Gary Restani, President & Chief Executive Officer

Gary is a proven international executive with over 35 years of worldwide experience in the medical device industry. He recently served as President & COO of Hansen Medical where he directed the company from late stage development to early stage commercialization and first year revenues. As the President of Convatec, a Bristol Myers-Squibb Company, Gary developed a high performance management team, which helped Convatec to become the leading wound and ostomy company with worldwide revenue of over $1 billion.

Gary also has over 11 years of experience in the orthopedic sector, having held divisional President roles with both Smith & Nephew and Zimmer. Gary led Zimmer Europe/MEA through a significant turnaround, contributing to Zimmer's growth. He has served on the board of ADVAMED (1997-2006) as well as the leadership board of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Digestive diseases (2000-2006). Gary currently serves on the board of Corpak Medsystems and DFine Inc. He attended Sir George Williams University and Loyola University in Canada. He received a degree in International Business from Darthmouth College, Tuck Executive Program.

 

Moshe Pinto, Founder & Executive Vice President

After completing his military service in the Israeli Defense Forces, Moshe enrolled in Tel Aviv University Law School where he earned his LLB. He later practiced law for 3 years as a corporate lawyer at Herzog, Fox, and Neeman, Israel’s leading law firm. While at Herzog, Fox, and Neeman, Moshe was elected as the Tel Aviv University representative to the ERASMUS MUNDUS program in law and economics and left Israel for Germany and Italy where he earned a JD and a Masters in Economics.

Upon earning his JD, Moshe was admitted to the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he earned his MBA. During his time at Stanford, Moshe participated at the Stanford Biodesign Innovation program where he teamed up with Dr. Kenton Fong and Dean Hu in the development of the technology around which they formed Spiracur. Moshe has served as Spiracur’s CEO since June of 2007.

 

Kenton Fong, MD, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Fong has more than 15 years of biomedical research experience with Stanford University, Chang Mai University, and the University of California, San Francisco. His research spans a wide range of disciplines, from tissue engineering and developmental biology to health policy and new technology development, resulting in over 50 publications and numerous national speaking engagements.

Dr. Fong has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Biology and Psychology from Stanford University. He earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in tissue engineering and developmental biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Fong was trained in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford University where he also served as Chief Resident.

 

Dane Shackleford, VP of Sales

Dane was lured to Spiracur by the opportunity to help build an organization with a culture of entrepreneurial thinking and a mantra of always conducting business with the patient’s best interest in mind. Dane is a seasoned senior sales and marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in the medical device industry. He brings over a decade of wound-care-specific experience from industry leader, KCI, where he helped build their negative pressure business while ascending to VP of Sales. In addition to KCI, Dane has held senior management positions in a variety of medical device firms, including GE Healthcare, Labcorp, and Alsius Corporation.

Dane’s innovative leadership style has facilitated the development of high performing sales, clinical, service and marketing teams throughout his career. These teams have ranged in size from 10 individuals to over 100, and the associated revenue growth has ranged from $5M to over $250M.

 

Mehrdad Farhangnia, VP of Market Development

Mehrdad joined Spiracur in September 2008, bringing with him a successful track record of launching novel medical devices. He has over 15 years of professional experience, predominantly in medical devices. Prior to joining Spiracur, Mehrdad was a Principal Consultant at Medevice Solutions, a firm dedicated to market and clinical development for early stage medical device firms. He has held senior management positions in a variety of medical device firms, including Rubicor Medical, FoxHollow Technologies, and CardioVention Inc.

Prior to his career in medical devices, Mehrdad spent over six years at NASA Ames Research Center as a Research Scientist, leading collaboration efforts with key aerospace manufacturers and national laboratories. He is an inventor of 7 issued patents and co-author on 10 published articles or conference proceedings. Mehrdad received his BS and MS degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado.

 

Thomas J. Yorkey, PhD, VP of R&D

Dr. Yorkey has over 20 years of medical device and medical technology experience. He has been Vice President of Research and Development for three start-ups and Puritan Bennett, a division of Covidien Healthcare. Before that, he worked for Mallinckrodt, Nellcor, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Dr. Yorkey is an inventor on 15 issued patents and coauthor on 12 published articles or conference proceedings. He holds his PhD and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and his BS in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

 

Larry Hu, VP of Operations

Larry has over 17 years of experience in the medical device industry in product development, manufacturing, and operations roles.  His most recent position was Director of Operations at CryoVascular Systems which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2005.

Larry was also Director of Product Development at CardioThoracic Systems, a minimally invasive surgical company, which was acquired by Guidant.  He began his career at Cordis/Johnson & Johnson where he held various product development and manufacturing engineering and management positions.  Larry graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.