Board of Directors & Charter
Committees of the Board & Charters
> Board of Directors Charter
As a corporately driven organization, the MedTech Board of Directors is comprised of senior officers of the manufacturing companies:
Chairman, Director, Board of Directors
Jonas, a founding member of MedTech and Board member since 2004, joined ConMed Corporation as General Counsel in August 1998 and became the Vice President-Legal Affairs in March 1999. In September 1999 through July 2005, Jonas assumed responsibility for some of ConMed’s Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance departments. In March 2003, he also became responsible for the administration of ConMed’s ethics policy. In addition to his duty as secretary of the MedTech Board of Directors, Jonas also serves as co-chair of the Issues, Events & Services committee.
Treasurer, Director, Board of Directors
Tracy MacNeal is the Chief Strategy Officer for ATW Companies, a manufacturer of precision metal components for medical devices. She is responsible for all Sales and Marketing teams within the ATW subsidiaries, and is steward of the Corporate strategic planning process. In this capacity, her focus is alignment of all areas of the corporation: financial, operational, and sales/marketing, to drive profitable organic growth and successful acquisition/divestiture activity. With an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Cooper Union and an MBA from Duke, she has specialized in successful commercialization and partnerships in the healthcare space.
Scott Steele
Secretary, Director, Board of Directors
Scott Steele joined the University of Rochester in December of 2008 and currently serves as the Director of Research Alliances. In this role he fosters strategic research partnerships between the University and industry, government agencies, and other academic institutions. He is actively involved with the University of Rochester Clinical and Translational Science Institute, serving as the Director of the Public-Private Partnerships Key Function. Additionally, he holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Steele received his BS with Honors in Biology from Union College in Schenectady, NY. Following this, he performed research at the General Electric Center for Research and Development and was a fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Steele completed his MA and PhD in Molecular Biology at Princeton University.
Verner is Vice President / General Manager of Thermo Fisher Scientific for their Labware and Specialty Plastics business in Rochester, New York. In this role, Verner oversees the development, manufacture, and go-to-market strategies with strong focus in delivering global products and services that target the bioproduction, cell culture, drug discovery, diagnostics and packaging marketplace. He brings with him over 30 years industry experience, and his influence and direction can be seen throughout the broad portfolio of solutions available today as Thermo Scientific branded product. Verner attended Copenhagen University College of Engineering in Denmark where he majored in Industrial Engineering.
Paul Buckley
Director, Board of Directors
Buckley has been president of Applied Sciences Group since 1997, serving in engineering, operations management and strategic development areas. He has a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in systems engineering from RPI. Prior to his employment at ASG, Buckley worked in the aerospace and telecommunications industries in various engineering and management capacities. He currently chairs the University at Buffalo's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) Alumni Association and is the 2004 CEL Taylor Kew award recipient for entrepreneurial excellence. Buckley is a board member of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, the UB School of Medicine's Dean's Council, and the Buffalo branch of the American Diabetes Association.
Director, Board of Directors
John is partner with the intellectual property law firm Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti. He graduated cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law. Mr. Boger also received cum laude, a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Syracuse University and a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Utah. Previous to joining Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. Mr. Boger was Senior Counsel to Capital District Physicians' Health Plan, Inc. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Boger worked for 8 years at DePuy, Inc. as a product development engineer and product manager specializing in orthopaedic implant design.
Director, Board of Directors
Throughout his twenty-five year career, Dave Eilers has been a goal-oriented enterprise leader who enjoys pioneering new products as well as opening new markets worldwide. Mr. Eilers has experience with Consumer Goods such as leading the introduction and roll-out of Personal Pan Pizza for Pizza Hut and opening new markets for Hathaway Division of Warnaco. His experience in Durable Goods is as diverse as —home satellite dishes and commercial chinaware for Syracuse China/ Libbey Foodservice. For the last decade, Dave has been employed in the Healthcare Industry working both as a consultant and in management for two private-equity investors before the ten-company group was acquired in March of 2006. Mr. Eilers’ current interest is applying an Open Innovation business model to Diagnostic Healthcare-- bridging the gap between invention and market introduction. Dave was one of three founders of Blue Highway LLC, an advanced R&D subsidiary of Welch Allyn. Blue Highway is dedicated to creating innovative, intellectual capital through early detection and diagnosis of adverse health conditions, aggregation of data to enhance clinical outcomes, and comprehensive, clinical decision support. In the course of his business development activities, Mr. Eilers has observed a variety of clinical procedures at many prestigious teaching institutions such as Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and Cleveland Clinic.
