Intellex Acquires Expert by Big Village

We're thrilled to announce that Intellex has acquired Expert by Big Village, effective March 22, 2024. This strategic move enhances our capabilities and strengthens our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions to our customers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this acquisition will benefit our clients and experts.

For inquiries or more information, please contact us at info@intellex.com.

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Expert Details

Medical Devices

ID: 728193 California, USA

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Expert is a medical device consultant and executive with more than 20 years experience in the medical device industry. His expertise spans all aspects of medical device commercialization, from medical device product development to medical device manufacturing and quality control; from Food and Drug Administration medical device regulation and submissions such as 510(k)s documents to medical device clinical research; from medical device product introduction to technical support, including medical device evaluation, hazard analysis and product recall management. Expert's activities have included medical device development for Fortune 50 companies such as General Electric (e.g. GE Medical Systems, Johnson and Johnson), numerous early stage companies (e.g. Ventracor) and growth companies (e.g. Cardiac Science)

Expert is currently an independent consultant as founder of his own consulting firm. In this capacity, he has led due diligence and consulting projects with medical device companies and their investors in the areas of regulatory strategy, medical device evaluation, medical device product development, medical device manufacturing and medical device field corrective actions and recalls. In addition, he has served as project manager for large new product development projects for companies such as General Electric and Johnson and Johnson.

As COO of Ventracor, Expert was responsible for the company's product development, global manufacturing, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, and clinical research. In this capacity, he interacted closely with the US Food and Drug Administration and obtained unconditional approval for the company's clinical trials under Investigational Device Exemption (IDE). Under his leadership, the company fully enrolled the trial in approximately one year, establishing the foundation for a Pre-Market Approval (PMA) from the US Food and Drug Administration.

While Senior Vice President of Operations at Cardiac Science, Expert led the company's rapid growth from a start-up to a $180 M/year company in the areas of global manufacturing and quality assurance, regulatory affairs, technical support, and clinical research functions. He served as the company's main interface with the US Food and Drug Administration for product recalls and audits, improving the company's quality control system and re-establishing the company's credibility with the US Food and Drug Administration in the areas of quality system regulation, 510(k) product submission and product recalls. His activities in global manufacturing led to a 50% reduction of the company's defibrillators cost of goods, while simultaneously improving product quality, receiving a supplier quality score from General Electric in the top 10 percentile and improving the products' first-pass manufacturing yield to over 99%.

Prior to Cardiac Science, Expert was Manager of X-Ray Imaging Engineering at GE Medical Systems (now GE Healthcare), where he was responsible for the development and manufacturing transfer of new X-Ray imaging products. In that capacity, he introduced numerous new X-Ray Imaging products to manufacturing under GE's new "Design for Six Sigma" process. He also worked with a large number of GE medical Systems' smaller technology providers to help them improve quality systems and product development processes.

Expert is an excellent team builder and communicator. He is fluent in 3 languages (English, Dutch and French) and was the recipient of a Fullbright Scholarship. He was elected member of the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi and Eta Kappa Nu and has a Ph.D. in Acoustics engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Client company, a medical device company in a rapid growth phase, had received a warning letter from FDA after an audit. FDA ruled it had not received satisfactory response from Company and was preparing more serious action. After investigating specific product issues that lead to warning letter, he restored client's credibility with the FDA by (1) implementing continuous improvement plan for the client's quality system that addressed FDA's findings (2) helping client develop and implement a product recall plan and (3) executing a clear communication strategy with the FDA. As a result, the client passed the FDA's follow-on audit.Client class II and class III medical device company was about to invest significant capital (>$50M) in the production of a new product and wanted an external evaluation of the product before giving a go-ahead. After evaluating the product development process, he uncovered significant gaps in the verification and validation of the design. He also highlighted serious issues with the client's product development process, which could have exposed the company to detrimental action by regulators. He helped the company correct these issues and avoid a large investment mistake as well as exposure to regulatory action by FDA.Client class III medical device company was interested in acquiring a competitor. During the due diligence phase, he uncovered that the company to be acquired had significant issues in its quality system, and that a new product soon to be released posed a significant risk. As a result, the client company decided not to proceed with the acquisition, avoiding significant product problems and ultimately legal issues, as the competitor struggled with a large-scale recall.Large Venture Capital firm needed in-depth analysis of a new technology with ophthalmology applications in light of a possible investment. He evaluated the technology and uncovered significant unmitigated risk. As a result, the client avoided a poor investment decision.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1983 Degree: Ph.D. Subject: Acoustics Engineering Institution: The Pennsylvania State University
Year: 1978 Degree: MS Subject: Electrical Engineering Institution: IHAM, Antwerp, Belgium
Year: 1977 Degree: BS Subject: Electrical Engineering Institution: SIHTS, Antwerp, Belgium

