Board of Advisors
Ken Buechler_____ __________________
Dr. Buechler received his doctorate in biochemistry and his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University. Dr. Buechler was a senior research scientist for the Diagnostics Research and Development Group at Hybritech Incorporated in San Diego. As a Senior Research Scientist, he was responsible for new product development and was the transfer project leader for ICON® QSR CK-MB, a cardiac marker assay. In addition, he was responsible for the design and synthesis of reagents for use in the first rapid, visual pregnancy test, the ICON® hCG test. Dr. Buechler served in various roles with Biosite Incorporated including Director of Chemistry, President, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder. He co-invented certain Biosite proprietary technologies and served as a member of the American Chemical Society, the Biochemical Society, the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine and the American Association of Clinical Chemists.
Rear Admiral James A. Johnson_____
Rear Admiral James A. Johnson earned his undergraduate degree in Biology/Chemistry at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and his Medical Degree at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. He served both his internship and residency at the University of California at Los Angeles.
He was commissioned in the Ensign 1915 Program in 1966. His early assignments included serving as the Senior Medical Officer aboard the amphibious assault ship USS New Orleans and as a General Medical Officer at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif. During a subsequent assignment to Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in California, he held a progression of assignments including Staff Surgeon; Chairman, Department of Surgery; and Director of Surgical Services.
Rear Admiral Johnson was next assigned to Naval Hospital San Diego as Assistant Chairman, Department of Surgery. In 1989, he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he held the position of Deputy Chief of the Medical Corps. Upon transfer to San Diego in July 1991, he was assigned as Medical Director at Naval Hospital San Diego and was subsequently named Deputy Commander, a position he held until February 1994.
During his next assignment, he assumed command of Fleet Hospital SIX which deployed on a United Nations mission in Croatia. In October 1994, he became the Commanding Officer of Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., where he served until August 1997. He was then selected as the Principal Director for Clinical and Program Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.
In August 1998, Rear Admiral Johnson was reassigned as Medical Officer of the Marine Corps at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps Washington, D.C.. He supported the mission of Navy Medicine as the Medical Officer for the Marine Corps by maintaining liaison between the Navy Surgeon General and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. He advised the Commandant of the Marine Corps headquarters staff agencies on all matters affecting medical and dental support for the Marine Corps. In October 2001, he assumed command of Naval Medical Center San Diego and became Lead Agent, TRICARE Region Nine.
Rear Admiral Johnson assumed his duties as the Regional Director of TRICARE Regional Office-West (TRO-West) in November 2003, the first of three Regional Directors to be named, overseeing health care contracts and the health care delivery system in twenty states with more than 2,000,000 TRICARE eligible beneficiaries.
Rear Admiral Johnson earned certificates from the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Medical Management. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. His affiliation with civilian medical organizations includes his status as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, National Medical Association, American College of Physician Executives, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces.
His military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Citation, Navy Meritorious Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, United Nations Medal (Yugoslavia), the NATO Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Honorable Milton L. Lohr______
Mr. Lohr has over 40 years of extensive experience as a Research and Development engineer, entrepreneur, business executive and U.S. Government Official covering a broad range of high technology, defense and commercial systems. His experience includes starting new high technology companies with activities in corporate development, venture capital, international partnering and has served on the Board of Directors of high technology, public and private corporations. He was appointed to the State’s Defense Conversion Council by California Governor Pete Wilson, and chaired the Capital Formation Committee. This Committee received a Model of Excellence Award from the office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration for its contribution to Venture and Seed capital development.
He served as the first Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition in both the Reagan and Bush administrations, with responsibility to assist in overseeing DOD’s major Acquisition and Technology Programs, International Programs and U.S. Arms Control Compliance activities. He also served as U.S. Acquisition Representative to the NATO Conference of National Armament Directors and the Four Power Group with oversight in U.S. armament cooperative programs and developing and establishing policy initiatives aimed at promoting cooperation on major weapon systems and technology among the NATO Allies.
Current experience includes serving over 20 years as a Corporate Director of Ceradyne, Inc. with sales of approximately $400M/year. Mr. Lohr has hands-on experience in the research and development of technology and its transition to viable products in aviation, commercial radar, infrared, optics and space instrumentation. Mr. Lohr, as Executive Vice President, was one of two principals in Flight Systems Inc., which developed and produced sophisticated electronics and drone conversion and operation of F-86 aircraft. He was founder and CEO of Defense Research Corporation and held senior positions with: TITAN, TRW and Aeronutronic (Ford) involved in development of military electronics, and was associated with Defense Development Corp., L.F. Global, devoted to venture capital activities and serving on advisory boards. He was founder and chairman of INTERPAR in Washington, D.C., a company devoted to assisting U.S. corporations in forming business alliance with European companies.