Scott Gucciardi is responsible for leading the global marketing function and bringing together a customer-focused organization to drive Welch Allyn’s solutions strategy. Scott began his career at Welch Allyn in 1990 as a manufacturing systems project engineer and soon after moved into the new product development function as a quality engineer. He then held a number of management positions of increasing leadership responsibility in product management, marketing, and strategic business unit management, with a focus on innovation in ophthalmic diagnostic devices. Scott most recently served as executive vice president & chief new product development officer and was responsible for leading all of the functions relating to R&D at Welch Allyn. Scott has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Clarkson University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rochester Simon School.
Ben Harp
Director, Board of Directors
Harp joined Polymer Conversions Inc. in December 2003 as the Director of Business Development. In June 2004 he became the Chief Operating Officer. He holds a Masters of Business Administration and a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics from Canisius College. He currently is the Vice Chair of the Life Science Council of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and is on the board of directors for Manufacturers Association of Plastics Processors. Harp previously served on the board of directors for the Society of Plastics Industry.
Jeff Helfer currently serves as Diffinity Genomics’ Chief Executive Officer and Company Director. Mr. Helfer is an entrepreneur and angel investor with 37 years of experience in medical product development and manufacturing, new business development, and regulatory affairs. Previously, he served as CEO of MYOTECH, LLC, a company formed to commercialize a unique human circulatory support system with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide, and VP of Engineering and New Business Development for Biophan Technologies, Inc., where he successfully developed new medical device technologies that led to business partnerships with Boston Scientific and Medtronic.
He was formerly with Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, where he served at different times as Program Director, Director of New Business Development, Director of Regulatory Affairs, and Director of Engineering, and also Eastman Kodak Company where he participated in the early development of the company’s Ektachem clinical diagnostic business, formed and managed the company’s radiographic imaging research laboratory, and participated in multiple life science business development initiatives.
Holly Hillberg
Director, Board of Directors
Hillberg currently serves as Vice President of Research & Development at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company. In this role, she is responsible for the pipeline delivery of products to the marketplace and sits on the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Board. Hillberg spent 23 years at Eastman Kodak, holding executive positions in R&D, Engineering, Operations and Global Commercialization and led the divestiture of Eastman Kodak Company’s Health Imaging Group business to the Onex Corporation, which led to the creation of Carestream Health, Inc.
Most recently, she was Vice President and Chief Technology Officer with Carestream Health where she served on MedTech’s board from 2008-2010. In 2009, Hillberg received the Rochester Business Alliance Women’s Council’s annual Athena Award, honoring an outstanding professional woman who demonstrates exceptional levels of business accomplishment and community involvement.
Director, Board of Directors
Bruce D. Kirk is responsible for the advancement of Innovation Effectiveness throughout the corporation. His responsibilities include innovation process development and deployment, employee education and training, global benchmarking, next generation process development and the implementation of the Innovation Black Belt role across Corning. He is the corporate process owner of Corning’s Five Stage Innovation Process and the Roadmapping process. Bruce led the Revitalize Innovation Globally (RIG) initiative for the Corporation since 2005. Previously, he led the innovation process portion of Corning Competes re-engineering from 1995 to 1997.
His focus was on Innovation Project Management and its deployment in Corning’s faster new product and process R&D environment during the telecom growth period. Bruce has extensive experience teaching the principles and practice of the innovation process to teams in Corning’s worldwide network. He is also skilled in facilitating the development of roadmaps and business technology strategies with the business units. Bruce joined Corning in 1976 and has held various leadership positions in sales, sales management, marketing management and business management. His career experience has spanned several Corning divisions including Medical Products, Science Products, Human Resources, Photonic Technologies, and Science and Technology. Bruce holds a bachelor’s degree in business finance from Susquehanna University.
Director, Board of Directors
Bill Maggio is the president and CEO of IMMCO diagnostics, Inc. a global manufacturer of autoimmune and esoteric diagnostics. Prior to joining IMMCO, Bill held senior level Business Development and operational positions at Boehringer Mannheim, Roche, and Bureau VERITAS. He has extensive business experience in Europe and Asia having and currently serves on a number of not for profit boards, including the Canisius College Board of Trustees, the University at Buffalo center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology Board of Advisors, and the West Side Rowing Club Board of Directors.
