Leadership
Executive Leadership
Thomas W. Burnell serves as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Viracor-IBT in September of 2012, Dr. Burnell was a member of the company's Board of Directors. He is also a co-owner and President of Milestone Business Management, LLC, a private consulting firm focused primarily on transaction negotiation, post-transaction integration and "turn-arounds" in healthcare and related ancillary industries. Dr. Burnell formerly served as Chief Executive Officer of the Nebraska Heart Institute and the Nebraska Heart Hospital, two organizations with more than 500 employees, including 28 physician specialists providing services in cardiac, thoracic and vascular care. Prior to joining Nebraska Heart in 2006, Dr. Burnell was Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman for Eurofins Scientific, Inc., an international biotechnology company providing bioanalytical support service to clients from a wide range of industries. Dr. Burnell received his BS and Master's degrees from the University of Nebraska and holds a PhD in nutrition with emphasis in statistics and biochemistry from the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Altrich is the Clinical Laboratory Director for allergy and immunology. In her previous role at IBT, Dr. Altrich was responsible for new test development in the area of cellular function testing for allergy and autoimmune diseases as well as serving as the Assistant Lab Director for IBT's menu of immunodiagnostic tests. Dr. Altrich joined IBT in 2006 as a Senior Scientist. Prior to joining IBT, Dr. Altrich held an appointment at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where she specialized in molecular and cellular immunology. Dr. Altrich received her PhD in pathology and microbiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center where her research focused on tumor immunology.
Dr. Hester serves as the Vice President of Research and Development at Viracor-IBT Laboratories where he oversees the development of innovative molecular and immunodiagnostics. Since joining Viracor-IBT Laboratories in 2001, he has held a variety of research and clinical roles. Most recently, Dr. Hester served as the Director of Viral Surveillance and Applied Research where he led the company's development of a viral surveillance program built around our highly differentiated approach to assay refinement and clinical/applied research programs. Dr. Hester received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati where he focused on novel synthetic approaches to modifying nucleic acids for pathogen detection/identification. Dr. Hester completed his post graduate research training in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Research Fellowship Program at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Molecular Environmental Microbiology. He has held appointments as both an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Steven Kleiboeker is responsible for scientific direction and oversight of the company's clinical diagnostic efforts as well as its pharmaceutical research services. Dr. Kleiboeker served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Viracor Laboratories since 2006. Prior to joining Viracor, Dr. Kleiboeker was a faculty member at the University of Missouri where his duties included research, graduate teaching, and supervision of three university-based diagnostic service laboratories (virology, serology and molecular diagnostics). His research has focused on viral pathogenesis, phylogenetics and diagnostics and has included projects investigating a broad range of human and animal pathogens. Dr. Kleiboeker has served as both principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous government-funded research grants (USDA, NIH). He has published over 40 scientific articles and monographs and serves on editorial boards and as a reviewer for several prominent virological and microbiological journals. Dr. Kleiboeker received his PhD in Physiology from the University of Missouri and DVM from the University of Missouri.
Vicki Schluter serves as Vice President and Chief Information Officer. She is responsible for oversight of the company's compliance program as well as providing innovative technology solutions that enable the company's strategy. Prior to Viracor-IBT, Ms. Schluter was Vice President of Technology for YRC Worldwide, a global transportation service provider. At YRC, she was responsible for the development and support of all applications. This encompassed sales and order placement, freight movement, customer service, human resources and finance, electronic data interchange, and mobile and web applications. Ms. Schluter also led the technology effort to successfully combine Yellow and Roadway as YRC. Prior to leading technology at YRC Worldwide, she held various technical and leadership positions in the Industrial Engineering department of Yellow Transportation. Ms. Schluter holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University.
Matt Urbanek serves as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for all finance, logistics, client services and human resource functions within the company. Prior to this role, Mr. Urbanek was responsible for finance and logistics functions at Viracor. Prior to joining Viracor in 2007, Mr. Urbanek was a Vice President at George K. Baum Advisors, LLC, an investment-banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, raising private capital and financial advisory services for middle-market companies. In this role he initiated and executed mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and financings, as well as business valuations, fairness opinions and board advisory services for clients in the business services sector. Mr. Urbanek earned a BA in business administration and finance and a BS in economics from Kansas State University.
