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.

Wendy Sawyer is the Senior Vice President of Operations and Quality at Artio Medical. Wendy brings more than 30 years of experience in operations, manufacturing, and product development in the medical device industry.

For the last 10 years Wendy was Vice President of Operations at NeoTract, Inc. (aquired by Teleflex, Inc.) where she led all worldwide business unit activities related to Manufacturing, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain and Logistics. She successfully scaled manufacturing and related activities for the NeoTract Urolift® System from first commercialization to over a million units manufactured, through Teleflex’s acquisition and present-day integration. Prior to NeoTract she held various management / global operations positions at Boston Scientific, Guidant, Origin Medsystems (Eli Lilly and Co.) and IVAC Corporation (Eli Lilly and Co.).

Wendy graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Industrial Technology from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Dr. Blaise Baxter is a Neuro and Peripheral Interventional Radiologist. He recently served as Chief/Chair of the Radiology Department at Erlanger Health System. Dr. Baxter is currently a Special Government Employee for the Neurological Devices Panel for the FDA Medical Devices Advisory Committee. In addition, Dr. Baxter is the immediate Past-President of the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS). He is also an Executive Committee Member of American Society of NeuroRadiology (ASNR) and Scientific Statements Committee Member at American Stroke Association (ASA).

Dr. Baxter completed his Interventional Neuroradiology Fellowship at the University of Western Ontario, and received his medical degree from Dalhouse University Faculty of Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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.

Erdie De Peralta is Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Artio Medical. He is an experienced medical device professional with nearly 20 years of expertise in clinical and regulatory affairs, product development, and field and sales training.

Previously, Erdie was the Vice President of Regulatory and Clinical Affairs at ExThera Medical Corporation, where he led the company in the development and execution of regulatory and clinical strategies, including interactions with the FDA and other regulatory agencies. Prior to ExThera, Erdie held various regulatory leadership positions at OptiScan Biomedical, Abbott, St. Jude Medical, Boston Scientific, and Guidant Corporation. He has experience with implantable cardiac rhythm devices, PCI optimization, mechanical circulatory support devices, glucose monitoring systems, and hemofiltration devices.

Erdie has a Master’s degree in Nursing from New York University in New York, NY.

Joe McConnell is the Vice President of Finance and Business Operations at Artio Medical. He brings over fifteen years of operations and finance experience to Artio. Serving as both Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer at several companies prior to Artio. Most recently, Joe was COO at Nolan Real Estate, a >$1B multifamily real estate investment firm, leading the company’s teams in operations, finance, asset management, marketing, human resources, and IT. Prior to this, Joe served as the COO/CFO at Blooom, a rapidly growing Kansas City startup. Prior to Blooom, Joe lead operations and strategy for LinkedIn’s Marketing solutions business, managing both the sales and business operations teams. Before that, Joe was an engagement manager with McKinsey’s operations practice in San Francisco and served as an Engineering and Armor office in the US Army for four years, earning a Bronze Star for service in Iraq.

Joe holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, CA, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds a BS in Engineering from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey where he graduated summa cum laude.

Irina Galkina is the Controller at Artio Medical. Prior to Artio, Irina was at Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly-traded animal health company, where she held roles of increasing responsibility in finance and accounting, from Accounting Manager to Controller. As Controller at Aratana, Irina was instrumental in the acquisition of Aratana by Elanco Animal Health, Inc. in 2019.  While at Elanco Irina focused on preparation for acquisition and subsequent integration of Bayer Animal Health, working closely with US and international senior management. Earlier in her career, Irina held roles of increasing responsibility in public accounting firms Anders CPAs + Advisors, Deloitte, and Arthur Andersen.

Irina holds a Masters degree in Economics from the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

Ryan Moore is Senior Program Director at Artio. Ryan joins the team with over 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. Prior to this, he was a Senior R&D Engineer and Technical Project Manager at Stryker Neurovascular, where he led the development of a market-leading embolization coil platform and managed next generation technology projects. Previously, Ryan held technical roles at Boston Scientific and the Food and Drug Administration.

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 the 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 joining Artio, Vera was Director of Technology at Route 92 Medical/Highway 1 Medical, leading and participating in all aspects of product development. Prior to Route 92, she was Project Manager at Medina Medical and instrumental in the integrating and expanding the Medina portfolio at Medtronic Neurovascular after its acquisition in 2015. Vera has also held R&D roles of increasing responsibility 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.

Mimi Fitterer is Senior Director of Technology at Artio Medical. Mimi has over 20 years of experience in medical device design, development, and process transfer.

Mimi has experience leading product development efforts of new products at every stage from design concept through commercialization. Mimi was most recently at Intuitive Surgical, where she was responsible for exploring new areas for robotic surgical assistance in the endoluminal space. Prior to Intuitive Surgical, Mimi was at Boston Scientific, leading the development of next generation delivery catheters for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). She has also held engineering roles of increasing responsibility at Arbor Surgical Technologies and Conceptus Incorporated.

Mimi holds a BS degree in Bioengineering from University of California, San Diego in San Diego, CA.

Dan Tamez is the Senior Director of Nonclinical and Clinical Research. Dan brings over 25 years of deep domain experience in blood pumps and mechanical circulatory support, and is responsible for managing all nonclinical and clinical research programs at Artio Medical.

Prior to joining Artio, Dan served as Distinguised Scientist at Medtronic plc, and was responsible for overseeing mechanical circulatory programs from design through nonclinical testing and clinical use. He was rewarded in this role by being inducted to the Bakken Society of Medtronic in 2019. Prior to this, Tamez was Senior Director of Clinical Research at HeartWare (Medtronic, 2016). Tamez has also published over 40 manuscripts and has co-authored book chapters on mechanical circulatory support and cardiac devices.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science from University of Texas.

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.