LEADERSHIP
|
Gregory J. Galvin |
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman |
|
Tony Eisenhut |
President |
|
Peng Zhou |
Sr. Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer |
| Richard A. Montagna | Sr. Vice President for Corporate Business Development and Scientific Affairs |
| John Brenner | Vice President, IP Management and Licensing |
|
Christopher Smith |
Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer |
|
Lincoln Young |
Director of Engineering Research & Development |
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Gwendolyn Spizz |
Director of Biological Research & Development |
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GREGORY J. GALVIN, PH.D. Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Dr. Galvin founded Kionix, Inc. in 1993 to commercialize a novel micromechanical technology pioneered by researchers at Cornell University. From 1993 to 2000, Kionix grew from its two founders to over 40 employees and developed products in inertial sensors, microfluidics, data storage, micro-relays, and micro-optics. Late in 2000, Kionix was acquired for its optical switching technology by Calient Networks of San Jose, CA and renamed Calient Optical Components. Just prior to the acquisition, a new company was spun out to the then Kionix shareholders to pursue inertial sensor, microfluidics, and data storage markets. This company regained the Kionix name post acquisition. From the acquisition until June 2002, Dr. Galvin served as President and CEO of Calient Optical Components and on the boards of both Calient Networks and the new Kionix. In July 2002, he returned full time to Kionix as President and CEO and advanced the Company to its 2009 acquisition as a wholly-owned subsidiary by Rohm Co., Ltd. of Japan. Prior to the company foundings, Dr. Galvin served Cornell University first as Deputy Director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility (CNF) in which Cornell’s micromechanical research was conducted and, then, as Director of Corporate Research Relations focusing on transferring technology from the University to industry. He is a member of several scientific societies, has published over 20 technical papers, and holds 58 patents. Dr. Galvin is a founding member, and former chairman, of the Finger Lakes Entrepreneurs Forum. He is a member of the Cornell University Council, Advisory Council of the Cornell Engineering College, and serves as a Director of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tompkins County Area Development, Inc., the Kensa Group, the El Portal de Belén Foundation, and Ithaca’s Sciencenter. Dr. Galvin holds a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and M.B.A. from Cornell University. |
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TONY EISENHUT President Prior to joining Rheonix®, Mr. Eisenhut co-founded and was Managing Director of KensaGroup where he originated and launched eight university-derived technology start-ups. He has served mid-market manufacturing companies in the capacities of CEO and COO, and was Vice President of a multi-billion-dollar international food retailer. Mr. Eisenhut has served on the boards of NovaSterilis, Inc, MedHesives, Inc, eClipsNet, LLC, and Novomer, Inc. He has been an advisor to NextGen in conjunction with New York State’s Task Force on Economic Development and Emerging Industries and the Center for Life Science Enterprise (New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research Center for Advanced Technology) at Cornell. Mr. Eisenhut earned his B.S. degree from Cornell University. |
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PENG ZHOU, PH.D. Senior Vice President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Zhou was Director of Microfluidics for Kionix, Inc. where he led the effort to develop the Company’s microfluidic technologies, framed the microfluidic IP position for long-term growth, and directed external collaborations. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Investigator for Discovery Technology with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in Princeton, NJ. Here he was engaged in developing new technologies for optimal drug discovery and development productivity. Dr. Zhou was a Group Leader for Automated Synthesis and Information Management with Sepracor Inc. of Marlborough, MA where he established the Company’s drug discovery infrastructure. As a Scientist at Arris Pharmaceuticals, he completed the proprietary PILOT™ technology development and used the platform for combinatorial library synthesis. Dr. Zhou received his Ph.D. and M.A., both in Chemistry, from Columbia University and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Jilin University in China. He has published more than 20 papers and holds nine patents in the areas of combinatorial chemistry, drug discovery instrumentation, and microfluidic chip fabrication and applications. |
