About Us

Company Overview

NeoChord, Inc., a venture backed medical device company, is investigating minimally invasive technology intended to transform the treatment of degenerative mitral regurgitation.

The company's first product is a novel surgical device designed to enable beating heart, sternal sparing implantation of artificial chordae tendineae. Ruptured or elongated "chords" are a primary cause of mitral leaflet prolapse and the ensuing mitral regurgitation (MR). MR is a progressive disease which left untreated can lead to atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure and other cardiac events. The current surgical treatment for MR is effective but highly invasive, potentially causing many to delay surgical intervention until symptoms become more severe. NeoChord hopes to offer patients a less invasive option that will encourage timely intervention and subsequently development of fewer symptoms and associated cardiac events.

The initial technology was developed by cardiac surgeons at Mayo Clinic and NeoChord has an exclusive worldwide license from Mayo to develop, commercialize and distribute this technology. Going forward the company plans to develop additional minimally invasive technologies for treatment of structural heart disease.

Management Team

The leadership of NeoChord, Inc. has a wealth of medical technology expertise and has done executive level work in both Fortune 500 and start-up entities.

John Seaberg, Chairman and CEO

John has a 32-year track record in the medical device industry. Most recently, he was employed by Guidant Corporation, recently acquired by Boston Scientific Corp. During his ten years at Guidant, he served in various executive level positions in sales and marketing, including Director of Bradycardia Marketing for Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) and Vice President of Sales for Cardiac Surgery. In his last role at Guidant, John was Vice President of Sales for CRM, in which he managed a field sales team of 600+ people and over $1 billion in revenue. Previously, he worked at St. Jude Medical, Inc. and gained direct experience in the heart valve marketplace.

John was a co-founder of ACIST Medical and served as its first President and CEO. ACIST manufactures and distributes power injection technologies for coronary angiography. ACIST was acquired by Bracco, Inc. for over $100 million in 2001. He was also the founder and CEO of Seaberg Medical, a regional distributor of implantable cardiovascular devices. John serves on the boards of Synovis Life Technologies (SYNO) and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation He received a B.A. in Speech Communications from the University of Minnesota and his MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

John Zentgraf, Vice President of Research and Development

John was previously employed by Guidant Corporation’s CRM Division from 1986 to 2006. During his tenure at Guidant, he held numerous engineering and management positions, primarily in new product development. Most recently, he was the Vice President of Research and Development for Guidant CRM. His responsibilities included all implantable pacemaker, defibrillator and heart failure product development, research and released product support for a division with sales in excess of $2.5B. Under his direction, the R&D team of 1300 engineers and scientists worked in all phases of implantable product development, basic and applied research, and advanced technology development. John has a B.S. in Biology from Winona State University in Winona, MN and a Masters in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.

Shelley Chase Olsen, CFO

Shelley has held Finance and Administration management positions for 25 years, the last 13 in the medical device field. She operates a consulting practice providing full finance, accounting and human resource support for development stage medical device companies. Prior to beginning her business, she was V.P. of Finance for Gyrus ACMI, and also worked at Tyco Healthcare and the Miner Group. She holds a BS in Business-Accounting from the Carlson School of Business and is a CMA.

Annette Doxon, Director of Quality

Annette has 12 plus years experience working as a quality professional and most recently held the position of Director of Quality for Zimmer Spine from 2002 – 2009. In that role she developed and implemented quality processes to achieve compliance with global regulations while supporting business objectives. Annette has a B.S. in Medical Technology and a B.S. in Biology from Winona State University in Winona, MN.

Sharon Iverson, Manager of Regulatory Affairs

Sharon has over 20 years experience in the medical device industry. Sharon has held positions in R&D, Manufacturing, Quality and Regulatory. Sharon has developed regulatory strategies and submissions, designed and implemented Quality Systems, and performed project management activities, supporting business development and goals. Most recently, Sharon held the position of Senior Regulatory and Quality Project Director with the Regulatory and Clinical Research Institute. Sharon has a B.S. in Biology from Minnesota State University.

Arun Saini, Design Engineer

Arun has one year of research experience with tissue engineered heart valves and three years of experience in the medical device industry. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Biomedical Engineering and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from the University of Minnesota.

Board of Directors

The NeoChord Board of Directors has significant experience in corporate governance and medical technology development

Jack Ahrens

Jack is the founder and Managing Director of TGap Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm based in Kalamazoo, Michigan focused on early stage investments in the Midwest. He has been involved in venture capital and fund administration for 30 years; first as President of United Capital Corporation of Illinois (an SBIC), and as a General Partner of Pathfinder Venture Capital Funds I, II and III.

James Baumgardt

Jim is currently Chairman of NICO Neuro Inc, an early stage company developing minimally invasive devices in the neurology field. He also is a principal at Twilight Ventures, an Indiana investment company. Prior to NICO, he was Chairman of Suros Inc a breast biopsy company acquired by Hologics Inc. Previously, he was President of Guidant Sales Corporation and a member of the Executive Management Committee at Guidant Corp. At Guidant he was one of the key Founders that took the company public in 1994. He earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from Rose-Hulman and an MBA from Butler University.