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2016 to Present Employer: Undisclosed Title: CEO Department: Executive
Responsibilities:
Expert analysis and strategic planning for medical device manufacturers and their investors.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2012 to 2016 Employer: VasoPrep Surgical Title: COO Department: Executive
Responsibilities:
Led engineering, FDA submission (de novo), manufacturing transfer and product launch for a surgical kit indicated for use in preparation of veins prior to vascular and cardiovascular bypass surgery.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2005 to 2016 Employer: Valeo, LLC Title: CEO Department: Executive
Responsibilities:
Development, implementation and interim management of medical device commercialization strategies for early-stage medical device manufacturers.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2007 to 2008 Employer: Ventracor, Inc. Title: COO Department: Executive
Responsibilities:
He was responsible for the company's global Manufacturing and Sourcing, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Research, Product Development, R&D and information technology.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2000 to 2004 Employer: Cardiac Science, Inc. Title: CTO; Senior Vice President; Managing Director, Artema Medical AB; General Manager, Troniqa Department: Executive
Responsibilities:
He led the company's Manufacturing and Sourcing, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Research, Technical Support and Customer Support functions. Additionally, he was responsible for pre-due diligence, due diligence and acquisition integration activities for the company's M&A activity.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1995 to 1997 Employer: General Electric Title: Manager, X-Ray Imaging Engineering Department: Medical Systems, Global X-Ray
Responsibilities:
He led the development and manufacturing transfer of new X-Ray imaging subsystems and components.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1989 to 1995 Employer: General Electric Title: R&D Team Leader Department: Corporate R&D Center
Responsibilities:
He developed advanced image and signal processing technology for GE's operating divisions; in particular GE Medical Systems and GE Aerospace.

International Experience

Years Country / Region Summary
Years: 2004 to 2005 Country / Region: Scotland Summary: He was a global project manager for a major new product development project for a major medical device manufacturer. The project spanned the United Kingdom, Italy, China, Singapore and the U.S.
Years: 2007 to 2008 Country / Region: Australia Summary: He was COO for a global medical device manufacturer with a presence in Australia, the Netherlands, and the U.S.
Years: 1995 to 1997 Country / Region: France Summary: He was a manager for a major medical systems manufacturer located in France
Years: 2001 to 2004 Country / Region: Scandinavia Summary: He served as General Manager of Troniqa in Aabybro, Denmark and as Managing Director of Artema Medical AB in Stockholm, Sweden

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
Tech Coast Angels, Orange County, CA
Professional Appointments
Expert-in-Residence, UCI Innovation Center ("The Cove"), Irvine, CA
Awards / Recognition
Fulbright scholar, 1978-1983;
Elected to the honor societies of Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi and Phi Kappa Phi
GE Inventor Award, 1990
Outstanding Contributions Award, Tech Coast Angels, 2009

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
As corporate employee, Expert served as witness in one jury trial (employee lawsuit) and was deposed in one product liability case (Cardiac Science).
Training / Seminars
Quality College -- continuous improvement of quality systems and processes (Cardiac Science)
Cycle Time Reduction (LEAN) -- continuous improvement of end-to-end product development and introduction processes
Vendor Selection
Expert established the global supply chain initiative (Singapore, Malaysia, China) for Cardiac Science, resulting in 50% cost of goods reduction.
Expert has stewarded global project management for new product development -- spanning the U.S., Singapore, China, United Kingdom and Italy -- for Johnson & Johnson.
Marketing Experience
Expert has 21 years' experience working with a broad spectrum of medical device companies and their new product introduction strategies. This experience has afforded him unique insight on global medical device regulatory trends.
Other Relevant Experience
Expert has experience conducting due diligence and financing for early-phase medical device companies.

Language Skills

Language Proficiency
Dutch He is fluent in Dutch, which is his native language.
French He is fluent in French, as he was born and raised in Belgium (bi-lingual country) and lived in France for 3 years.
German He was born and raised in Belgium and traveled extensively in Europe.

Fields of Expertise

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