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Our Team

Our leadership team has a shared passion for bringing life-saving solutions to market. They exemplify what it means to be smart innovators in the healthcare space and inspire our work.

Leadership

JASON PESTERFIELD

Jason Pesterfield

President & CEO

Prior to joining Veran in August 2012, Jason had an 18-year career at Stryker, a publicly traded Fortune 500 medical device company with an emphasis on capital sales and operating room equipment. During his tenure, Jason served as Global Vice President and General Manager for the Surgical Navigation division, spearheading Stryker’s fastest-growing capital business in 2006, 2009 and 2010. Jason has a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska.

Kirk Jacquay

Kirk Jacquay

Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

Prior to joining Veran in April of 2016, Kirk had spent 11 years with Stericycle, Inc. where he held a variety of leadership roles.  Stericycle is a Fortune 1000 company that specializes in collecting and disposing regulated substances, such as medical waste, sharps, pharmaceuticals, and hazardous materials, in addition to acting as a service provider for recalled and expired goods.  Most recently, Kirk was Stericycle’s Vice President of Finance of its Environmental Solutions division, where he managed all financial functions and reporting for the business unit.  The Environmental Solutions business was the fastest growing business within Stericycle from 2010 to 2015.  Kirk also led efforts for strategic planning, budgeting, cost accounting, CRM and ERP system implementation, operations, and all aspects of M&A on behalf of Stericycle.  Kirk also held these positions at Stericycle:  Vice President Finance – Communication Solutions; Vice President – Strategic Development; Vice President Operations – Environmental Solutions; and Director – Mergers and Acquisitions.  Prior to joining Stericycle in 2005, Kirk held key leadership positions at several highly-regarded companies including: Eli Lilly, Celadon, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

Troy L. Holsing

Troy L. Holsing

CTO & VP of Application Development

Prior to joining Veran, Troy worked for Surgical Navigation Technologies, Inc. (SNT), Sofamor Danek and Medtronic. At SNT, he helped develop the StealthStation Image Guided Surgery System for Neurosurgery and played a pivotal role in SNT’s sale to Sofamor Danek. At Medtronic, he led development teams for Cranial and Functional Deep Brain Stimulation Image Guidance products and Ultrasound-CT fusion products for intraoperative monitoring of brain shift.

MARK HUNTER

Mark W. Hunter

Executive Vice President of Research & Development and Operations

Mark was a co-founder and helped build Surgical Navigation Technologies, Inc. (SNT) from Southern Illinois University in 1993. He and his fellow co-founders moved SNT to Colorado and concurrently obtained an equity investment from Sofamor Danek in 1994. After SNT was acquired by Sofamor Danek and Medtronic, he continued to be a top executive leader until joining Veran in 2007. Mark has 30 issued image guided patents to his name.

TJ MEYER

TJ Meyer

Executive Director of Global Marketing

TJ brings over 12 years of dynamic medical device marketing and sales experience. Mr. Meyer joined Veran in January of 2015 as Director of Marketing, responsible for both Upstream and Downstream Marketing. Prior to joining Veran, TJ spent 4 years at Acclarent, a Johnson and Johnson company. During his tenure at Acclarent, Mr. Meyer served in various marketing and market development leadership roles. Prior to Acclarent, TJ spent 4 years in sales and sales management roles for both Arthrex and Encore Medical (DJO Surgical), privately held orthopedic companies. TJ graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Human Biology from Minnesota State University.

RYAN DENNEY

Ryan Denney

Global Vice President of Sales

Ryan Denney joined Veran from Olympus Biotech, where he was Vice President of Sales, North America. He brings over 17 years of dynamic sales, marketing and leadership experience to the team, and has held various leadership positions with Stryker Biotech, Artemis Medical, Baxter Healthcare and Tyco. Ryan has a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

SCOTT WRIGHTSTONE

Scott Wrightstone

Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs

Scott brings a wealth of quality and regulatory experience to the Veran team. He served as the Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs for Allied Healthcare Products, Inc., managing a $1.5M budget and a 12-member QA/QC/RA team. Prior to his role as Director, he served as a Quality Manager and ISO Coordinator with Allied, managing compliance efforts with ISO, EU MDD and FDA guidelines. With over 12 years of QA/RA experience, he has participated in numerous FDA audits and 510(k) product clearance submissions. Scott has a B.S. in Safety Engineering from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the American Society of Quality.