Board of Directors
Dr. McCarthy is President of Scientific Technologies and Solutions, LLC, a consulting company that specializes in assisting growth companies and venture capital firms with business and scientific strategies. He is also a Venture Partner with Ampersand Ventures. From 1987 to 2007 he served as President and CEO, Chairman, and Chief Technology Officer of Focus Diagnostics. Prior to Focus Diagnostics, Dr. McCarthy served in executive leadership roles at Becton Dickinson and Boehringer Mannheim. He serves on the Board of Directors of Magellan Biosciences, PrimeraDx, and ATS Labs. Dr. McCarthy received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire and attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard University School of Business. Dr. McCarthy has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Cornell University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Aggarwal serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Instant Medical Diagnostics, a developer and manufacturer of in vitro laboratory testing devices and as Managing Partner of The Channel Group. Dr. Aggarwal has served as CEO of Aureon Laboratories, a company that provides predictive testing for personalized cancer testing for physicians and the pharmaceutical research and development industry. Prior to joining Aureon, Dr. Aggarwal served in executive leadership roles at AAI Development Services, Inc., Quest Diagnostic Ventures, and SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories. His areas of expertise include molecular diagnostics, personalized medicine, clinical development, direct-to-consumer strategies and commercial laboratory operations. Dr. Aggarwal holds a PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia.
Jared Bartok is a Partner with Ampersand Capital Partners. Prior to joining Ampersand in 2007, Mr. Bartok was a Senior Associate at Wellspring Capital Management, where he worked on a number of leveraged acquisitions and recapitalizations of middle-market companies. Before Wellspring, Mr. Bartok was with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the Financial Sponsor Group focusing on acquisition finance and exit alternatives for private equity clients. Mr. Bartok holds a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from Middlebury College. Mr. Bartok currently serves on the boards of Biomedical Structures, MedVenture Technology Corp., Modified Polymer Components, NDC and Viracor-IBT Laboratories.
Thomas W. Burnell serves as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Viracor-IBT in September of 2012, Dr. Burnell was a member of the company's Board of Directors. He is also a co-owner and President of Milestone Business Management, LLC, a private consulting firm focused primarily on transaction negotiation, post-transaction integration and "turn-arounds" in healthcare and related ancillary industries. Dr. Burnell formerly served as Chief Executive Officer of the Nebraska Heart Institute and the Nebraska Heart Hospital, two organizations with more than 500 employees, including 28 physician specialists providing services in cardiac, thoracic and vascular care. Prior to joining Nebraska Heart in 2006, Dr. Burnell was Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman for Eurofins Scientific, Inc., an international biotechnology company providing bioanalytical support service to clients from a wide range of industries. Dr. Burnell received his BS and Master's degrees from the University of Nebraska and holds a PhD in nutrition with emphasis in statistics and biochemistry from the University of Kentucky.
Dr. Hooper is a Managing Partner of Ampersand Capital Partners, a middle market private equity firm. At Ampersand, he has served as a Director of numerous private companies in the areas of diagnostics, research products, pharmaceutical services and therapeutics. Prior to Ampersand, Dr. Hooper co-founded Aclara Biosciences and served as the company's Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Hooper received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Phillip "Flip" Short was the founder of Viracor and served as its Chief Executive Officer from the company's inception in 2000, growing the company from a start-up of four associates to a business with over 100 associates. Prior to Viracor, he was Founder and President of StatScript, Inc., which specialized in drugs for patients with AIDS and other chronic illnesses and which is now one of the largest specialty retail pharmacies in the United States, having been purchased by Chronimed in 1996. Mr. Short received a BA in Business Management from Sam Houston State University.
Scientific Leadership
Linda Flebbe-Rehwaldt is a Senior Scientist focused on new test development for allergy and clinical immunology. Dr. Flebbe-Rehwaldt joined Viracor-IBT laboratories in 2010 and is currently working on developing cellular immunology and immunochemistry assays. Prior to joining Viracor-IBT she held an appointment at the University of California, San Francisco working on gene delivery mechanisms for gene therapy. Her postdoctoral training was at UCSF studying regulatory elements of the human beta hemoglobin complex. She received her PhD from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Marilyn Smith is a Senior Scientist focused on new molecular assay development. Dr. Smith has over 30 years experience in virology, microbiology, and molecular biology and has successfully developed many commercial assays. Prior to joining IBT in 2007, Dr. Smith was Research Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, where she worked on viral evolution, pathogenesis, and vaccine studies in a primate model of HIV-1 infection. Earlier in her career, she led a subproject on the development of HIV-1 resistance to antivirals for the UNC AIDS Clinical Trials Unit grant. She earned her PhD at the University of Minnesota and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal and at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Research Center, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Mark Wissel is the company's Assistant Director for Clinical Mycology. Dr. Wissel has been a Senior Scientist directing the development of fungal diagnostic assays at Viracor-IBT Laboratories since 2006. Prior to joining Viracor-IBT, he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Immunology at the University of Kansas Medical Center where he conducted research into the molecular mechanisms of bacterial cell division. He received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Iowa College of Medicine.