Executive Team
- David Apkarian - President and Board Member
(BA in Business Administration, Davenport College), almost 20 years of successful experience in driving technology sales and growth into new markets. David has increased sales by 23% for existing products. Company revenue increased annually at an average of 18% over the last 10 years, and the IRR on the product development investment is over 20% during this same period. A new product was introduced for measurement of soils which exceeded sales forecasts by 5% in its first year- in a domestically challenging market. He introduced TransTech products into the international market. International sales grew from 5% to 75% of total company sales in the last five years. David also led the startup of QCQA Labs, which is already a positive profit center in five years. The lab is a real world "test lab" for development and testing of new products.
- Don Colosimo - General Manager and Board Member
(SB and SM Aeronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; MBA, SUNY at Buffalo), over 30 years of successful experience in development of technical products to provide increased sales and profits. This included technical and market analyses; business and product planning; licensing, acquisitions and divestitures; and Federal /State contract management and accounting. As owner and CEO of a multi-state, multi-line technical services company, over a four year period, he tripled revenues and grew employment to 120 people in 12 offices covering sale in 15 states. At this former company he also negotiated master U.S. distributorships for physical measurement instrumentation for products imported from Germany and Japan. In another previous company, Mr. Colosimo was responsible for bringing in government funding of over $8M.
- Jaret Morse - Corporate Vice President
(BA Business Administration/Management Sciences, St. Bonaventure University), over 20 years of successful experience in organizational planning and operations in the construction market, leadership in overseas finance and administration, information technology and production divisions. Jaret budgets and manages expenses in the production group, and implemented modern methods and careful planning to enable just-in-time inventory in order to maximize positive cash flow. These methods have made it possible for TransTech to maintain an overall greater than 50% profit margin without raising list prices by utilizing expense control, bulk purchasing and efficient production methods. He facilitated growing production from inception into a successful manufacturer of 5 unique gauges and instruments. Currently, Jaret is part of the team that is growing the family of product distributors. He manages 5 distributors in North America and 25 International distributors covering over 60 countries. He is currently part of the team to launch several key new products.
- John W. Hewitt - Technology Development and Project Manager
(BS Geology, Geneseo State University; MA Urban and Regional/Environmental Planning, SUNY at Albany) has been the Technology Development Manager at TransTech for over 10 years and was previously the Environmental Planner and Program Manager at the Schenectady County Soil and Water Conservation District for ten years. He has been involved in the BioSensors' technology program since its inception and is a coinventor for the BioSensors technology. He is co-inventor on multiple TransTech and BioSensors patents. Under his leadership, TransTech's R&D proposal team brought in a total of $4.2M in federal, state and private funding and increased average annual new product development funding by 11% over the last 10 years.
Board of Directors
- David Apkarian - Board Member and President
(see executive team bio above)
- Chester Opalka - Board Member
(BS in Chemistry from Niagara University), co-founder of Albany Molecular Research, Inc. (AMRI), a full-service pharmaceutical and medical research services company focused on applications for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life sciences industries. AMRI, founded in 1991, is based in Albany, New York. During his tenure, AMRI discovered the process that enabled the manufacture of Allegra . He retired in September 2000. He retired from the board of directors in May 2002. Prior to founding AMRI, Mr. Opalka worked for Sterling Drug Inc. in various capacities in the Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Development Departments. He began his career there in 1970. He has been named as inventor or co-inventor in nearly 30 patents, co-authored several scientific publications relating to his accomplishments in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry. One invention led to the marketed product, Inocor, a drug used to treat congestive heart failure.
- Don Colosimo - Board Member and General Manager
(see executive team bio above)
Advisory Board
- Heidi F. DeBlock, MD - Critical Care Attending Physician, Assistant Professor of Surgery and Anesthesia, Medical Director, EMT Education Albany Medical Center
Dr. DeBlock received a BA from the University of Rochester and MD from SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Dr. DeBlock is also a Visiting Scientist, NASA, Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX.
- John P. Willis, Ph.D. - Chairman and CEO Ultradian Diagnostics, LLC.
Dr. Willis received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Connecticut, an MS from SUNY Oswego and BS from Iona College. In addition, Dr. Willis completed advanced management programs at Stanford University. Dr. Willis has over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in the medical device industry and extensive technical and manufacturing expertise. At Ultradian, he is leading the development of a minimally invasive micro-probe to measure glucose within the skin (dermis). Dr. Willis holds 19 patents in the biotechnology and is an expert in the design, development and manufacturing scale-up of high-volume disposable biosensors.
- M. Jacqueline Eastwood - Co-Founder and CEO of Tissuelink Medical
Ms. Eastwood is a graduate of the College of Saint Rose and was a VP with Medtronic, Inc. from 1987-1998. Under her leadership, Medtronic was the world's largest medical technology company specializing in implantable and interventional therapies. She has served on a number of public and private boards and is the recipient of numerous awards for her contributions in entrepreneurial and technology initiatives. She was named as a Mass High Tech all Star in 2003 and Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the year in Medical Devices in 2004 and was a finalist in NH High Technology Council Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.
- Michael E. McClurken, Ph.D. - President and Owner Oyster River MedTech, LLC.
Dr. McClurken holds a MS and Ph.D. from MIT. He has almost 30 years' experience in medical device R&D. He's an expert in electro-surgery and cardiovascular devices, and his core technical expertise is in biomedical heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and the effects of energy-based devices on living tissue - such as the BioSensors product. His specialties include development of novel electrosurgical instruments, planning and implementation of acute and chronic preclinical studies, and literature reviews of the medical/scientific literature to achieve a deep understanding of complex clinical issues.
- Rebecca Keller, Ph.D. - Assistant Dean for Medical Education at Albany Medical Center College (AMC)
Dr. Keller holds a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri- Columbia. Dr. Keller is a researcher with AMC whose research focuses on understanding the role of integrin's in survival of the cardiomyocyte. In this role, she shared responsibility for running animal lab tests at AMC in conjunction with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers. She took an active role in BioSensors' initial animal testing regarding changes in EIS signals after addition of various glucose boluses, as well as data collection that was essential for the development of the BioSensors EIT model.
- Adom D. Giffin, Ph.D. - Professor of Mathematics at Clarkson University
Dr. Giffin holds a BS in Physics from Lawrence Technological University, an MS in Physics from SUNY Albany and a Ph.D . in Theoretical Physics from SUNY Albany. Dr. Giffin brings the ability to delve into the theoretical underpinnings of the physics of the interactions between the electromagnetic radiation and the components of the blood. Dr. Giffin is also a published expert on Bayesian Statistics which would be applied to the development of the algorithms for determining the glucose levels. He has also developed an analytical method to describe the use of planar impedance sensors.