Judd Jessup has over 35 years of experience in the healthcare and managed care industries. Most recently he was Chief Executive Officer of US LABS, a national laboratory which provides cancer diagnostic and genetic testing services, from 2002 to 2005. He has extensive background in the managed care industry having served as President of the Health Plans Division for FHP International from 1994 to 1996 as well as the President of TakeCare, Inc., a publicly traded HMO operating in California, Colorado, Illinois and Ohio until it was sold to FHP. He is a successful entrepreneur with the ability to execute strategic plans to achieve the optimum level of performance for stakeholders. He has repeatedly built effective management teams utilizing his effective leadership and management style. Mr. Jessup currently serves on the Board of Directors of Corvel Corporation and NovaMed, Inc, both publicly traded companies.
Wei Richard Ding was appointed to our Board on March 1, 2012 and became Chairman of the Audit Committee on November 1, 2012. Mr. Ding is Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of bioTheranostics Inc., a San Diego-based developer of molecular diagnostic tests and laboratory. Mr. Ding has been bioTheranostics' CEO since September 2008 and was the Vice President, Strategy and Business Development of France-based bioMerieux, a global leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Ding has also worked for Eli Lilly and Company, TenFold Corporation and Myriad Genetics, and is an active speaker and leader in the field of personalized medicine. We believe Mr. Ding's qualifications to serve on our Board include his detailed knowledge of the molecular diagnostics market. In addition, Mr. Ding's experience and expertise in operating an early stage diagnostics company will provide excellent insight to the Board.
Dr. Gottlieb was appointed to our board of directors in January 2009. He is a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Commissioner and a leading expert in healthcare policy whose work focuses on providing insights into the economic, regulatory, and technological forces driving the transformation of medicine. Dr. Gottlieb is currently a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics and social welfare. He also practices medicine as an attending physician in Connecticut. Dr. Gottlieb has received numerous awards and is the author of more than 300 articles that have appeared in leading medical journals and publications including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In addition, he has held editorial positions at the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Gottlieb also regularly appears as an expert commentator on CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg Television, and other business and news channels. Dr. Gottlieb is a partner at Arcoda Capital Management and a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and is a graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and of Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Richard D. Hockett, Jr., M.D. has served as our Chief Medical Officer since April 30, 2012. Prior to joining us, Dr. Hockett was the Chief Medical Officer from March 2009 to April 2012 at Affymetrix, Inc., a genomic analysis tools company, where his responsibilities included applied genomics, new technology development, and regulatory affairs. From November 2008 to March 2009, Dr. Hockett was an independent consultant for Affymetrix. From 1999 to November 2008, Dr. Hockett was a Medical Fellow II, Group Leader for Genomic Medicine at Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Hockett started his career as an Academic Pathologist in the Department of Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he oversaw the Clinical Immunology and Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories. Dr. Hockett is a board certified Clinical Pathologist, received his M.D. degree from the University of Minnesota and did his residency in Clinical Pathology at Washington University, St. Louis.
Jeremy M. Jones was appointed to our Board on November 20, 2012 and is also a member of our Audit Committee. Mr. Jones, 70, is the Chairman of On Assignment, Inc., a publicly traded professional staffing firm, where he has served as a director since May 1995. Mr. Jones has been an investor and business development consultant since February 1998. From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Jones was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Homedco Group, Inc., a home healthcare services company, which became publicly traded in 1991. Homedco merged into Apria Healthcare Group, Inc. in 1995 and from 1995 through January 1998, Mr. Jones was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Apria Healthcare Group, Inc., which also provided home healthcare services. Mr. Jones served as Chairman of the Board of Byram Healthcare Centers, a provider of retail medical supplies and wholesale medical and hospital equipment, from February 1999 until its sale in March of 2008. Mr. Jones was a director for Access Point Medical from May 2004 to December 2005. Mr. Jones was a director of US Labs, an esoteric oncology and hematopathology laboratory from November 2003 through February 2005. From July 2003 to January 2011, Mr. Jones served as a director for Lifecare Solutions, Inc., a provider of integrated home healthcare products and services. Mr. Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Iowa.
Mr. McDonough brings over 16 years of experience in diagnostic healthcare and life sciences to CombiMatrix. Led by his passion for patient care, he has spent his career growing early stage and emerging cancer diagnostics, molecular diagnostics and commercial laboratory organizations.
In August 2012, Mr. McDonough joined CombiMatrix as Chief Commercial Officer. His efforts to optimize the commercial aspects of CombiMatrix and his focus on prenatal testing have made an immediate impact on the Company’s long-term strategy and financial success. Mr. McDonough came to CombiMatrix from Pathwork Diagnostics where he was Vice President of Sales and Service. His business acumen was instrumental in driving all phases of their commercial efforts, including sales, reimbursement strategies and market creation of novel diagnostics that fulfilled a critical, yet unmet need for patients with metastatic disease.
Preceding Pathwork Diagnostics, Mr. McDonough held positions of increasing responsibility at US LABS, ultimately assuming the role of Vice President of Sales. He also served in an executive capacity at Dianon and Laboratory Corporation of America (post acquisition). His contributions as a field sales resource and sales leader from 2002-2004 were instrumental in the growth of US LABS from $17M to $75M, resulting in the successful acquisition by Laboratory Corporation of America in early 2005. Mr. McDonough was with EMC Corporation and Ventana Medical Systems previous to US LABS.
Prior to entering the healthcare industry, Mr. McDonough was a ranking officer in the United States Navy for six years where he served as Navigator of the USS FLETCHER (DD 992).
Mr. McDonough received a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Miami University-Ohio.