Director, Board of Directors
Since 2000, Dr. Meckler has led AMRI's Science & Technology department. This group helps to manage the AMRI IP portfolio, internal research projects, Scientific Information systems and the AMRI sample collection. Dr. Meckler joined AMRI in 1995 to head up the Chemical Development and cGMP Production Groups. Prior to that he worked at Telor Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals (Wilmington, Massachusetts) and built their Organic Chemistry Department. In 1984, Dr. Meckler joined the Chemical Development Group of the CIBA Pharmaceuticals Division (Summit, New Jersey) where he focused on the process development, pilot plant scale up and cGMP production of a wide variety of compounds. Prior to that, Dr. Meckler worked in the Chemical Development Group of Sterling Winthrop (Rensselaer, New York). Dr. Meckler earned his Ph.D. in 1983 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Organic Process Research and Development.
Director, Board of Directors
Michael Riedlinger has a bachelor’s degree in fine art from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rochester. A seasoned start-up venture, he has founded or co-founded several businesses, including Diffinity Genomics where he currently serves as a board member. In his role at HTR he provides support and development services to life science and medical device entrepreneurs as well as technology commercialization assistance to university researchers throughout the region. Development of new approaches for entrepreneurial training and technology commercialization are current initiatives. He is the Program Manager and designer of the HTR LaunchPad, a new software acceleration program based on experiences gained as a Mentor in the National Science Foundation ICorps Program at Stanford University. Michael also serves on the Cornell Center for Materials Research Industrial Advisory Board.
Bob Ruppenthal
Director, Board of Directors
For nearly thirty years, Ruppenthal has led RTEmd in strategic direction, business development and administration. His company is focused on development and testing of software for regulated medical devices in clinical diagnostics, medical imaging and information systems. Before founding RTEmd, Ruppenthal was a practicing electrical engineer designing hardware and software for complex systems in aerospace and medical applications.
Amy Ryan
Director, Board of Directors
After her 16-year tenure with InfiMed Inc., Ryan was appointed as President in October 2007. Prior to her appointment, Ryan honed leadership experience as Executive Vice President of the company. With expertise in operations development, engineering, marketing and P&L management, Ryan looks to strengthen InfiMed’s trusted commitment to high quality products, global service, and innovative solutions to challenges. As a director, Ryan’s mission is to continue to enhance MedTech’s support for local companies who are bringing innovation to a globalizing medical technologies field.
Director, Board of DIrectors
Dr. Schneiderman is a member of Harris Beach law firm, the Intellectual Property Practice Group, and co-leader of the Nanotechnology Industry Team. She also serves on the Medical and Life Sciences, and the Science and Technology Commercialization Industry Teams. A biologist as well as a patent attorney, Dr. Schneiderman’s practice focuses on domestic and foreign patent procurement, opinion work and strategic planning, representing high technology clients in the areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, medical devices, environmental chemistry and agriscience. She prosecutes patent and trademark applications in a wide range of technologies such as molecular biology, genetics, neurobiology, immunology, cancer biology, pharmacology, cell biology, developmental biology, microbiology, environmental physiology and chemistry, textile chemistry, industrial enzymes, small molecule pharmaceuticals and formulations, recombinant vaccines and drugs, medical monitors, micro- and nanoscale diagnostic systems, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, plant patents, and plant variety protection rights. Dr. Schneiderman had a 20-year career as an academic research scientist and professor prior to practicing law. Her training in science (B.S. in biological sciences and Ph.D. in neurobiology) and law allows her to work closely with scientists, inventors and management teams in developing ideas into patentable inventions. To view her full bio, visit http://www.harrisbeach.com/people/anne-schneiderman.
Committee Structure and Chairs
MedTech's Committees of the Board help to further the success of the organization through guiding and supporting the organizations strategy and daily activities. Committee chairs are drawn from the membership:
Issues, Events & Services:
> John Boger, Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti (Co-chair)
> Dave Eilers, Blue Highway (Co-chair)
> Issues Events & Services Charter
Marketing & Membership Development:
> Bob Ruppenthal, RTEmd (Chair)
> Marketing & Membership Development Charter
Science & Technology:
> Ted Farrell, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (Chair)
> Science &Technology Charter
Government & Public Affairs:
> Chris Knospe, Greatbatch Medical (Chair)
> Governance & Public Affairs Charter
Finance:
> Amy Ryan, InfiMed (Chair)
> Finance Charter
Governance & Nominating:
> Holly Hoehner, Hiscock & Barclay (Chair)
> Governance & Nominating Charter