He received a BE degree in Engineering from USC and an MS degree from UCLA. He was a member of the Army Science Board and served on Panels of both the President’s Science Advisory Committee and the Defense Science Board. He was awarded the Secretary of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal and the Army’s Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service.
Ceradyne, Inc., Member of Board of Directors
1986 to 1988 Member - 1989 to Present
Mr. Lohr was elected to the Ceradyne Board of Directors in 1986. In 1988, he resigned to accept an appointment as first Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition. Upon his return to California, he was re-elected to the Board in 1989. Ceradyne is a fully integrated developer and manufacturer of advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive/diesel, commercial, solar energy and nuclear power applications. Some key products include: lightweight ceramic body armor, combat and tactical vehicle armor, missile radomes, ceramic crucibles for manufacturing of photovoltaic cells, diesel engine components, ceramic orthodontic brackets, nuclear waste containment components, and various ceramic powders and chemicals for semiconductor manufacturing and the cosmetic industry.
Mr. Lohr is currently Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and serves on both the Audit and Compensation Committees. Ceradyne has operations in five states with International Operating Divisions in Germany, China and Canada.
2008 to Present - Entrepreneur in Residence Connect
In 2008, Mr. Lohr became associated with the Connect organization as an Entrepreneur in Residence. Connect is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining growth of innovative technology and life science businesses in San Diego. Since 1985, Connect has assisted in the formation and development of over 2000 companies. He has served on teams mentoring technology companies in areas including wireless video systems, various medical devices, and screening systems for anti-terrorism applications, and issues regarding innovation, technology transfer and commercialization. Most of his efforts have been devoted to new technology companies serving non-defense markets.
Alexander Nawrocki, PhD.
Focusing on technology and the international development infrastructure (fluent in 7 languages), Dr. Nawrocki brings more than 25 years of technology leadership, management and industry experience in many areas. He has been CEO and served on multiple Boards. Dr. Nawrocki is a founding member of the Java-Consortium, is active in several other technology standards boards, and chairs various technical and advisory committees. Dr. Nawrocki is a Board Member Children's Educational Network, that markets a fully integrated suite of Internet software products empowering parents to provide children a safe platform and meaningful tools to accelerate their children’s education, entertainment, and exploration of the "Information Superhighway" free from hate, violence, pornography and online predators. Dr. Nawrocki was an early investor in Proximetry which provides network and performance management solutions for wireless networks to enable network operators to visualize, provision, and actively manage their wireless networks from one centralized location and Neubloc, a US-based (San Diego, California), outsource, software development, design, and testing firm that combines a unique blend of onshore and offshore resources to a client base worldwide.
He is co-owner of Ameritege Technology Partners which was founded in 1999 as a private equity firm specializing in software business acquisitions. Ameritege is a privately held firm that has successfully acquired or made substantial investments in twelve businesses including JB Systems, Inc., Mainsaver, Assist Cornerstone Technologies, Inc., UTS Global®, CWTI, the SoftWindows® product line from Insignia Solutions, Inc., and others.
Dr. Nawrocki also established several subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe in order to support Technology development for American companies with activities range from High Tech to Biotechnology. He has also been a Professor at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) teaching "Object-Oriented Software Engineering” (Graduate Level) and at École Polytechnique de Montréal teaching "Operations of Human Space Flights” (Graduate Level) and
"Space Tele-robotics” (Graduate Level) as well as a lecturer at the Royal Military College of Canada. For many years he worked for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, Montreal, Canada: serving as Ground Segment Manager, Astronaut Training Manager, Space Operations Manager, NASA: Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas Robotics Manager, Designer of the Space Operations for Robotics Operations and Utilizations - Shuttle and International Space Station, and Shuttle Flight Controller. Dr. Nawrocki holds a Bachelor's degree with Honors in Electronic Engineering, Master's degree in Computer Science ("Summa Cum Laude") and PhD in Aerospace Engineering.
