Rick Stewart
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Stewart has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors since 2001. From 1998 to 2001 he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tegris Corporation, a leading IT infrastructure and enterprise applications provider for vertical markets. Prior to that Mr. Stewart had a long career within Eli Lilly and Company's Medical Device and Diagnostics Unit, holding multiple executive positions in general and technical management, sales, marketing and business development. Mr. Stewart was a member of the senior team that led a buyout of the Physio-Control subsidiary from Eli-Lilly in 1994 which shortly thereafter was taken public. Mr. Stewart received his MBA from the University of Washington.
Omari Bouknight
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Mr. Bouknight has been Vice President of Sales and Marketing since October 2011.
Prior to joining Cardiac Dimensions, Mr. Bouknight served as Business Unit
Director, Chronic Circulatory Support for Thoratec Corporation. Prior to
Thoratec, Mr. Bouknight worked for Guidant Corporation’s sales and marketing
organizations and for Deloitte Consulting, acting as a consultant to
numerous healthcare organizations.
Mr. Bouknight received an MBA
from Harvard Business School and holds bachelor’s degrees in Supply Chain
Operations, International Relations and German from Michigan State
University. He also holds a credential through the International Board of
Heart Rhythm Examiners in Cardiac Rhythm Device Therapy.
Bob Conta
Vice President, Research and Development
Mr. Conta has been Vice President of Research and Development since October 2008. From 2003 to 2008 Mr. Conta was Vice President of Research and Development of Spiration Inc., a medical device company that manufactures novel interventional pulmonology devices. From 1998 to 2003 Mr. Conta was Vice President of Research and Development for Spinal Dynamics Corporation which was acquired by Medtronic, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Conta was a member of senior management at Wright Medical Technology, Joint Medical Products Corp., and Baxter Healthcare Corp. He also held various R&D positions with the Davis & Geck division of American Cyanamid Company and US Surgical Corp. Mr. Conta received a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Rochester and a B.S. in Aerospace/Bioengineering from Brown University.
Paul Cornelison
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance
Mr. Cornelison has been Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance since January 2008. From 2001 to 2008 Mr. Cornelison held various senior management roles, including Vice President Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance, at Arrow International, a medical device company that manufactures critical care and cardiac assist devices. Most recently, Mr. Cornelison was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the Asia International Business Unit. Prior to Arrow, Mr. Cornelison held key regulatory positions at St. Jude Medical, Angeion Corporation and Telectronics Pacing Systems. Mr. Cornelison received an M.S. in Engineering (Management of Technology) from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Management from St. John's University.
Steven Goldberg, MD, FACC
Chief
Clinical Officer
Dr. Goldberg has
been Chief Clinical Officer since April 2006. In addition to serving as the
Chief Clinical Officer for Cardiac Dimensions, Dr. Goldberg is an Associate
Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at
University of Washington Medical Center. A board certified interventional
cardiologist, Dr. Goldberg works closely with Dr. David Reuter in leading
the company’s clinical efforts.
Dr. Goldberg received an M.D. and
B.A. from the University of Kansas and completed Fellowships in Internal
Medicine and Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of
California, Irvine respectively.
Nawzer Mehta, PhD
Vice President, Clinical Programs
Dr. Mehta has been Vice President of Clinical Programs since October 2008. Dr. Mehta has over 20 years of experience leading clinical research efforts in the medical device arena.
Prior to joining Cardiac Dimensions, Dr. Mehta was Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Northstar Neuroscience, a medical device company investigating novel neuromodulation therapies, from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Mehta has also held leadership positions at Medtronic in their vascular division, Biotronik in their bioengineering and cardiac rhythm divisions and Corazonix.
Dr. Mehta has a Ph.D. in Applied Cardiovascular Physiology from St. George's Hospital Medical School, London, England and a BS in Human Biology from the University of Surrey, England.
David Reuter, M.D., PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Reuter directed the research effort from 2001 to 2004 during the development of the CARILLON therapy, and has been our Chief Medical Officer since 2004 guiding the clinical trial strategy. He has published and lectured extensively on the therapy. From 1997 to 1998, Dr. Reuter was the Director of Clinical Research for InControl, Inc., a company acquired by Guidant for its implantable atrial defibrillation technology. Dr. Reuter has also been a practicing physician in the Seattle Children's Hospital Emergency Department since 1998. Dr. Reuter holds a B.S. in Structural Engineering and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University. He was awarded a Presidential Fellowship from Purdue to establish the combined MD/PhD degree program. He has a Doctor of Medicine from Indiana University School of Medicine, and was awarded the Early Career Achievement Award in 2009.
Gary Swinford
Vice President, Operations
Mr. Swinford has been our Vice President of Operations since 2002. From 2001 to 2002 Mr. Swinford was the Vice President of Development and Manufacturing for PharmaSpec Corporation, a medical device manufacturing and research center focused on targeted drug delivery. From 1993 to 2001 Mr. Swinford held various positions for Heart Technology, Inc., which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation, becoming Director of Research and Development. Mr. Swinford has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a "mini-MBA" from AEA /Stanford Executive Institute.
Rick Wypych
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Wypych joined Cardiac Dimensions, Inc. in 2003 with more than 10 years of financial and strategic management experience in the financial and life sciences industries.
Prior to joining Cardiac Dimensions, Mr. Wypych served as Director of Finance and Administration at Spinal Dynamics Corporation, an early-stage artificial inter-vertebral disc company. At Spinal Dynamics, he was responsible for finance and accounting, human resources, and administration. During his tenure at Spinal Dynamics, Mr. Wypych was instrumental in developing the initial revenues of the company, the financing of operations and eventual sale of the company to Medtronic, Inc. Before joining Spinal Dynamics, Mr. Wypych served as a Senior Audit Manager for KPMG LLP managing several financial audit engagements, mergers and acquisitions projects and SEC registrations.
Mr. Wypych holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Seattle University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Washington.