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Michael J. Burns, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Burns joined Repromedix in June 2007 as the Chief Executive Officer. He was previously the President and Chief Operating Officer of Ferndale Laboratories Inc., in Michigan. At Ferndale Laboratories, Dr. Burns was previously the President of the Pharma Division and Vice President of Corporate Development.
With over 25 years of experience in the international pharmaceutical and health care industries, Dr. Burns has extensive senior and general management experience with a broad background encompassing research and development, corporate and business development, licensing, acquisitions, sales and marketing.
Dr. Burns, a British native, holds a postgraduate degree in Pharmacology from the University of Nottingham and an undergraduate degree from the University of Reading in Physiology, Biochemistry and Chemistry.
Karen Vernamonti
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Vernamonti serves as Repromedix’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer responsible for oversight of the company’s daily operations and overall financial management. Ms. Vernamonti has more than 28 years experience serving various operational and fiscal leadership roles within the financial services industry.
Prior to joining Repromedix, Ms. Vernamonti was formerly the Chief Financial Officer for Lane Berry, a registered broker/dealer and investment bank for growth companies; Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for J.P. Morgan Invest, JPMorgan’s online retail brokerage subsidiary; Chief Financial Officer for DLJdirect Holdings, the publicly-traded online retail brokerage subsidiary of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette as well as other senior leadership roles for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, The Bank of Tokyo and Irving Trust. She holds a B.B.A. from Pace University in Accounting & Information Systems.
Benjamin Rivnay
Vice President of R&D and Laboratory Director
Dr. Rivnay directs Repromedix’ R&D initiatives and oversees the operation of the laboratory. He is responsible for evaluating new technologies, new test development, scientific communication with research groups in academic institutions, and the scientific aspects of technical support.
Prior to joining Repromedix, Dr. Rivnay was a Senior Investigator in Immunology and Program Leader in Allergy at Procept, Inc., a public biotechnology company specializing in pharmaceuticals related to immunology, AIDS, and allergy. He was a Senior Biochemist in R&D at Neurex Corporation, where he led the development of molecular and cellular assays, and was involved in the pre-clinical work related to SNX-111 – a neuronal calcium channel blocker now branded as PRIALT, by Elan Pharmaceuticals.
He was previously a fellow at US National Institutes of Health. Dr. Rivnay received his PhD in Biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Repromedix Leadership Team/page 2 of 2
Benjamin Leader, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Benjamin Leader joined Repromedix with 12 years of clinical and scientific experience and a focus in the field of advanced infertility diagnostics. As the company’s first Chief Medical Officer, he plays a critical role in advancing Repromedix’ position as the clinical information leader in reproductive diagnostics. His responsibilities also include designing and directing clinical studies and, in conjunction with Repromedix’ R&D team, developing new diagnostic technologies.
Dr. Leader has directed multiple clinical investigations evaluating fertility diagnostics. His interest in fertility diagnostics began while pursuing his PhD in Molecular Genetics at Harvard University. During that time Dr. Leader discovered a gene in both mice and humans that may provide a new diagnostic for Recurrent Pregnancy Loss and egg defects, and he continued to advance the field of fertility diagnostics through internship and residency training.
Dr. Leader received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School (HMS), in the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Technology (HST) program. He has received multiple awards and funding from the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institutes of Health.
Paul Kowalski
Vice President, Sales
Mr. Kowalski is responsible for the management of the Repromedix sales force and for the planning, direction, and management of the company’s sales objectives and functions. Kowalski joined Repromedix from Delphi Medical Systems, a division of Delphi Corporation, where he was Director of Business Development.
Mr. Kowalski has more than 20 years of experience in sales and sales management. He was previously the Senior Director of Sales and Marketing at Boston Medical Technologies, where he won national product adoption for the company’s Anscore Health Management System.
Prior to this, Mr. Kowalski was the National Sales Director for Becton Dickinson’s Consumer Health Care Division where he was responsible for U.S. sales of BD’s diabetes product lines, which had annual revenues of over $300 million. He was also Vice President of Sales and a founding member of the management team at MDI Instruments, a medical device start-up, and National Sales Director at Braun/Thermoscan, Inc.
Mr. Kowalski holds an MBA from the University of Hartford and a BS in Business Management/Marketing from Keene State College, Keene, NH.