Omnyx’s management team is an exceptionally well-qualified, cohesive team focused on delivering Omnyx’s innovative technologies to the world’s leading pathology departments and research laboratories.

The Management Team includes:

 

Jim LaFrance, CEO

Jim LaFrance was appointed Acting CEO of Omnyx in 2012. He is Head of Digital Pathology at GE Healthcare. A new, permanent CEO will be appointed in due course.

From 2001 to 2009 Jim held leadership positions at Ventana Medical Systems, a world leader in tissue-based diagnostic solutions. His roles included VP Worldwide Marketing, VP North America and VP International Operations, during which he led the integration of Ventana into Roche Diagnostics. Immediately prior to joining GEHC, Jim ran his own management consultancy and also served on the Board of Mitomics Inc, a start-up molecular diagnostics company.

Jim has a MBA, Marketing and Finance at University of Notre Dame – Mendoza College of Business and a BA, Economics from the University of Connecticut

Back to Top

Andrew Chomos, VP Finance and Operations

Andrew Chomos recently served as CEO of Caracal Inc., an early stage advanced materials manufacturer located in Ford City, PA. He led the company from R&D stage in 2005 to commercialization in 2006. Andrew was an integral liaison for Department of Defense contracting as well as private sector customers worldwide. He was also instrumental in securing funding for the company in excess of $10 million from both private and public sources.

From 1991 through early 2005, Andrew served in a dual role as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Ritter Technology LLC, a $60 million hydraulics and pneumatics distributor for Parker Hannifin (NYSE PH), with 12 locations in four states. Andy has a strong track record of profitable operations, ISO 9000 Quality Assurance Certifications, human resources, risk management, financial reporting and internal controls.

As a practicing Certified Public Accountant with Ernst & Young for five years prior to joining Ritter, Andrew brings a balance of financial expertise and operations excellence to the Omnyx team.

Andrew received his B.S. degree in Accounting from Westminster College.

Back to Top

Laurence (Larry) Kopyta, VP Quality

Laurence (Larry) Kopyta recently joined Omnyx as Vice President of Quality. In this role he is responsible for the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of the Omnyx Quality Management System, in compliance with FDA regulations, ISO 13485:2003, and all other applicable standards and regulations.

Mr. Kopyta brings over 25 years of quality and regulatory experience to Omnyx. Prior to joining Omnyx, Larry worked in quality assurance , regulatory affairs, R&D, and manufacturing for a number of world-class medical device companies, including MEDRAD, Thermo Fisher, Siemens Medical, and Becton Dickinson.

Mr. Kopyta is Regulatory Affairs Certified (RAC) through the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society and is an active member of the American Society for Quality and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. He received an MBA in Marketing from Loyola University and a BA in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. He also completed postgraduate work at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

Back to Top

Michael Meissner, VP Software Research and Development

Michael Meissner is a seasoned executive in the medical device industry with 15+ years of medical imaging experience. In his current role as COO, he is responsible for all Software, Hardware, and Manufacturing at Omnyx across the two sites in Piscataway, NJ and Pittsburgh, PA. He initially joined Omnyx in 2008 as VP of Software R&D, leading software Design, Engineering, Implementation, and Service. Prior to joining Omnyx, Michael was Vice President of Engineering at Vital Images, coordinating the efforts of desktop and we based product development with teams in Beijing and the Minnetonka, MN. Previously, Dr. Meissner held several roles with Viatronix, a Radiology-based Imaging Solution company with a flagship product in Virtual Colonoscopy. At Viatronix, he started as Senior Software Developer, architected their extensible application framework, and advanced to Director of R&D.

Dr. Meissner’s passion is cultivating agile environments where people can be successful while being compliant with regulatory needs present in the Healthcare domain. He received a Master of Science and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science in the field of 3D computer graphics, specifically applied to Medical Imaging, from the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany. Prior to his formal degree, he was visiting student at SUNY Stony Brook, NY and working as an intern at Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, CA as well as at IBM Research, Böblingen, Germany.

Back to Top

Mike Montalto, VP Clinical and Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Montalto is one of the original founding members of Omnyx and is currently leading all Clinical, Scientific and Regulatory affairs in support of the global registrations of the Omnyx products. Prior to the formation of company, Dr. Montalto was the Program Leader for the Molecular Imaging and Diagnostics Advanced Technology Program at GE’s Global Research Center and the Lab Manager for the Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory between 2005 and 2008. During this time, Dr. Montalto led a multidisciplinary team of 60 engineers, biologists and chemists aimed at incubating long-term research for in vivo molecular imaging and molecular and digital pathology. During his tenure at GE, he spear-headed several successful partnerships within the academic and pharmaceutical industry, primarily focused on the co-develop of diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. Montalto remains technically active in the field of in vitro diagnostic biomarkers and digital pathology and has over 40 combined publications, patents and patent applications. He has served on the NIH Study Section for In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Centers.

Dr. Montalto received his PhD and MS in cancer biology from Albany Medical College, Albany N.Y. and post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MA. Prior to his formal training he was employed as pathology research assistant and clinical serology laboratory technician.

Back to Top

Share/Bookmark