Management Team
- William Hunter, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Rui Avelar, Chief Medical Officer
- K. Thomas Bailey, Chief Financial Officer
- Chris J. W. Dennis, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations
- Victor Diaz, Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management
- Jeffrey M. Gross, Senior Vice President, Research & Development
- Tammy Neske, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
- David D. McMasters, Senior Vice President, Legal and General Counsel
In addition to the senior management team, read more about Angiotech's independent Board of Directors
William Hunter, MD, MSc
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. William Hunter is one of Angiotech's co-founders and currently serves as President and CEO of the company. He has led Angiotech through significant corporate milestones from its initial rounds of private and public financings, to product commercialization and profitability. The company's initial lead product, the TAXUS® drug-eluting coronary stent - which was co-developed and is now sold by Boston Scientific Corporation - is implanted in over four million patients worldwide. Today, Angiotech is a global leader in the field of drug-device combination products and a major manufacturer of over 5,000 specialty, single-use medical devices and medical device components targeting various surgical and interventional medical markets.
Active in a variety of business and scientific organizations, Dr. Hunter serves as the chair of the board for Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and a director on the Cardiome Pharma Corp. board. Dr. Hunter has been honoured with many awards including the 2006 Principal Award for Innovation from the Manning Foundation, the 2005 BC Innovation Council’s Cecil Green Award for Science and Technology Entrepreneurship and the co-recipient of 2006 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation along with Dr. Helen Burt, recognizing the collaboration between the University of British Columbia and Angiotech.
Dr. Hunter received his BSc from McGill University, and MSc and MD from the University of British Columbia.
Rui Avelar, MD, CCFP, DIP SPORT MED
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Rui Avelar is Angiotech's Chief Medical Officer and is responsible for medical market analysis, product concept, development and clinical trial design. Dr. Avelar brings to the company over a decade of clinical experience from his previous medical practice where he specialized in Sports Medicine. He also brings knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and markets from a previously held position as a healthcare analyst for a Canadian securities firm prior to joining Angiotech. Dr. Avelar remains active as the team physician for the NHL franchise team, the Vancouver Canucks.
Dr. Avelar received his medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1989 and went on to further training and accreditation in Sports Medicine receiving his certification from the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine.
K. Thomas Bailey
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. K. Thomas Bailey is Angiotech's Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for overseeing the Company's overall financial activities. In addition, he manages Angiotech's corporate growth initiatives such as acquisitions, corporate alliances and partnerships. Prior to joining Angiotech in 2003, he worked for over a decade as an investment banker, most recently as leader of the biotechnology practice group at Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he advised on over 50 completed transactions for biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, including mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and a wide range of equity, equity-linked and debt financings, and worked with the firms' merchant banking and venture capital groups to identify and complete significant investments in life sciences companies.
Mr. Bailey received his AB in Economics from Harvard University in 1990 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1995.
Chris J. W. Dennis
Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations
Mr. Chris Dennis is Angiotech’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. He has a broad background in marketing, sales and general management in the healthcare sector, including over 17 years of experience working for various subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson (J & J). Prior to joining Angiotech, Mr. Dennis was Global President of J & J's OrthoNeutrogena company (pharmaceuticals and aesthetic devices), where he was responsible for overall strategy and business growth initiatives. OrthoNeutrogena was a turnaround assignment. The company lost 60% of profits, as a result of patent expiries, in the year before Mr. Dennis assumed responsibility. He was able to re-focus the company and after two years, the company was achieving greater than 20% growth.
Previously, Mr. Dennis held leadership positions at Janssen Ortho, Inc. (pharmaceuticals) and LifeScan Canada Ltd. (medical devices). Under his leadership, both LifeScan Canada and Janssen Ortho, Inc. became the fastest growing companies in their respective sectors for several years in a row.
Mr. Dennis received a Business Management Certificate from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and both an Advanced Graduate Diploma and an MBA from Athabasca University.
Victor Diaz
Senior Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management
Mr. Victor Diaz is Angiotech's Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management. He has over 20 years experience in the healthcare, medical device, and medical instrument industries. Prior to joining Angiotech, Mr. Diaz was Vice President, Global Operations at Teleflex Medical, the medical device and instrument manufacturing division of Teleflex Corporation. During his career at Teleflex, Mr. Diaz led a staff of 4,200 and was responsible for the global manufacturing, procurement, distribution and complete supply chain with 25 plants and 23 distribution centres in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Previously, Mr. Diaz served as Vice President of Manufacturing at both Kendall Healthcare, a subsidiary of Tyco Healthcare, and Tyco Healthcare Respiratory. He has a great deal of experience dealing with FDA compliant ISO and EN certified plants across Europe, Asia and North America.
Mr. Diaz received a BA in Chemistry from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja, California.
Jeffrey M. Gross, PhD, MS
Senior Vice President, Research & Development
Dr. Jeff Gross is Angiotech's Senior Vice President of Research and Development. He has over 20 years experience working in the medical device field, primarily in successive technical and leadership positions at Medtronic, Inc. He has directed multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers in the Heart Valve and Spinal Biologics divisions culminating in the commercialization of numerous products. Dr. Gross has published in the Journal of Heart Valve Disease and the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, is a noted expert on the development and use of mechanical and bioprosthetic heart valves, and is the holder of numerous patents.
Dr. Gross received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering (Biofluid Mechanics) from the University of Memphis, a MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Houston, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board and Chairs the Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board at the University of Memphis.
Tammy Neske
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Ms. Tammy Neske is Angiotech's Senior Vice President of Human Resources. She has over 15 years experience building and growing technology-based organizations both organically and through acquisition, locally and globally. Prior to joining Angiotech, Ms. Neske worked at Ballard Power Systems, Inc., a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of hydrogen fuel cells. During her career at Ballard, Ms. Neske participated in several major transactions, restructured and integrated European operations and was responsible for providing leadership, program development and management of global compensation and employment related programs for over 1,700 employees. Previously, she built and led Human Resources at Mainframe Entertainment during its growth as an industry leader in CG animation for TV and film.
Ms. Neske received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University in BC and a MA in Organization Development from the Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.
David D. McMasters, Esq
Senior Vice President, Legal and General Counsel
Mr. David McMasters brings over a decade of experience in biotechnology, chemical patent matters and related litigation to Angiotech. He joined the Company in December, 2000 and is responsible for overseeing all legal matters pertaining to the organization, including patent, copyright and intellectual property matters, as well as the coordination of any legal matters handled by outside counsel. Prior to Angiotech, Mr. McMasters served as Managing Director and CEO of Seed Intellectual Property Law Group (previously Seed and Berry) in Seattle, Washington.
Mr. McMasters received his BSc (Microbiology and Immunology) from the University of Washington and his JD from Northwestern University. He is a member of the Washington State Bar and is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.