Richard Ferrari is a Tenon Founder, Director, and Executive Chairman of the Company. Since 2000, Mr. Ferrari has been Managing Director of Denovo Ventures, specializing in Medical Devices and Biotechnology. Mr. Ferrari previously served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of PQ Bypass, which culminated in a successful acquisition by Endologix. Mr. Ferrari is Executive Chairman of the Board for Medlumics, S.L.; Vice Chairman of the Board for ABS Interventional; Executive Chairman of the Board for Heart Beam Inc.; a board member of Biomodex Corporation, Retriever Medical Inc., RMx Medical, Hawthorne Effect, Inc., and Hands of Hope; board member and co-founder of TransAortic (acquired by Medtronic); Executive Chairman of Sentreheart (acquired by Atricure), board member of Spinal Modualtion (acquired by St Jude). Mr. Ferrari has raised over $1Billion for the companies he has been involved with and has been a key member of M&A teams, achieving over $2Billion in acquisitions. Mr. Ferrari is a mentor and advisor to CEOs and start-up companies on strategy and building organizations dedicated to delivering excellence. Mr. Ferrari is the creator of Excellence by Choice, a series of lectures and presentations to help early-stage companies perform at the highest level of execution. Mr. Ferrari received a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Ashland University and an MBA from University of South Florida.
Steven M. Foster serves as Chief Executive Officer & President and is also a Director of the Company. Mr. Foster has over 30 years of marketing, sales, operations, and general management experience in the medical device industry. Most recently, Mr. Foster was the principal with CTB Advisors, LLC, providing medical device organizations with consultative assistance on commercialization-focused projects. Clients included NuVasive (NUVA), SafeOp Surgical, and ATEC Spine (ATEC).
Mr. Foster was Global Commercialization President of Safe Orthopaedics SAS; VP/GM of Medtronic Spine’s Western Europe operations, and held a progressive succession of sales, marketing, and general management roles in the Danek Group Inc., Sofamor Danek, Medtronic Spine & Biologics organization. Mr. Foster started his career in a variety of operational roles with Stryker Endoscopy (SYK). Mr. Foster received a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Management, and Logistics from Central Michigan University.
Richard Ginn is a founder of Tenon Medical and is the Chief Technology Officer and a Director of the company, with a focus on intellectual property and product development. Mr. Ginn has traveled globally to train physicians and participate in FIH trials. He is a named inventor on more than 300 patents for medical devices. Mr. Ginn has helped raise more than $100 million in venture capital. In 2013, Mr. Ginn founded TransAortic Medical, an embolic protection device company, and is the President, CEO, and a Director. At TransAortic, Mr. Ginn managed all corporate operations, raised capital to support company needs; managed the acquisition of technology by a strategic partner; managed all Intellectual Property; and set up European distribution for a CE Marked device. Mr. Ginn is the founder of Promed, a large hole femoral closure device company, where he was the CEO, President and a Director.
Stephen H. Hochschuler, M.D. is a world-renowned orthopedic spine surgeon. Dr. Hochschuler is the co-founder of the Texas Back Institute, founder of Back Systems, Inc., and founding Chairman of Innovative Spinal Technologies. Dr. Hochschuler has served on numerous boards of directors and advisory boards for medical and scientific institutions. Dr. Hochschuler is a member of numerous national and international professional organizations including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons; the American Pain Society; North American Spine Society; and the Southwest Chapter of the Society of International Business Fellows. Internationally, he is a member of the International Intradiscal Therapy Society; the International Society for Minimal Intervention in Spinal Surgery; the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine; and is a founding board member of the Spinal Arthroplasty Society. He has also been a founding board member of The American Board of Spine Surgery and The American College of Spine Surgery. He is published in a wide range of professional journals and has delivered numerous presentations worldwide. Dr. Hochschuler holds a BA from Columbia College and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School.
Ivan Howard is a Vice President and Sr. Specialist in Alternative Investment Fiduciary Risk for Banco Santander, a multinational financial services company. Additionally, Mr. Howard serves as Director on the Collier County Farm Bureau Board of Directors; Chairman of the Hendry/Glades County Farm Service Agency; member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers; and member of the University of Florida College of Biomedical Engineering External Advisory board.
Kristine Jacques brings over 35 years of experience in various executive leadership roles in the medical devices field with expertise in global commercialization, marketing, and product management. Most recently, Ms. Jacques was Vice President & GM, Interventional Pain Therapies of Vivex Biologics, Inc. where she leveraged her experience in global commercialization to spearhead the go-to-market strategy of disruptive technology in the interventional spine market. Before her tenure at Vivex, Ms. Jacques served in multiple senior management roles at publicly traded Alphatec Spine, Inc. (ATEC), General Electric Corporation (GE) and Smith and Nephew, PLC (SNN). Ms. Jacques received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance Administration from Michigan State University.
Robert K. Weigle is the CEO of Prime Genomics, a saliva-based diagnostics company utilizing Genomics. Mr. Weigle is also currently an executive in residence with DigitalDX, a venture capital firm. Mr. Weigle was formerly CEO and a director of Benvenue Medical, leading a commercial launch of first-generation devices in two distinct markets, treatment of compression fractures in the spine and treatment of degenerative disc disease. Mr. Weigle oversaw all early aspects of corporate strategy, including defining, communicating and executing the company’s overall business model, and represented Benvenue to the investment community. Mr. Weigle was also a senior executive at numerous healthcare and medical device companies including TherOx, Inc, Cardiac Pathways, Baxter Healthcare and Cardima Corporation. Mr. Weigle also has relevant experience at Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Weigle holds a BA in Political Science from University of California, Berkeley.