The Provista Management Team
William Gartner, President & CEO
Mr. Gartner has 20 issued patents and more than 35 years’ experience in the environmental and medical fields, with an extensive history of product development, operational oversight, corporate acquisitions and technology transfer. He founded Gartner Research & Development Company, which offered contract product development services and licenses of its own patented products. As a branch of Gartner R&D, he created a water and wastewater testing laboratory, which successfully grew into a national multimillion-dollar network of environmental labs.
Mr. Gartner sold Gartner R&D to the Ocean Group, which later became the largest network of labs in the United States. He then acquired a small laboratory in Phoenix, which he grew to five locations in four states with nearly 200 employees and a full-scale radiochemistry lab. Mr. Gartner's patents range from water purification units to a
self-test for Alzheimer's disease.
Robert V. Woods, President, Provista Diagnostics
Mr. Woods (Arizona State University, B.S. Chemistry) has more than 27 years of hands-on operational and management experience in laboratory operations, management and quality assurance. He served as vice president of laboratory operations for Analytical Technologies, Inc. and vice president of Quality Assurance for Acculabs Inc.
Mr. Woods also served as president of Precision Analytical Laboratories, where he doubled revenues and created the largest environmental testing laboratory in Arizona before it was sold to Severn Trent Laboratories, Inc., the world’s largest environmental testing laboratory network.
James Zicarelli, CFO
Mr. Zicarelli has over 35 years of finance, venture capital investment, business development and accounting expertise. He was president and CEO of Sagebrush Corporation, a leader in library automation and literature distribution for North American schools since 1995, until it was sold in 2006. During that period, revenues grew by 300 percent and shareholder value by 1,200 percent.
Prior to that, Mr. Zicarelli was president and CFO for a private venture capital company and was involved in numerous strategic investments and divestitures for the private ownership group. Mr. Zicarelli was also the CFO for a public start-up medical device company for five years, and continues to serve on five outside board positions in a variety of industries.
Donald F. Weber, VP of Strategic Alliances
Mr. Weber (Northern Illinois University, B.S. Biological Sciences; MBA graduate studies at NIU) has more than 30 years’ experience in laboratory operations and management, business management (sales, marketing, contracts and acquisitions), licensing and financial services.
He served as vice president of business development for Analytical Technologies, Inc. and president and CEO of Transwest Geochem, Inc. prior to founding DFW Consultants in 1997. DFW Consultants was a management-consulting firm dedicated to providing outsourced business development, sales, management, laboratory services support and laboratory QA/QC data review.
Randall Grimes, VP of Operations
Mr. Grimes (University of Arizona College of Engineering, B.S. Material Sciences & Engineering; University of Michigan Business School, M.B.A.) has more than 15 years of marketing, business development, financial and R&D experience in technology/life science-based start-up companies.
He founded The Randall Group in 2001 to assist small- to medium-sized technology companies raise funds using state and federal competitive grants. Selected to manage more than 20 projects ranging in value from $70,000 to $5,000,000 within the medical device, biotechnology, communications, and MEMS industries, Mr. Grimes raised more than $10 million.
Dr. Louis Kirby, Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Kirby (University of Texas at Galveston, M.D.) brings more than 18 years of drug development and clinical research experience to Provista Life Sciences.
As the founder, CEO and medical director of Pivotal Research Centers, one of the nation’s largest dedicated clinical research facilities, Dr. Kirby served as Principal Investigator in more than 200 sponsored research trials, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, neuropathic pain and drug development trials. Under his direction, Pivotal Research was instrumental in the Federal Drug Administration’s approval of more than 50 drugs.
In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Kirby is board certified in neurology. He previously served as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University and as an associate professor at Sun Health Research Institute. He also served as chief of staff at Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center and on the Samaritan board of directors. He has numerous publications to his credit and is a noted speaker, having given countless authoritative presentations and guest lectures to pharmaceutical companies and national and international audiences.
Joel C. Bird, VP of Reimbursement Strategies
Mr. Bird (California State University, Fresno, B.A. Biological Sciences; California State University, Sacramento, M.B.A.) has 20 years of executive management experience. After working for the federal government as a biologist and training coordinator, Mr. Bird started his private sector career when he joined California Analytical Laboratories, Inc. The company quickly grew increasing its sample production and revenues 10-fold over a 5 year period. While working full-time Mr. Bird returned to school to complete his M.B.A. During this period Mr. Bird developed a business plan and sought investment for the start-up of a testing company. CompuChem Laboratories, Inc. (at the time the largest publicly held testing company in the United States) supported Mr. Bird in his entrepreneurial venture and started a western division which included both clinical and environmental testing laboratories. Under Mr. Bird’s direction the company grew from a start-up to $6 million in annual revenue before being acquired by Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc.
Mr. Bird has been responsible for all aspects of business operations. Mr. Bird’s responsibilities have included profit and loss, internal business growth, external growth through acquisitions, business consolidation and restructuring, sales and marketing, human resources and employee benefit programs, quality assurance, project management, technology development and strategic planning.
Dr. James Snyder, PhD, Laboratory Manager
Dr. Snyder (University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Department of Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry) has over 13 years of hands-on research and development experience on medical diagnostics and novel drug therapeutic development. Dr. Snyder joined Provista Life Sciences from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he served for nearly eight years as a post-doctorate fellow and senior staff scientist involved in the NIH’s research programs in HIV and hepatitis C vaccines at the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, and studying mechanisms of immune tolerance & immune activation at the National Eye Institute.
Dr. Snyder also provided hands-on clinical trial support analysis for combination therapy and small-scale treatment using blocking antibodies for uveitis autoimmune disease. Prior to working with the NIH, Dr. Synder was with the University of Pittsburgh investigating signal transduction, immune activation and immunotolerance mechanisms. His research included hands-on blood serum analysis using a wide range of analytical procedures.
Caroline J. Hardy, Director of Clinical Studies
Ms. Hardy (Arizona State University, B.A. Sociology; Johns Hopkins University, M.H.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Arizona State University, M.B.A./M.H.S.M.) is a graduate scientist with experience in the oncology field as well as business development and management.
As a graduate student she focused on human reproductive physiology, writing her Master's thesis on breast cancer and focusing on the healthcare industry during her business education.
While working as a project manager at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Ms. Hardy managed multiple large oncology grants including a multi-site program project totaling more than $15 million in grant funding. She was also instrumental in business development, negotiating collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology.
Julie A. Johnson, Accounting Manager
Ms. Johnson has more than 20 years’ experience in public relations, marketing and business management in the environmental chemistry, IT and aviation industries. As owner and manager of her own water supply services firm for 10 years, Ms. Johnson was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the firm’s accounting, public relations and marketing programs.
From 1996 to 1998, Ms. Johnson provided public relations support, client services oversight and conflict management for Computers Exclusively. In 2000, Ms. Johnson joined Pan American International Flight Academy, working with their VA grant funding program in addition to coordinating the firm’s public relations, marketing and in-house publishing efforts. Ms Johnson presently oversees the firm’s communications, publishing, IT and accounting activities.