an analyst for BD Biosciences. His extensive transactional experience spans multiple public offerings and mergers and acquisitions, including the $1.2 billion sale of Volcano to Royal Philips, NV in February 2015.

“We sincerely thank Tom for all of his many contributions to Second Sight. He was an integral part of Second Sight’s IPO process and has been a valued member of our management team. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”