DELIVERING CONFIDENCE

Nicholas Franano, MD, is a physician, scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is President and CEO of Artio Medical, and a co-founder. Dr. Franano is an experienced entrepreneur, founding several companies including Artio Medical, Flow Forward Medical, Novita Therapeutics, and Proteon Therapeutics (NYSE: PRTO). Dr. Franano has held positions of President, CEO, and CSO at these companies, which have raised collectively over $120 million in capital and grants.

Before Proteon, Dr. Franano maintained an active clinical practice in interventional radiology, performing a wide range of vascular and non-vascular procedures. He received both his Doctor of Medicine and Master of Science in biomedical research from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology and a fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has received numerous research awards, grants and fellowships, and has published many abstracts and articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Franano holds 11 patents and more than 30 pending patent applications. In 2009, Dr. Franano was named a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum and an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” for the Central Midwest. Dr. Franano serves on the Biological Sciences Advisory Board at the University of Kansas and the Entrepreneurship Council at Washington University in St. Louis.

Paul Muller is Chief Technology Officer and General Manager at Artio Medical. He is an experienced leader with over 30 years of success developing cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and neurovascular medical devices. Prior to Artio, Paul was Chief Technology Officer and General Manager at Flow Forward Medical (acquired by Artio) where he led the product development team and moved the Arteriovenous Fistula Eligibility System program to clinical readiness. Prior to Flow Forward Medical, Paul started and led the HeartMate Percutaneous Heart Pump ^TM (PHP) program for the Thoratec Corporation, receiving CE mark approval and IDE initiation in 2015. Paul also successfully integrated the HeartMate PHP program into St. Jude Medical, and then into Abbott Laboratories through their acquisitions. Prior to Thoratec, Paul held many leadership and management roles within Guidant and Abbott Vascular. In one role, Paul created and led the Carotid, Peripheral, Biliary, and Neuro Business Unit within Guidant that developed the first device approved by the FDA for carotid artery stenting.

Paul is an inventor and co-inventor on 29 patents and has published several peer-reviewed papers in leading medical journals. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Pacific.

John Ayres, JD, serves as Vice President of Corporate Development and General Counsel at Artio Medical. Prior to Artio, John was Vice President of Corporate Development and General Counsel at Aratana Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly-traded life science start-up company where he was instrumental in its merger with Elanco Animal Health, Inc. in 2019. Prior to Aratana, John was corporate and securities counsel at Amgen Inc., a global publicly-traded biotechnology company, where he advised the board of directors and the company’s finance, human resources, and corporate communications groups. Prior to Amgen, John was an attorney at the global law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP where he specialized in public company counsel, including SEC compliance, initial public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions.

John earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Missouri, and holds a B.A. degree in finance from Truman State University.

Jeff is Head of Global Sales at Artio Medical. He brings 30 years of commercial leadership experience in the medical device industry and has a proven track record of executive level sales leadership, building exceptional sales teams, and driving strong, consistent revenue growth.

Jeff was most recently a Sr. Regional Sales Manager at Corindus Vascular Robotics, where he was instrumental working with the company’s CMO, leading physician robotic training, developing strategic national accounts, and strengthening KOL customer relationships. Jeff previously held several leadership positions at Spectrantics Corporation, a cardiovascular medical device company acquired by Royal Philips, where he excelled in repeatedly delivering over plan and was promoted to the highest rank of Sr. Principal Sales Director. Before Spectranetics, Jeff held several leadership and successful sales positions at companies including Cyberonics (LivaNovo), Guidant Corporation (Boston Scientific), CHS Solutions, Applied Medical Resources, McNeil Pharmaceutical (Jassen, Johnson & Johnson).

Jeff holds a BS degree in Communications from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO where he was a Division 1 athlete.

