Governance

Lance Alstodt has been appointed the Company’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board as of Nov 16, 2020. Mr. Alstodt brings over 25 years of experience in leading medical technology and lifesciences companies in operations, capital raising activities, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions.

Most recently, Mr. Alstodt was the Founder and CEO of MedVest Consulting Corporation (“MedVest”), an advisory and capital firm focused exclusively within the healthcare sector, focusing on growth and channel strategy, strategic planning, merger and acquisition support and investor activities.

Prior to MedVest, Mr. Alstodt was a career investment banker with over 25 years of experience in healthcare investment banking, including mergers and acquisitions. In 2011, Mr. Alstodt joined Leerink Partners as Managing Director to help lead its medical technology sector. Mr. Alstodt brings significant domain experience within the orthopedic and spine specific sectors. From 2008-2011, Mr. Alstodt was a Managing Director and Head of Medical Technology at Oppenheimer & Co. From 2000-2008, he was a Managing Director in the Healthcare Group and Global M&A Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (“BAML”). Prior to BAML, Mr. Alstodt spent seven years in the Global M&A Group at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he worked extensively on acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, private and public financings, exclusive sales and general advisory assignments.

Mr. Alstodt received a B.A. in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, with a secondary concentration in Finance and Marketing.

Francisco Silva joined BRT in April 2011 and is Vice President of Research and Development. Mr. Silva is responsible for all laboratory operations and is involved in the development and growth of our stem cell programs.

Mr. Silva previously served as Chief Executive Officer of two companies engaged in the commercialization of human-based biologics for both research and therapeutic applications.

From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Silva was Vice President of Research and Development for PrimeGen Biotech LLC, a company engaged in the development of cell-based platforms. He was responsible for the development of experimental designs that focused on germ line reprogramming stem cell platforms.

Mr. Silva has taught courses in biology, anatomy and advanced tissue culture at California State Polytechnic University. He has obtained a number of patents relating to stem cells and has had numerous articles published with regard to stem cell research.

Mr. Silva graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in Biology. He also obtained a Graduate Presidential Fellowship and MBRS Fellowship from California State Polytechnic University.

Dr. Kukekov received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City. The focus of his research was the molecular mechanisms underlying programmed cell death of neuronal cells exposed to various pro-apoptotic conditions i.e. hypoxia, cytotoxic drugs, amyloid-beta, etc. After his thesis defense and post-doctoral position at Columbia, he spent 15 years on Wall Street, where he held a number of healthcare investment banking positions. For over a decade, he was a founding partner at Highline Research Advisors, served as a Managing Director at Summer Street Research Partners and at Paramount BioCapital, and was a Vice President at Rodman and Renshaw.

Dr. Kukekov received his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and is a recipient of multiple research scholarship awards and publications in peer reviewed articles in leading scientific journals.

Mr. Rosa serves on the board of directors of NeuroOne and is an entrepreneur with three decades of experience in the medical device industry spanning a variety of technologies and products. In addition to CEO roles with early stage medical device companies, Mr. Rosa’s background also includes senior roles with C.R. Bard Inc., Boston Scientific Inc., and St. Jude Medical, where his responsibilities included marketing, product development and business development. He has been named as an inventor on multiple medical device patents, serves on seven corporate boards, and has raised $200M in the capital markets. Mr. Rosa holds an MBA from Duquesne University, and a BS in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University.

Patrick F. Williams has more than 20 years of experience across medical device, consumer product goods and technology sectors. Appointed as Chief Financial Officer of STAAR Surgical Company in July 2020, Mr. Williams is responsible for optimizing the financial performance of STAAR and ensuring the scalability of various functions to support high growth expansion. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Sientra, Inc. before transitioning to General Manager for its miraDry® business unit. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Williams served as Chief Financial Officer of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc., a publicly-traded medical device company that was acquired by Allergan. Previously, he served as Vice President in finance, strategy and investor relations roles from 2007 to 2012 at NuVasive, Inc., a San-Diego based medical device company servicing the spine sector. He has also held finance roles with Callaway Golf and Kyocera Wireless. Mr. Williams received an MBA in Finance and Management from San Diego State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.