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RICHARD A. MONTAGNA, PH.D. Senior Vice President for Corporate Business Development and Scientific Affairs Dr. Montagna was President of Innovative Biotechnologies International, Inc. prior to its acquisition by Rheonix® in 2008. Earlier, he served as Director of Biological Operations of Associated Biomedic Systems and President of Cellular Products, both of Buffalo, NY. He has over 30 years of corporate administrative experience and has led the commercialization of over 40 biotechnology products. He has published 40 scientific papers in molecular biology and holds a number of patents in the biosensor area. He also holds an Adjunct Professorship in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University and has won over $5.5 Million of grant funding as Principal Investigator. Dr. Montagna earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Buffalo and served post docs at NYU Medical Center as an NIH Fellow in Experimental Pathology and at the University of Texas System Cancer Center, M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, in the area of chemical carcinogenesis. In 1988 he testified before President Reagan’s Presidential AIDS commission, providing data in support of a recommendation that the U.S. initiate mandatory screening of its donated blood supply for the presence of antibodies to HTLV-1, a human retrovirus related to the AIDS virus. Nationwide testing was initiated shortly thereafter. In 2008, he was also nominated for the National Research Initiative Discovery Award for developing a biosensor for the detection of prions, the causative agent of Mad Cow Disease. |
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JOHN BRENNER, MS, MBA, CLP Vice President, IP Management and Licensing Mr. Brenner joined Rheonix® in July 2007. Prior to this, he was a Senior Technology Manager at Cornell University’s technology licensing office, CCTEC, where he managed commercialization of drug delivery, diagnostic devices, food science, and various other analytical inventions developed by the research faculty. Mr. Brenner was the founder and president of Aureus, Inc. specializing in financial and organizational solutions for technology-based companies. He was an intercollegiate rowing coach at Stanford University and at Cornell University where he coached two National Championship crews. Mr. Brenner holds a B.S. in Plant Science from the University of New Hampshire, an M.S. in Science Education from Syracuse University, and an M.B.A. from Cornell University. Recently, he was accepted into the first class of Certified Licensing Professionals of the Licensing Executive's Society. |
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CHRISTOPHER SMITH Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer Mr. Smith, a certified public accountant, joined Rheonix® in October 2010 as Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer. He brings with him 22 years of public and private industry experience in finance, accounting and operations with both startups and high growth manufacturers. Prior to joining Rheonix, he served as Corporate Controller of Kionix, Inc. from its early development stage through its exponential growth, highlighted by the 2009 acquisition by Rohm Co. Ltd of Japan. During his tenure with Kionix, he was actively involved in the company’s financing (equity and debt); spin-off of the company’s microfluidics division into Rheonix, Inc.; and the due diligence associated with the $233M transaction with Rohm in 2009. Prior to Kionix, Mr. Smith served as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Operations of Prolac, Inc., a medical products start-up. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. in Accounting from Le Moyne College and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. |
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LINCOLN YOUNG Director of Engineering Research & Development Mr. Young has been working as a problem solver for over twenty years. Apprenticed in a Blacksmith shop at the age of twelve, he began expanding his experience and exercising his innate ingenuity. Realizing his greatest asset was creativity, his interests led him through positions in hardware, plumbing, electrical, contracting, machining, and biomedical manufacturing and design. Adding a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Alfred University (2001) brought Mr. Young to Rheonix®, Inc. where he has been instrumental in the development of a disposable microfluidic fluid management system with applications in a vast array of life science and industrial applications, including molecular diagnostics. |
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GWENDOLYN SPIZZ, PH.D. Director of Biological Research & Development Dr. Spizz brings 30 years of basic research experience in the fields of biochemistry and cell and molecular biology to her role as Director of Biological R&D at Rheonix®. She joined Kionix in March 2007 as a Senior Scientist working closely with the engineers towards enabling the Company's microfluidic technologies as in vitro medical device platforms for molecular diagnostic assays. Dr. Spizz received her Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, and both B.A. and M.A. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has performed research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, Texas, and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She has co-authored 19 peer reviewed papers. Dr. Spizz studied mechanisms underlying cell growth and behavior and diseases including cancer and asthma. Since coming to Rheonix, Dr. Spizz has developed several multiplex molecular assays to identify the presence of known human mutations, and various bacterial, viral, and eukaryotic infectious pathogens. |
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