| Company Background | Management Team | Careers |
Maynard Carkhuff, President and Chief Executive Officer, joined Freedom Innovations in 2005 with 25+ years of leadership in the pharmaceutical, dental and prosthetic industries. Formerly CEO of Ossur Prosthetics, he previously served as CEO of Flex-Foot, which was acquired by Ossur in 2000. He also held senior executive positions with Allergan and Denar. Under Maynard's leadership, Freedom has achieved exceptional financial growth and strategic expansion by attracting and motivating a results-oriented team of accomplished professionals with proven track records in the medical device market. Mr. Carkhuff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, Management and Research from California State University, Los Angeles, and he attended the University of Southern California's Graduate School of Business Administration. Current and former positions include founding board member of Pacific Enterprise Bank, board member of the Southern California Biomedical Association, board member of Clean Ones Corporation and president of Orange County's chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.
Lee Kim, Chief Financial Officer, has experience spanning both public and private companies. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Netlist, Inc., a manufacturer of customized, high-end memory solutions for the server and communications markets. Kim led Netlist's initial public offering in November 2006. Kim has served as a Financial Leadership Partner for Tatum LLC, a national professional services firm, where he served several clients as chief financial officer on both a permanent and interim basis. Prior to Tatum, Kim was Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Epicor Software Corporation, a publicly traded developer of enterprise resource planning software for midmarket companies. Kim holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in accounting from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Gary Wertz, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing , has over 20 years of sales, marketing and general management experience in the prosthetic, pharmaceutical, consumer healthcare and surgical markets. His experience spans both public and private companies. Most recently, he was an independent consultant specializing in the development of strategic initiatives for medical device companies. Wertz's industry experience includes serving as President of Ossur North America, Regional Vice President of Allergan Inc. where he directed the marketing and sales efforts of the pharmaceutical, consumer health care products and surgical product lines. Wertz also served as Vice President of U.S. Pharmaceutical Sales for Allergan; and Vice President, Marketing and Sales of Herbert Laboratories, the dermatology division of SmithKline Beecham. Wertz holds a B.Sc. in biology and chemistry and an M.S. in genetics from Western Michigan University. He has also completed the executive marketing management program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Steven Reinecke, MSBE is Executive Vice President of Research & Development. Steven has more than 25 years of orthopedic reconstruction, trauma, spine, and biologics experience. Most recently, he served as Managing Director at DiscoveryOrtho Partners where he developed R&D strategies for companies operating in the orthopedic, spine, biologics and dental industries. Prior to this, he served as Chief Technology Officer with Alphatec Spine (NASDAQ: ATEC) and was responsible for reorganizing the R&D and regulatory departments as well as being a key member of the IPO team during the public offering. Additionally, he served as VP of R&D at Orthofix (NASDAQ:OFIX) where he was responsible for the R&D and clinical research departments for Class II and III orthopedic products and managed multiple centers within the U.S. and Europe. As co-founder and inventor of two medical device companies (Kinesis Medical and Ergomedics), he achieved commercial product success, and both companies were later acquired by public companies. Steven holds an MS degree in Biomedical Engineering and a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont. He currently holds 24 U.S. and international patents and has authored numerous articles related to general orthopedic technologies.
Charles R. Bisbee, Ph.D. is Freedom's Vice President of SMART Technology and the inventor of our related patents. Prior to joining Freedom, Charlie was Director of Mechatronix at Ossur where he led the team that finalized development and commercialization of the Rheo™ prosthetic knee. Prior to Ossur, he was a founding partner in American Printware where he developed software systems for large scale printing applications. His career includes service in the United States Air Force as a test pilot and Commander of the Operations Group at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, responsible for the test and evaluation of all recent United States aircraft. He served as Director of the Global Power Division, Air Force Material Command, responsible for meeting the logistical and technical requirements for United States tactical aircraft throughout the world, and he directed the artificial intelligence and computer engineering curriculum at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Charlie received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Auburn University.
Kurt Collier, Certified Prosthetist, Vice President of Business Development and Clinical Services. Kurt graduated from the Northwestern University Prosthetic-Orthotics Center in 1992 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from James Madison University. He practiced prosthetics for Hanger Orthopedic Group, NovaCare O & P and the Sabolich Prosthetic Research Center. As a prosthetist, Kurt provided care to several of the world's most accomplished amputees, ranging from mountain climbers to world record holders. Kurt's interest in prosthetics stems from his passion for athletics. In 1990, a hit and run accident, while training for triathlons, left him a transtibial amputee. While pursuing his prosthetic certification, he successfully rehabilitated himself to return to triathlon competitions. At the 1996 Paralympic Games held in Atlanta, he won a bronze medal in the pentathlon and 4 x 100 relay. Kurt has lectured around the world on prosthetic products, prosthetic research and advanced amputee rehabilitation. He is the past Chairman of the Board for the Amputee Coalition of America, founder of Professionals Helping Amputees Train, a non-profit organization, as well as a previous board member of Disabled Sports USA.
Mark Testerman, Vice President of Sales (USA), has over 20 years of experience as a senior sales executive where he has successfully built and led high performing sales teams in both the specialty pharmaceutical and medical device marketplace. He served as Director of Marketing & Vice President of Sales for CIBA Vision Ophthalmics - Novartis Ophthalmics. He also co-founded Alimera Sciences, Inc., an ophthalmic bio-tech company. Mark played a critical role in raising capital, leading co-promotional alliances and hiring and training a highly effective sales force. Mark began his healthcare sales and marketing career with Allergan, Inc., holding numerous progressive positions including Territory Manager, Sales Trainer, District Sales Manager, Manager, International Marketing Services and Product Manager. He holds a BS in Business degree from Miami University.
Michael Katz, European Sales and Marketing Director, has extensive European commercial experience in the orthotic and prosthetic market. He served as Medi's International Sales Manager Prosthetics, General Manager in Belgium and General Manager of Orthotics and Prosthetics in the Netherlands. He previously served as International Sales Director for USMC/Seattle Systems, later acquired by Trulife. During his career in healthcare, he also held key management positions with Harting-Bank BV, one of The Netherlands' largest rehabilitation companies, and with Thuasne, a French orthopedics and supply company.