Management
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Todd Berg
Co-Founder, President and CEO
Mr. Berg brings over fifteen years of experience with pioneering technologies and a proven track record in funding and marketing early stage start-ups to the Venture Capital and clinical community.
Prior to Torax Medical, Mr. Berg was with St. Jude Medical where he was the Vice President of Emerging Technology.
Prior positions at St. Jude Medical included General Manager of the Anastomotic Technology Group and Vice President of Research and Development for the Cardiac Surgery Division. He joined St. Jude Medical through the acquisition of Vascular Science in 1999 where he was the Vice President of Research and Development. Prior to Vascular Science he was with SciMed Life Systems and Boston Scientific.
Mr. Berg holds over sixty patents in the area of medical technology and has published numerous articles in professional journals. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
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Jon St. Germain
Vice President of Research and Development
Mr. St. Germain has 15 years of experience in medical device product development in both large and early stage companies in a variety of device applications. Prior to joining Torax, he was the Vice President of Research & Development for the Cardiovascular Division of St. Jude Medical where he was responsible for R&D engineering and program management for interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery products. Additionally he was involved with business development for the division. Mr. St. Germain joined St. Jude from CoAxia, Inc, an early stage development organization focused on ischemic stroke, where he held the position of Senior Vice President of R&D and Operations. Jon began his career with Scimed Life Systems, later Boston Scientific, as well as Vascular Science before joining CoAxia.
Jon holds over 30 US & International patents and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Dakota.
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Jim Russell
Vice President of Regulatory and Quality
Mr. Russell brings over 20 years medical device experience to Torax. Prior to Torax Medical, he was with Zimmer, Inc., as Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for the Spine and Orthobiologics Divisions.
Mr. Russell has held various senior leadership positions, including Vice President of Quality & Regulatory Affairs positions with AlloSource, COBE Cardiovascular and Sulzer Carbomedics., and Chief Operating Officer of TMJ Implants, Inc.
Jim has Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Biology from the University of Colorado, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
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Brian L. Mower, CPA
Vice President of Finance
Mr. Mower brings over 14 years of experience in finance to Torax Medical, including 10 years in the Medical Device industry. Prior to joining Torax Medical, Mr. Mower was Vice President of Finance at Empi, Inc., a medical device manufacturing and medical insurance billing firm, where he oversaw all finance and accounting functions, led merger & acquisition integration activities, and helped drive significant improvements in profitability and cash flow performance.
From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Mower held various senior finance positions, including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, at Iomed, Inc., a publicly traded drug delivery and medical device manufacturing firm, where he managed the accounting, finance, human resource, information technology and investor relations departments. Mr. Mower also led due diligence and negotiations on Iomed's sale transaction to ReAble Therapeutics, a portfolio company of The Blackstone Group, garnering a 40% premium.
Mr. Mower was with the public accounting firm of KPMG LLP, where he provided audit and consulting services to publicly traded, government run, and privately owned clients. Mr. Mower is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and a member of the AICPA and UACPA organizations. Mr. Mower earned both a Bachelor degree in accounting and a Masters of Accounting degree from Brigham Young University.
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Brent Collins
Vice President of Market Development and Education
Mr. Collins joined Torax in 2006 as Director of Market Development and played key roles in the creation and implementation of the LINX feasibility and pivotal trials. He currently serves as Torax's Vice President of Market Development and Education applying more than 15 years experience in promoting and selling innovative medical device technology to physicians and healthcare facilities world-wide.
Prior to Torax Medical, Mr. Collins held market development and product development positions for new technologies at St. Jude Medical's Cardiac Surgery and Atrial Fibrillation business units. Mr. Collins joined St. Jude from Acist Medical where he held product management and sales positions for their interventional cardiology and endovascular surgery technologies.
Mr. Collins has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of St. Thomas,
St. Paul, MN. -
Simon Freedman
Vice-President OUS Marketing
Mr. Freedman has over 20 years experience in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Sales and Marketing across a wide range of products and indications. Before joining Torax Medical in November 2010, Simon spent 9 years at Allergan, commercialising new indications in Botox Neuroscience and Botox Cosmetic across Europe and leading the development of Allergan's European gastric band and gastric balloon weight loss business.
Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Freedman held a number of UK sales and marketing roles for three different companies.
Mr Freedman holds a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from Oxford Brookes University.