Ryan Moore is Senior Program Director at Artio. Ryan joins the team with 15 years of medical device experience in various roles including R&D, Clinical Sciences, and Program Management. Most recently Ryan was with Confluent Medical where he led the implementation of their project management system and also managed several Product Development programs from concept feasibility to high-volume production. Ryan has held senior engineering roles for Stryker Neurovascular and Boston Scientific.

Ryan received a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University and an MBA from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

Vera Shinsky is Senior Director of Technology at Artio Medical. She brings extensive medical device engineering experience to the team from a career focused in the neurovascular space. Prior to Artio, Vera held engineering management roles at Route 92 Medical, Medina Medical (acquired by Medtronic), and R&D roles at Silk Road Medical, Concentric Medical (acquired by Stryker), St. Jude Medical, and Acorn Product Development.

Vera Shinsky holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Product Design, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Stanford University.

Chris Parker is Senior Director of Marketing at Artio Medical. Chris is a dedicated leader in medical device, bringing nearly 30 years of marketing and sales expertise to the team.

Chris comes to Artio from Abbott Vascular where he most recently served as Director of Marketing, leading a team responsible for global product launch initiatives across a broad portfolio of products. Prior to Abbott, Chris held marketing roles of increasing responsibility at St. Jude Medical and Thoratec Corporation, where he was instrumental in developing successful marketing campaigns for important blood pump products including the CentriMag Acute Circulatory Support System and the HeartMate Percutaneous Heart Pump. Chris began his career in medical device as a sales representative for the Medi-Tech division of Boston Scientific.

Chris holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL.

Delane Dale is Senior Director of Quality Assurance at Artio Medical. Delane has 30 plus years of medical device experience with various roles in quality assurance, quality engineering, and regulatory affairs.

Delane was most recently with Confluent Medical Technologies where she was responsible for product development and sustaining quality engineering for the manufacture of neurovascular, endovascular, and cardiovascular products, including nitinol implants and catheter assemblies. Delane held similar roles with Cordis Cardinal Health, Covidien Vascular, LifeScan, Varian Medical Systems and Becton Dickinson, including experience working with the FDA and other regulatory bodies for global device submissions and approvals.

Delane holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from California Polytech State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

Jennifer Martin is Director of Marketing and Operations at Artio Medical. Jennifer is an experienced marketing professional in neurovascular market. Previously, Jennifer was a Global Product Manager at Stryker Neurovascular where she commercialized and managed several products for the treatment of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke. She was also a Business Development consultant for a promising start-up addressing Alzheimer’s disease.

Jennifer received a Bachelor of Arts in Neurobiology from Harvard University.

Scott Richardson is Director of Creative Device Design at Artio where he has played a key role in the growth of Artio’s product portfolio and intellectual property estate. Scott has over 30 years of cardiovascular medical device engineering experience, including at Thermo Cardiosystems, Thoratec, Levitronix, and Flow Forward Medical. He enjoys using his broad and deep technical expertise and inventive nature to find novel, practical solutions to difficult medical device design and engineering challenges.

Scott has completed continued education courses at Northeastern University, UMass Amherst, and Framingham State College, and technical courses at the Control Data Institute.

William Whitaker is a co-founder of Artio Medical and previously co-founded Flow Forward Medical, Novita Therapeutics, and Proteon Therapeutics (PRTO) where he served as Vice President, General Counsel, and Director. He helped raise more than $120 million in capital and grants for the various companies.

Prior to this, Whitaker was a Partner at two law firms before forming his own practice. He had a diverse career practicing in such areas as corporate law and financing, estate planning, municipal bond financing, bankruptcy, and litigation. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Heart of America Mutual Fund and of Milburn Country Club, where he served a term as President. He also served for three years on the Public Policy and Education Committee of Kansas BIO.

Whitaker earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. He received his law degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. In 2009 Whitaker was named an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” for the Central Midwest. Whitaker has held memberships in the Missouri Bar Association, Kansas City Bar Association and the Lawyers Association of Kansas City.