Jim Corbett, President,
Mary T. Thistle, Senior Vice President, Business Development,
Morey Kraus, Chief Technology Officer
Karen Foster, Vice President, ViaCord Processing Laboratory
Karen Nichols, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems
Christina Willwerth, Vice President, Product Development
Nadia Altomare, Vice President, Sales, Service & Operations
Christopher Stump, Vice President, Sales & Training
Jim Corbett, President
Mr. Corbett joined ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in April 2006 as President, ViaCell Reproductive Health before becoming President following PerkinElmer's acquisition of ViaCell. He has over twenty years of healthcare experience and extensive knowledge in developing and implementing strategic plans to drive commercial growth. Prior to joining ViaCord, he co-founded CADx Systems, a company focused on the oncology market, where he held the position Executive Vice President and Director with responsibility for worldwide sales and marketing, technical support and business development. Following the 2004 acquisition of CADx by iCAD, Inc., Mr. Corbett was named Chief Commercial Officer. In addition, he held a variety of sales and marketing positions at Abbott Laboratories, Inc., including Worldwide Marketing Manager for Abbott Diagnostics Immunoassay Systems and Region Manager of Abbott Diagnostics. Mr. Corbett received a B.Sc. from The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
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Mary T. Thistle, Senior Vice President, Business Development
Ms. Thistle is Senior Vice President, Business Development with responsibility for identifying, negotiating and integrating new products, technologies and businesses into ViaCord. Since joining ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in October 2000, she has held a variety of executive positions including, Senior Vice President and General Manager of ViaCell Reproductive Health, Vice President, ViaCord Operations, and Vice President, Financial and Corporate Planning and Treasurer. Before joining ViaCell, she spent four years at the accounting firm Yoshita, Croyle & Sokolski where she provided audit, tax and management consulting services. Ms. Thistle also held a variety of financial positions at S.R.T, a subsidiary of Thermo Electron and Nashua Corporation as well as Deloitte & Touche. Ms. Thistle has a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts.
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Morey Kraus, Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Kraus was named Chief Technology Officer of ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in April 2000 following the merger of t. Breeders and Viacord. He was the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of t. Breeders, a cellular therapy company, from September 1994 until March 2000. Mr. Kraus was a Ph.D. candidate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in an interdisciplinary Bioprocess Engineering Program combining chemical engineering and biology. Mr. Kraus has a B.A. in Religion from American University.
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Karen Foster, Vice President, ViaCord Processing Laboratory
Ms. Foster joined ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in September 2003 and currently holds the position Vice President, ViaCord Processing Laboratory. Before joining ViaCord, Ms. Foster was Manufacturing Manager at Pfizer, Inc. where she oversaw supply chain matters and managed contract manufacturers for several biotherapeutic products. From 1998 to 2001 she served as Vice President, Manufacturing at Pierce Milwaukee where she had overall responsibility for manufacturing, formulation, product finishing, purchasing and production planning. Ms. Foster also held a variety of research and manufacturing positions at Amersham Pharmacia Biotech from 1986 to 1998, most recently as Director, Manufacturing. She received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University and both an M.S. in Zoology and an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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Karen Nichols, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems
Ms. Nichols joined ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in July 2004 as Director, Regulatory Affairs before becoming Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems. Prior to ViaCord, she spent eleven years at Genzyme, most recently as Director, Corporate Quality Systems. During her tenure at Genzyme, Ms. Nichols held a variety of quality positions of increasing responsibility, which included support for the startup and approval of their Allston, Massachusetts manufacturing facility. She has also held quality positions at ImmunoGen, Inc. and Wyeth Laboratories. Ms. Nichols holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and Masters of Liberal Studies in Administration from SUNY Plattsburgh and graduated from Suffolk University Law School. She is a registered patent attorney.
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Christina Willwerth, Vice President, Product Development
Ms. Willwerth joined ViaCord (formerly ViaCell) in June 2001 as Senior Program Manager before becoming Vice President of Product Development in August 2007. She has over 13 years experience in product and clinical development of drug, biological and device products. Prior to ViaCord, Ms. Willwerth served as Senior Director, Product Development at The Medicines Company where she was focused on the clinical and product development of its cardiovascular therapy. She also held clinical development positions at Astra Pharmaceuticals and Biopure Corporation. Ms. Willwerth holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
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Nadia Altomare, Vice President, Sales, Service, and Operations
Mrs. Altomare joined ViaCord in April 1998 and has led the sales, service, and operations teams through much change through several rounds of funding, a merger, an IPO, and an acquisition, growing the valuation of the company from $1 Million to $302 Million. Mrs. Altomare has created strategies that enhance sales efficiencies, cut cost of goods sold, and improved the top and bottom line. Prior to joining ViaCord, Mrs. Altomare headed up the operations, managed care information systems, and marketing research teams of a healthcare consulting firm, Mertech Inc, and developed strategy and execution with market research to pharmaceutical, diagnostics, and medical device companies. In addition, she held a variety of sales, marketing, and operations positions in industries such as logistics, retail, and telecom. Mrs. Altomare is a Board Member of the HealthCare Business Women’s Association. She received a B.S. from State University of New York At Stony Brook in New York and has an MBA from Northeastern University in Massachusetts.
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Christopher Stump, Vice President, Sales and Training
Mr. Stump is Vice President of Sales and Training for ViaCord with responsibility for the management of the outside sales organization. Prior to his current position, Mr. Stump spent 16 years with Abbott Laboratories, a medical device and diagnostic company, where he held positions in sales management, contracting, and marketing. While serving in this capacity, Mr. Stump directed several national commercial organizations, which gained him numerous awards. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing and has a wealth of experience in sales, marketing and commercial management. Mr. Stump resides in Lehigh Valley, PA with his wife Jeannine and their three children.
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