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Richard R. Allen, CEO
Mr. Allen has 30 years of experience in business and finance, including 16 years in executive leadership positions with medical technology businesses. In 1998 Mr. Allen co-founded Regeneration Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:RTIX), a medical device company with proprietary technology in orthopedics and tissue regeneration. In co-founding the company, Mr. Allen negotiated the spin-off of the company’s underlying technology from the University of Florida, developed the company's strategic plans, raised the initial venture capital and, two years later in August 2000, led its initial public offering with a $400 million market cap.
After the success of RTIX, Mr. Allen founded Synogen, a private venture fund investing in early-stage biomedical and medical device companies with a number of successful portfolio companies, and co-founded Emergent Growth Fund, an angel investment fund serving North Florida. He serves on the Board of several medical technology companies.
With a background in technology, business, finance, licensing and M&A, Mr. Allen has negotiated several major acquisitions as well as venture capital funding for successful technology start-ups. He is a licensed CPA in the state of Florida and has co-authored a business book published by Dow Jones-Irwin. He has also co-founded Sustainable Cambodia, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to create a sustainable quality of life in Cambodian villages.
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Richard J. Melker, M.D., Ph.D., CTO
Dr. Melker, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer with Xhale, received his Ph.D. (Neurobiology) and M.D. degrees from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After a residency in Pediatrics, and fellowships in Pediatric Cardiology and Critical Care Medicine, he served as Director of Emergency Services at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida College of Medicine, as well as Medical Liaison for the NASA space shuttle program. He holds the position of Professor of Anesthesiology, Pediatrics and Biomedical Engineering at U.F. and since 1993 has been Director of the Florida Anesthesiology Computer and Engineering Team (FACET) which develops and licenses medical devices and technologies. Dr. Melker holds over 35 issued U.S. patents including several for emergency medical devices in use throughout the world, and by the U.S. Special Forces.
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Donn Dennis, M.D., F.A.H.A., CSO
Dr. Dennis, co-founder of Xhale with Mr. Allen and Dr. Melker, serves as the company’s Chief Science Officer. He is a board certified anesthesiologist, and previously served as Vice President of Pharmacology at ARYx Therapeutics in Fremont, CA.. In addition to his work with Xhale, Dr. Dennis is a professor in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics in the College of Medicine at the University of Florida (U.F.), where he also holds the Joachim S. Gravenstein M.D. Endowed Chair in Anesthesiology. He is also the Director of Nanomedicine at the University of Florida.
Dr. Dennis’ research interests focus on translating fundamental science findings in the areas of cardiovascular biology and nanotechnology into medically useful, commercially viable products (e.g., new chemical entities, nano-based drug delivery systems and sensors). He has a long track record of R&D experience, including co-developing drugs and consulting with several small, medium and large pharmaceutical companies and large biotech and health care venture capital funds. Dr. Dennis has been the recipient or co-recipient of several federal grants in the areas of bionanotechnology and cardiovascular pharmacology, and is a co-inventor on several drug- and bio-nano patent applications. Dr. Dennis has published over 150 full length manuscripts and abstracts in peer reviewed journals and has edited two textbooks. He is also a regular member of NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) site visit teams. Dr. Dennis was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education & Research FAER). He received his medical degree during 1986 from the University of Michigan.
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Hank Wohltjen, Ph.D., Vice President of Engineering
Dr. Wohltjen focuses on applying the latest advances in microsensor technologies to the analysis of exhaled breath as a diagnostic matrix. Trained as both an electrical engineer and a chemist, Dr. Wohltjen has been actively engaged in the development and commercialization of novel chemical sensing devices and systems since 1976. In the 1980’s he formed the Chemical Microsensor research group at the US Naval Research Lab that pioneered a number of important advances in chemical sensor technology. Later he founded Microsensor Systems, Inc. (MSI) and led the commercial development of Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) microsensors for detecting chemical warfare threats. Over the years Dr. Wohltjen has been the principal investigator on more than $10M of federally funded sensor R&D programs. In 1995 his previous company, MSI, was recognized with the Tibbetts Award from the US Small Business Administration for its successful participation in numerous SBIR programs. Presently Dr. Wohltjen also serves as a director on several boards of academic institutions and small technology-focused companies.
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Stephanie Warrington, M.B.A., M.H.A, VP - Corporate Affairs & Development
Ms. Warrington, a member of Xhale's co-founding team, has extensive health care industry and medical technology start-up experience both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Ms. Warrington obtained her MBA/MHA degrees from the University of Florida Warrington College of Business in 1994 and her health industry background includes strategic analysis and project management as an analyst for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and London consulting firm, Newchurch & Company. Ms. Warrington's medical technology commercialization experience encompasses university-based bioengineering research management, work within the University of Florida technology transfer office, technology evaluation, market research, business strategy and plan development, and all aspects of starting and running a technology based business. Through her role as President of Synogen, she has participated as a key founding management team or support team member in the launch and growth of several viable high tech start-up companies in the med tech space. Ms. Warrington currently serves on the Board of BioFlorida. Ms. Warrington provides corporate development, investor relations, employee relations, contract management and other managerial support for the company.
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Ronald E. Youngblood II, B.S., Director of Operations
Mr. Youngblood has over 20 years of manufacturing experience, spanning all aspects from planning and hands-on development to managing processes and associates. He spent 14 years with Honeywell International, primarily in the Guidance and Navigation Operations center in Clearwater, Florida, where he was responsible for development and manufacture of inertial guidance systems with embedded GPS capability that are currently in use on a multitude of aircraft and missiles worldwide. While at Honeywell, Mr. Youngblood was trained and certified as an expert in Demand Flow and Lean Manufacturing, and completed more than 100 hours of specialized training in Root Cause and Corrective Action processes.
In 1998, Mr. Youngblood joined the nascent Regeneration Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:RTIX) in Alachua, Florida and became Manager of Manufacturing, reporting directly to the Vice President of Operations. During his tenure at RTI, he managed all aspects of biomedical manufacturing in both human and bovine production from initial concept through product launch utilizing state of the art machining, a highly skilled staff and the trademarked Biocleanse sterilization process. Mr. Youngblood continued with RTIX after the company’s IPO, until early 2006 when he joined Xhale. He is a graduate of the University of Florida, with a degree in Resource Economics.
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Steven Todd Gold, Esq. J.D.,M.P.H.,M.B.E., General Counsel
Mr. Gold provides in-house counsel to the company, as well as interacting with and directing outside counsel in the areas of intellectual property, securities and contracts. In addition to his legal background, Mr. Gold has extensive business experience, including work in private company formation, funding, and development of successful exit strategies. A graduate of Yale University (B.A.), the University of Florida Levin School of Law (J.D.), the University of Florida College of Medicine (M.P.H.) and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Center for Bioethics (M.B.E.), Mr. Gold has served in the chambers of Justice Charles Wells of the Florida Supreme Court and has worked for then Attorney General of Florida, now Governor, Charlie Crist as a Deputy Solicitor General. Mr. Gold is a part-time Adjunct Professor for undergraduate and graduate level courses in medicine, law and medical ethics. His legal expertise is in general corporate, health, bioethics and appellate law matters.
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