John Seaberg

John is currently the Chairman and CEO of NeoChord, Inc. See biography under Management Team.

Greg Maurer

Greg is the founder and Managing Director of Heron Capital LLC, Indianapolis, IN. Prior to founding Heron, he was a corporate attorney at Schiff Hardin, L.L.P. in Chicago, Illinois where he concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, venture finance and private placements. Greg received his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and his B.S. in Finance and International Business from Indiana University.

Tim I. Maudlin

Tim was formerly Managing Partner of Medical Innovation Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in seed and start-up stage companies. He also served as a principal and chief financial officer of Venturi Group, LLC, an incubator and venture capital firm from 1999-2001. In those roles he has been a co-founder, officer and board member of several medical technology and health care service companies. He is a CPA. He received a B. A. degree from St. Olaf College and an M. M. degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Kyle Salyers

Kyle is a founder and Managing Director of Clarian Health Ventures (CHV), Indianapolis, IN. He was formerly the Senior Portfolio Manager at Rose Hulman Ventures and formerly was Economic Development Manager with former Mayor of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith. Kyle is a 1996 graduate of DePauw University with degrees in economics and sociology and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. In addition to NeoChord, Kyle represents CHV on the boards of Celleration, NICO Corporation, and MedVentive.

Medical Advisors

The company is currently utilizing the following expert consultants and clinical advisors:

Giovanni Speziali, MD, Cardiac Surgeon, University of Pittsburg Medical Center

Dr. Speziali is the primary inventor of the NeoChord device. Prior to joining UPMC, he was an associate cardiac surgeon at Mayo Clinic and he completed his heart/lung transplantation fellowship there in 1996. His research interests include beating heart surgery techniques, mitral and aortic valve repair/replacement and heart and lung transplantation. Giovanni has a lifelong interest in aviation and enjoys building, restoring and flying airplanes.

Richard Daly, MD, Cardiac Surgeon, Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN

Dr. Daly is a collaborating inventor of the NeoChord device. He completed his fellowship in cardiac surgery at Mayo Clinic. His research interests are in mitral and aortic valve repair, off-pump beating heart surgery techniques, cardiopulmonary transplantation and ventricular assist devices.

Charles Bruce, MD, Cardiologist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Dr. Bruce is a collaborating inventor of the NeoChord device. He completed his residency in Cardiovascular Diseases at Mayo Clinic. His research interests include clinical cardiology, echocardiography and the diagnosis and treatment of valvular heart diseases.

James Gammie, MD, Cardiac Surgeon, University of Maryland Medical Center

Dr. Gammie is an associate professor of cardiac surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and is surgical director of the center for minimally invasive heart valve surgery. Dr. Gammie’s primary clinical focus is on surgical treatment of the mitral valve. He performs nearly 200 mitral valve operations per year. Dr. Gammie serves as chair of the Access and Publications Committee for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Cardiac Database. He has a strong interest in outcomes research in heart valve surgery. He has refined a radically different procedure for the treatment of aortic stenosis and has the largest contemporary experience with this procedure (aortic valve bypass surgery) in the world. This procedure bypasses, rather than replaces, the aortic valve and permits treatment of aortic stenosis without stopping the heart or using the heart-lung machine. He is a co-founder of Correx, Inc.

Michael Mack, MD, Cardiac Surgeon, COR Specialty Associates of North Texas (CSANT)

Dr. Mack has been a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon for twenty-four years. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Cardiopulmonary Research Science & Technology Institute, as well as Medical Director of Cardiovascular Services and Director of Transplantation for Medical City Dallas Hospital. He has been actively involved in research and development of minimally invasive surgical techniques for the heart and spine since 1992. He has held office on numerous committees of the AATS and STS including chair of the STS Committee on New Technology Assessment.

Wesley Pedersen, MD, Interventional Cardiologist, Minneapolis Heart Institute, MN

Dr. Pedersen completed his cardiology fellowship at St Louis University School of Medicine, St Louis MO. He was formerly Director of Cardiovascular Research for the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHI). Prior to that, he served as Co-Director of CV lab and interventional cardiology at Abbott Northwestern Hospital/MHI and Director of Percutaneous Valve Therapy Program at MHI Foundation. His research interests have included participation in clinical studies of percutaneous devices for the treatment of structural heart disease.

Ajit Yoganathan, PhD, Faculty Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Dr. Yoganathan received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. His research interests include cardiovascular fluid dynamics, optimization of cardiac surgeries and use of MRI and 3D Echo to study blood flow patterns in cardiovascular structures

Karyn Kunzelman, PhD, Superior Surgical Solutions, Wailuku, HI

Dr. Kunzelman received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and a B.S. in Engineering Science from the University of Michigan. She has held faculty positions at the University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, and University of Maine; in Surgery, Biomedical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering Departments. She has worked extensively in the area of engineering analysis of cardiac devices.