Citybizlist reported this week that ClearCount Medical Solutions, Inc., Pittsburgh-based developers of a system to detect surgical sponges, has tallied $15 million in equity financing.

The company’s signature product uses a microchip to help surgical staff find sponges that are misplaced during a procedure-the source of countless hospital horror stories and media exposes.

ClearCount can clearly be counted as a Pittsburgh company. Not only is it based here, its founders Gautam Gandhi and Steve Fleck came up with the concept while studying at Carnegie-Mellon University. Its primary financiers are Mike Stubler, managing director and co-founder of Pittsburgh-based Draper Triangle Ventures, and Peter DeComo, managing director of Pittsburgh-based Corridor Venture Partners.

So I was surprised to discover that one of its directors not only has no connection to Pittsburgh, he doesn’t seem connected to medicine or healthcare either.

ClearCount director Steven Rueb is from New Orleans. He is a prominent financial planner there and a member of several private sector and non-profit boards. His specialty is asset allocation not surgical procedures. He is a frequent commentator on local stations.

He wasn’t even a biology major. He has a Bachelor’s in business from Trinity and an MBA from Tulane.

I have no idea how he became involved in ClearCount, whether he is a financial advisor to the company’s founder, or an investor who just got wind of a promising company.

I do know that a start up’s brain trust can only be enhanced by directors with diverse backgrounds, who can provide a different perspective from those mostly immersed in products and management, or in raising money.

ClearCount specializes in tracking down sponges, but they must have an intriguing approach to finding directors, too.