SUSAN SHELBY

Susan Shelby

Executive Director of Global Clinical Operations

Susan brings to Veran over 20 years’ experience in all aspects of clinical research and product approval, including clinical trial design, clinical document development and submission, data analysis, FDA/EMA defense, and also post marketing study design and conduct. Dr. Shelby’s specialty expertise is designing novel clinical trial experiments that optimize the clinical treatment effect by minimizing variability in data analysis, minimize missing data, and mitigate study risks. She has led cross-functional clinical and technical teams in drug and device development resulting in 6 NDAs, 2 PMAs, multiple sNDAs. Her experience in medical device studies includes approvals for a PMA in photodynamic therapy (oncology); combination drug/device intrathecal pump (severe pain); a human fibroblast-derived dermal cassette; and medical imaging (oncology). Dr. Shelby has created and managed KOL advisory boards for post-approval programs. Prior to Veran, Susan served as the Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Operations at Biomedical Systems/ERT. Dr. Shelby was the Senior Director of Clinical Operations for Covidien, where she successfully developed a new product from patent to launch, and co-authored 12 patents. Susan was invited to participate in a Clinical Trial Design PPP with FDA, has given presentations at eClinical Forum, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and the Drug Information Association.

Dr. Shelby’s academic career involved crystallographic structural studies defining the molecular basis of disease. A National Merit Scholar, she received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology (with honors) from UC San Diego, and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Structural Biology from The Scripps Research Institute. She was awarded an NIH grant for structural biology/biophysics research at The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.

LAURA SPENCER GARTH

Laura Spencer Garth

General Counsel and Director of Human Resources

Laura brings to Veran several years of experience managing a full spectrum of labor, employment, commercial, and human resources-related matters. Laura is a former trial attorney and litigator licensed to practice in Missouri and Illinois. Prior to coming to Veran, Laura worked at Bryan Cave LLP in the Commercial Litigation and Labor and Employment client service groups, where she routinely represented and counseled a wide array of corporate clients in complex business and employment disputes. Laura has also practiced as a plaintiff’s attorney and handled a broad range of state- and nation-wide employment lawsuits and class actions at the state and federal level. She has been selected twice as a Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers – Rising Star in Employment Litigation (2014 – 2015) and was the recipient of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s John R. Essner Award for Young Lawyer of the Year (2014). Laura received her B.A. in Political Science and J.D. from Saint Louis University.

Board of Directors

Prior to joining Veran in August 2012, Jason had an eighteen-year career at Stryker, a publicly traded Fortune 500 medical device company with an emphasis on capital sales and operating room equipment. During his tenure, Jason served as Global Vice President and General Manager for the Surgical Navigation division, spearheading Stryker’s fastest-growing capital business in 2006, 2009, and 2010. Jason has a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska.

Prior to joining CONMED, Curt had an illustrious 22-year career at Stryker Corporation, even serving as interim CEO from February to October 2012. During Curt’s tenure, Stryker completed several acquisitions, debt offerings, share buybacks and an enhanced dividend policy. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and obtained an Advanced Management Program Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Carter joined River Cities in 1999 and leads the Firm’s healthcare investing practice. He has been instrumental in setting River Cities’ healthcare strategy and establishing the Firm’s credibility within the healthcare vertical.
 
Previously, Carter worked in marketing and business development for Home Technology Healthcare, a comprehensive home healthcare company offering nursing, DME, infusion therapy and hospice services. Home Technology Healthcare was private equity financed by Continental Illinois and acquired by Integrated Health Services in 1997. As the 1998 recipient of the Bradford Fellowship for achievements in corporate finance, Carter worked in equity research at J.C. Bradford & Co. while attending business school at Vanderbilt.
 
Carter has achieved numerous highly profitable exits in healthcare services and medical technology, including Suros Surgical Systems, Accelecare, SurgiQuest, OrthoHelix, Invivodata, PerfectServe and Orthoscan. He currently serves on the boards of Nico, OrthAlign and TissueTech. Carter is also an independent board member of Ischemia Care.
 