Bill Olson______________
Bill Olson is currently President & CEO of Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, a developer of novel cardiac ablation catheters for the treatment of arrhythmias. Previously, he ran Satient Ventures, a high-tech and life science strategic advisory firm based in Menlo Park, CA.
He is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in sales, marketing, and general management at world-class organizations including Deloitte Consulting, GE Medical, and Guidant. After several years of strategy and operations consulting at Deloitte Consulting across multiple industries, Mr. Olson focused in healthcare and life-science with the goal of getting products to the market that help patients directly by saving and improving lives. GE Medical Systems utilized his skills as a Six Sigma Blackbelt to streamline operations in delivering imaging technology to hospitals more quickly. At Guidant, Mr. Olson was a sales representative for the Cardiac Rhythm Management division working with physicians who implanted pacemakers, defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices that treat Congestive Heart Failure. As Vice President of Corporate Development at FoxHollow Technologies, Mr. Olson was a part of a company that went from $35M in sales to over $200M in sales, and lead much of the sale process to ev3 for $780M. ev3 was subsequently acquired by Covidien for $2.5B in 2010. Upon the acquisition of FoxHollow by ev3, serial entrepreneur and cardiology legend John B. Simpson (Foxhollow founder), asked Mr. Olson to found Sawtooth Labs with him. As it's founding CEO, Mr. Olson was responsible for structuring the spin-out of technology assets from ev3, hiring the team, and general day-to-day management of the company and another John Simpson company named Avinger.
Avinger has subsequently merged with Sawtooth Labs. Under his guidance, the team successfully developed a novel technology for crossing total occlusions in arteries, navigated the regulatory process to obtain commercial approval, and developed fiber-optic imaging technology for incorporation into therapeutic devices. Mr. Olson has BS degrees in Computer Science, Information Systems, and Operations & Strategic Management from Boston College. He graduated summa cum laude, ranked #1 in each major, and was awarded the Andersen Consulting award for computer science studies. He also has his MBA from Harvard University where he was captain of the lacrosse team, co-coach of the women's ice hockey team, and skated with the men's ice hockey team. He lives in Menlo Park, CA with his family.
Coni Rosati
Medical Device Entrepreneur with 20+ years experience in technology and business development. Developed products and applications in drug delivery, oncology, wound care, organ transport, diagnostics, veterinary, aesthetics and sensors. Successful in developing and executing strategies that deliver results in corporate growth and profitability, and long term customer and client relationships based upon performance and reliability. Co-founded and sold multiple start-ups, and worked with large multinationals to develop or spin out new medical technologies. Ms. Rosati is currently Director of R&D for Bayer Diabetes Care, and serves on the Board of Clarity Biosciences, Inc., and is the Treasurer of San Diego’s Biotech Discussion Group. She was Founder of Medovate, a consulting company providing business and product development services for health and life science companies which included projects in drug discovery and development, nutraceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, biomaterials, aesthetics, OTC and consumer products. Ms. Rosati co-founded OxyBand Technologies developing products that deliver therapeutic gas to tissues for wound care and medical aesthetic markets. Rosati patents 7014630, 7263814, 7,762,045 and numerous related patents in process in the US and internationally are the basis for the technology platform for OxyBand. Responsible for developing the product platform and successfully set up fabrication at a US based contract manufacturer, she secured first 510(k) for the product, produced clinical trial units, and conducted in-vitro and in-vivo wound healing and antimicrobial studies. She was the Co-Founder of MED-E-CELL for 8 years where she developed strategic partners, managed technology transfer and product development teams for proprietary drug delivery systems, and developed the marketing and sales plan for MED-E-CELL’s own research and veterinary infusion products. She also diversified the business into non-medical markets by pioneering the use of precision dispensers to emit volatiles that influence insect behavior, and secured commercial partners in pest control, secured the initial funding of this business through grants from Alaska and USDA. In addition she initiated programs to use the company’s fuel cell derived technology to preserve drugs, implants, chemicals, and precious artifacts. She was also Co-Founder of Electrochemical Drug Delivery, which was funded by VC fund investment and an NIH grant, until the company was acquired by Baxter. Prior to that she was Program Manager, Strategic Planning Analyst, and Product Development Engineer for IVAC, a wholly owned subsidiary Eli Lilly (which became Alaris, Cardinal and now CareFusion)
Education
University of California, San Diego
BS, Applied Mechanics, Bioengineering
