The Company is lead by a capable and seasoned management team with a broad background in the medical products industry. The team brings a broad array of relevant and necessary experience to the Company, both in terms of developing and bringing new products to market as well as managing successful established businesses.
James Lousararian, Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Lousararian began working with Verax as a consultant in the fall of 2005 and was named Chief Executive Officer in February 2006. Prior to joining Verax, James was a consultant for Medtronic Vascular following Medtronic's acquisition of Angiolink Corporation in November 2004. Mr. Lousararian was the President and CEO, as well as a Director and co-Founder of AngioLink, a life sciences start-up in the fields of wound management and interventional cardiology. Prior to the founding of AngioLink in late 1999, Mr. Lousararian was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of STD Manufacturing Inc., a medical device OEM manufacturer. Prior to joining STD, Mr. Lousararian was Vice President of Thermo ReTec Corp., an American Stock Exchange company and part of the Thermo Electron family of companies, where Mr. Lousararian was President of two major subsidiaries and responsible for business development. Mr. Lousararian began his career at Hale and Dorr, a Boston law firm. Mr. Lousararian received his J.D. from the University of Chicago and his B.B.A. (Accounting) from the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Lousararian is also a co-founder of ArthroSurface Incorporated, a start-up orthopedics company and Spirus Medical, Inc., a start-up medical device company in the gastroenterology and urology fields.
Elizabeth K. Krodel, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development
Dr. Krodel joined Verax in June, 2009 after consulting for the company through 2008. Prior to joining Verax, she was Chief Technology Officer at HX Diagnostics, an emerging Bay area company focused on rapid test development for pandemic influenza. She has held VP roles in product development for Pacific Biosciences, Affymetrix and Parallele Biosciences. While at Parallele, she oversaw kit development and manufacturing, and built and managed a genotyping services group. Her product development accomplishments include delivering IVD products for HIV, HCV and HBV viral load as well as a clinical sequencing system for HIV resistance during her tenure as VP, Product Development at Bayer Diagnostics. Her experience includes system integration for automated nucleic acid and immunoassay systems. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from Brandeis University and was a post-doctoral fellow of the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation at Harvard Medical School.
Joe R. Sanders, Sr. Vice President Marketing & Business Development
Mr. Sanders co-founded the Company in May 1999 and was appointed Vice President, Marketing & Business Development. Prior to joining Verax, Mr. Sanders served as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for ZymeQuest from 1997 to mid 1999. From November 1983 through 1997, Mr. Sanders was employed by the Diagnostics Division of Abbott Laboratories, where he held a variety of positions in sales, product management, strategic planning and marketing management. From 1983 through mid 1987 he held sales and product specialist positions in central Texas. From mid 1987 through mid 1997 he worked at the company's corporate headquarters in Abbott Park Illinois, first as a product manager, then as a senior strategic planner and finally as a marketing manager for both new products and established product lines representing over $1 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Sanders earned his BBA in 1981 and MBA in 1983 from the University of Houston.
R. Scott McKenzie, Sr. Vice President of Operations
Mr. McKenzie joined the Company in January 2007 and serves as Senior Vice President of Operations. Prior to joining Verax, he was site director of the Abbott Diagnostics immunoassay manufacturing facility in Longford, Ireland, where he took the site from green field to operational status in 19 months and supervised the hiring and training of 340 employees. Previously, he was divisional vice president of Abbott Diagnostics/ Abbott Molecular and vice president for Vysis, Inc., both of Downer’s Grove, Ill. Earlier, McKenzie held posts with ATC Diagnostics, Inc. and GENE-TRAK Systems, both of Framingham, Mass. and SCOTT Laboratories, Inc. of West Warwick, R.I. He began his career at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass. and earned a B.S. from MIT and an M.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Nancy A. Hornbaker, Vice President Regulatory Affairs
Ms. Hornbaker was appointed Vice President Regulatory Affairs in October of 2006 after serving as responsible head of Regulatory Affairs for Verax since 2002. Prior to joining the Company she held the position of Director of Regulatory and Clinical Affairs at Bayer Diagnostics. From 1993 through 1998 she served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Chiron Diagnostics and from 1986 through early 1993 she held the position of Director of Regulatory Affairs at Baxter Diagnostics. Previously she held positions in regulatory affairs and QA at Abbott Laboratories and Searle Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Hornbaker has extensive experience coordinating clinical trials and performing regulatory submissions for diagnostic testing products. She also has direct experience with tests intended to detect infectious contamination in the blood supply. Ms. Hornbaker received her BA from Kalamazoo College and her MBA from the University of Chicago.
Paul Ragusa, Vice President of Finance and Administration
Mr. Ragusa joined the Company in March 2007 and serves as Vice President of Finance and Administration. Prior to joining Verax, he was a consultant with Boston Equity Advisors where he assisted early stage medical device companies with the process of raising investment capital. Mr. Ragusa has held a variety of executive level financial positions within early stage, venture backed organizations. In addition to the medical device industry, he has expertise in the telecom, internet, and software space. Mr. Ragusa began his career in public accounting which included service with a Big-Five accounting firm. He is a graduate of Northeastern University where he earned a B.S. in finance, and is a certified public accountant.
Herbert M. Dean, M.D., FACP, Director of Medical Affairs
Dr. Dean was retained as the Company's Director of Medical Affairs on a part-time basis in October 2000. Dr. Dean is the past President of the Fallon Community Health Plan, a federally qualified HMO. He presently holds a teaching appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Dean is board certified in Hematology, Oncology and Internal Medicine and practiced for 31 years in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was the division director of Hematology / Oncology at the Fallon Clinic with hospital appointments to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and St. Vincent Hospital. Dr. Dean received his A.B. from Columbia University and his M.D. from Tufts University.