Carter holds a BA in Classical Studies from Trinity College (Hartford, CT) where he was awarded the James Goodwin Prize, the oldest academic honor at the college, and received his MBA from Vanderbilt University.

Prior to joining NxThera in 2009, Bob was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of Restore Medical, which was acquired by Medtronic in July 2008. Bob has held multiple finance and marketing leadership positions at Endocardial Solutions, Medtronic and General Mills. In addition to NxThera and Veran Medical, Bob serves as a Director of Sun Biopharma, Inc. and is a Director and Chairperson for several charitable foundations: Sister Kenny Foundation, Pillsbury Neighborhood Services and the Washburn Child Guidance Center. Bob received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law and holds an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas. He has a B.A. in Accounting, Economics & Political Science from Luther College.

Kevin Hykes is the CEO and President of Relievant Medsystems, a privately held medical device company that has developed the Intracept® procedure, a breakthrough treatment for chronic lower back pain. Prior to Relievant Kevin was an Operating Partner at Versant Ventures and Chairman and CEO of Metavention, Inc., a privately held medical device company focused on the development of interventional therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Prior to Metavention, Kevin was President and CEO of Cameron Health, developer of the subcutaneous implantable defibrillator, until its acquisition by Boston Scientific in 2012. Prior to Cameron Health, he was the Chief Commercial Officer of Visiogen, Inc., a privately held ophthalmology company which was acquired by Abbott Medical Optics in 2009. Previously, Kevin spent over sixteen years at Medtronic, where he held leadership positions in the CRM, Neurostimulation, and Cardiac Surgery businesses in the US and Europe. Kevin received his MBA from Northwestern University and a BBA from the University of Wisconsin. Kevin serves as an independent director at Metavention and Veran Medical Technologies.

At Versant, Kirk has co-led investments in several medical companies such as Biotie (public), CardiAQ (sold), Cameron Health (sold), Lutonix (sold), Holaira, Inari Medical, Metavention, NeuWave Medical, Respicardia, Sequent Medical, Veran and Zyga Technology. Before Versant, Kirk held several commercial positions in Medtronic’s Cardiac Rhythm Management division and, before his business career, he was a professional hockey player. He obtained his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Harvard College, where he received the John P. Reardon, Jr. Award as the college’s most outstanding scholar-athlete.

Mr. Cramer runs his own consulting business, has over 30 years’ experience and is a proven and focused medical device & diagnostics CEO. He has significant experience driving change by instilling a culture of high performance and implementing growth strategies as well as operational improvement initiatives, resulting in a track-record of successful exits.

Scott joined Accriva Diagnostics in December 2013 as the President & CEO. The Company had a portfolio of diagnostics devices for coagulation and platelet function testing. The Company closed all NJ operations and moved to a new facility in San Diego. Accriva was successfully sold to Werfen Life in January 2017 for $380M.

Prior to Accriva, Scott worked as an EIR with Warburg Pincus in 2013. From March 2010 to Dec. 2012 Scott was President and CEO of Novasys Medical. The Company was focused on treating women with stress incontinence. Novasys was sold to Roper Industries in Dec. 2012.

Prior to joining Novasys, he served as President and CEO of Bacchus Vascular, a company focused on peripheral vascular disease, where he successfully negotiated the sale of the Company to Covidien plc in March 2009.

Previously, Scott was the Senior Vice President of U.S. Sales and Services for VNUS Medical, which was also acquired by Covidien plc. Scott joined VNUS in 2000.

From 1997 through 2000, Scott was Vice President Sales at EndoSonics, a cardiovascular device company which later became Volcano Corporation. From 1996 to 1997, he served as NSM at Cardiometrics, Inc., which was acquired by Endosonics Corporation. From 1990 to 1995, Scott held several positions at Baxter Healthcare Corporation’s cardiovascular division.

Scott currently serves on the Board of Directors of Veran Medical, and is Chairman of Biocoat Incorporated. Scott served as Executive Chairman of NeuWave Medical (Sold to J&J April 2016, $300M), and has also previously served on the Board of Directors of Accriva, Vascular Insights, AccuVein, Venous Health, Novasys and Bacchus. He serves on the Investment Advisory Committee for Venture Investors. He holds a B.S. degree in Finance from Philadelphia University.

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