Leighton Read MD
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMANDr Read is the Executive Chairman at Global Kinetics and Venture Partner at Brandon Capital. He is an American serial entrepreneur and venture investor with a track record of building successful companies across the range of life-science technologies. He was previously a managing director of Alloy Ventures and before that had co-founded Affymax NV (acquired by GSK, was the founding investor, Chairman and CEO of Aviron the company that developed FluMist acquired by MedImmune) and Avidia (acquired by Amgen). Leighton has a Bachelor of Science from Rice University and an MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center. He completed internal medicine training at Duke and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, where he held appointments at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health publishing in the fields of decision and cost-effectiveness analysis. Leighton is currently a director of EBR Systems, Foundry Therapeutics 1 Okogen and Glyscend. He is also a director of BioVentures for Global Health.
Thomas Ulmer
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERThomas is the Chief Financial Officer at Global Kinetics. Thomas brings nearly two decades of experience serving as CFO of both private and public pharmaceutical companies. He was previously the CFO of Immatics, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company, where he was instrumental in leading the company through its successful IPO. Prior to this, Thomas held the position of CFO to Allergopharma, a medium-sized European allergy company. Furthermore, he held various leadership positions within the Merck Group such as Global Head of Business Planning & Analysis, Chief Financial Officer for Australia/ New Zealand and Financial Controller for Merck’s generics business. Thomas is a Fellow of CPA Australia (FCPA) and holds an MBA.
David Buché
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING, GENERAL MANAGER US RPM BUSINESSDavid Buché has served as the Vice President Sales and Marketing, General Manager US RPM Business since July 2021. Mr. Buché brings more than 25 years of executive leadership and technology commercialization experience in medical devices/biotech industries and is now leading GK’s launch of its PKG® into the US RPM market to help improve the lives of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Prior to joining GK, from 2016 through July 2021, Mr. Buche held Vice President of Sales positions with Reprise Biomedical and StemoniX. From 1998 through 2016, Mr. Buché held sales, marketing or general management positions with Synovis (now Baxter), Integra Lifesciences, Liventa Bioscience and The Ametus Group. Mr. Buché holds an M.B.A., a B.S. in Business and served in the U.S. Navy.
Karen Krygier, MBA
VP CLINICAL AFFAIRS, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTKaren brings nearly 20 years medical device experience in disciplines of both marketing and clinical research. With a background in nearly 10 years of financial services from US Bancorp, Karen adapted core marketing and product launch skills into the peripheral vascular medical device arena with the product introduction of a novel carotid stent/embolic protection system. Transitioning to clinical research, Karen has led global research teams conducting pre and post market trials for peripheral stents, atherectomy, renal denervation technology, peripheral drug-coated balloon combination therapy, and neurology products for Parkinson’s disease. Comprehensive clinical trial work has included protocol design, clinical trial operations, and data/safety analysis resulting in several FDA PMA and 510(k) approvals, CE mark, and peer reviewed journal publications for companies including ev3, Covidien, Spectranetics and Philips, and Global Kinetics. Karen also has earned an MBA from University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Business.
Neil Stevens
DIRECTOR SALES AND MARKETING EUROPENeil has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and health care industry and has held leadership roles in sales, marketing and market development, working for Eli Lilly Ltd and Medtronic Ltd. Neil has also lead change management programs and consultancy assignments with Bain and Boston Consulting. Neil has extensive experience working within the NHS in the UK and several years’ experience driving European markets. Neil has successfully launched remote management technologies for the management of implantable cardiac devices, whilst navigating reimbursement and driving execution to achieve sales performance in deep brain stimulation, for Parkinson’s disease.
James Quackenbush
VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONSJames Quackenbush has served as Vice President of Operations since January 2020. Prior to joining GKC, James spent over thirty years working in the medical device industry. Most recently as COO/CEO of Medspira LLC, a start-up medical device company, were he developed a novel portable manometry device for diagnosing and treating fecal incontinence. From 1999 through 2010 James served as Vice President of Manufacturing for Vascular Solutions Incorporated later acquired by Teleflex. From 1992 through 1999, James served as Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations for Optical Sensors Incorporated, a diagnostic medical device company. Before those engagements he served as Operations Manager with Schneider USA’s Stent Division and as an Advanced Project Engineer with 3M Medical Products Division. James received a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University.
Muhammad Umer
VP OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENTDr Umer is the Vice President of Product Development leading all software and hardware new product development and sustaining engineering. Over the past 15 years Muhammad has held product leadership roles in digital health, diagnostics, and medical device industries. Muhammad holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of Melbourne and combines his research and industry experience to lead engineering teams in building novel medical technology. Prior to joining Global Kinetics, Muhammad has held the roles of Head of Digital and eHealth at Australian Clinical Labs and Head of Software Development and Chief Software Architect at dorsaVi, an ASX listed biotechnology company focused on developing innovative motion analysis sensor technology.