Management

Jeff Williams, CEO and Chairman of the Board

Jeff is a successful entrepreneurial executive who assumed leadership of Tangent in August 2011. Previously, he had been President & CEO of Accuri Cytometers, a life science instrument and clinical diagnostic company, from January 2010 until its sale for $205 million in March 2011.  While at Accuri, Jeff oversaw revenue growth of 65% year-over-year, the development of a clinical system, and the achievement of positive cash flow.  Prior to Accuri, he had been President & CEO of HandyLab, Inc., a molecular diagnostic company, since 2004.  At HandyLab, he led the growth and venture financing of the company, ultimately resulting in its sale for $275 million in November 2009.  Previously, Jeff was President & CEO of Genomic Solutions Inc., a life science products company he co-founded in 1997.  He led Genomic Solutions through a period of rapid growth culminating in an IPO on NASDAQ in 2000 and merger with Harvard Biosciences, Inc. in late 2002.  Prior to Genomic Solutions, Jeff held various executive and management level positions in several bioscience companies, including IRIS and Boehringer Mannheim.  He received a BS in Biology from Alma College and an MBA from The University of Michigan. 

Colleen Spencer, Chief Financial Officer

Colleen is a CPA with over thirty years experience in finance.  Colleen has been the CFO for several medical device and technology start-ups.  Her tenure at these companies involved VC and bank financings, mezzanine financings and an initial public offering, as well as investor relations and administrative responsibilities.  She was a Manager at Arthur Andersen, where she managed the audits of many high-tech start-ups.  Colleen holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University.

Jamie Olson, VP Operations

Jamie is responsible for manufacturing, supply chain management, information technology and facilities management at Tangent.  Prior to joining the company in August 2011, he had been Director of Supply Chain Management & Information Technology for HandyLab from 2004 through its sale to BD in November 2009.  Jamie remained with BD until July 2010 to transition the manufacturing facility to a BD location.  From 1999 to 2004, he held various senior manager roles with MedImmune, a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company, in their Information Technology group.  Prior to Medimmune, Jamie spent nine years with the Bayer Corporation in their Diagnostics Division in a variety of materials management and production planning roles.  He has a BS in Production & Operations Management from Western Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Indiana.

Kay Fuller, RAC, VP Regulatory and Clinical Affairs

Kay has more than 30 years experience developing and commercializing complex medical devices. She has led successful global clinical studies and regulatory marketing authorization submissions for more than 35 Class II & Class III medical devices and combination products, via the U.S. FDA IDE, IND, 510(k), PMA and European Union CE mark processes.  She founded MDRS, LLC, a national regulatory consulting firm that specializes in providing strategic FDA and global regulatory, quality and clinical affairs support to biotechnology companies.  Prior to establishing MDRS, she developed the IND/IDE Faculty Investigator Assistance Program (MIAP) at the UM Medical School’s Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR). She was an original member of the UM Medical Innovation Center Technical Advisory Group and an active member of the National NIH CTSA Regulatory Working Group IND/IDE Support Taskforce during her tenure at UM’s MICHR.  Kay has held regulatory, quality, clinical and R&D positions with global medical device companies, including W. L. Gore & Associates, P-S Medical (acquired by Medtronic), C. R. Bard, Cohera Medical and Terumo Corporation. Kay received her undergraduate degree in Veterinary Technology from Texas State Technical College and is board certified in Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs.

Adrienne Harris, Co-Founder and Director of Product Development

Adrienne earned her B.S. (2006) and M.S. (2008) in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Her course work focused on the development of medical devices with a specific focus on biomaterials and mechanics. While at UM she worked on a yearlong project with a prominent medical device manufacturer to design and prototype a spinal trauma stabilization device for use in emergency pre-hospitalization settings. Before participating in the UM Medical Innovation Center fellowship, Adrienne held internships at Toyota R&D and MC3. At Toyota, she studied the interaction of sensors and biological systems. Her work focused on ultrasonic proximity sensing and metamaterial test development, as well as assisting on an in-vehicle eye motion monitoring system. At MC3, she worked on validation activities related to an artificial lung device. Adrienne has worked full-time at Tangent since the doors opened in July 2009. 

Elyse Kemmerer, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Director of Marketing

Elyse earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2005 and transitioned to marketing at Arbor Strategy Group (ASG), now the Strategic Innovation branch of GfK, the fourth largest market research company in the world. Elyse also participated in the MIC fellowship and has been at Tangent since its inception in July 2009. She is now responsible for developing and implementing marketing programs as Tangent gears up for the launch of NovaCath™.

Steve White, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Director of R&D

Steve received his Ph.D., M.S.E, and B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.  While studying heat transfer and fluid dynamics of advanced thermal management systems, Steve was a visiting scholar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, General Motors, and Ford Motor Company.  He also worked with clinicians and researchers across UM’s Medical Campus to evaluate and develop solutions for their unmet needs.  After participating in the MIC Fellowship and the launch of Tangent, Steve completed his doctoral studies in May 2010 and is now responsible for Research & Development at Tangent.

Board of Directors

Hank Brown, Founding Investor and Board Member

Hank has over 20 years of experience in medical device sales, marketing, distribution and general management. He started Surgical Solutions, Inc., more than ten years ago with one employee and it has now grown to more than 35 employees. This was the first of three distribution companies he founded. Hank also has more than 10 years of Board experience, serving as a Board member for several companies and one non-profit organization.

Tim Petersen, Board Member

Tim is a Managing Director of Arboretum Ventures in Ann Arbor, MI. In recent years he has focused on investments in companies that are changing the way healthcare is delivered. Tim led Arboretum’s investment in HealthMedia (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company) and served on the Board of Directors of each company prior to exit. He also led Arboretum’s investments in Advanced ICU Care, Inogen, MyHealthDIRECT, and CerviLenz, and presently serves as a director of these companies. Tim is responsible for Arboretum’s financial and fund management activities and is a member of the Investment Committee. He has been a venture capital investor for the past twelve years.

Harry Wilcox, Board Member

Harry is a Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, MA. Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development for EXACT Sciences and was interim CEO of Thrasos Therapeutics and of Biostratum. Before that, Mr. Wilcox was Executive Vice President, Chief of Finance and Corporate Development for Pyrosequencing. He held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge NeuroScience until its sale to CeNeS Pharmaceuticals, and before that was Senior Vice President of Business Development and Chief Financial Officer of Cellcor. In addition to his corporate management experience, Mr. Wilcox was Chief Financial Officer of two venture capital firms—Highland Capital Partners, for which he was founding Chief Financial Officer and General Partner, and Charles River Ventures. He is currently a board member of Accuri Cytometers, Celexion, Seahorse Bioscience and T2 Biosystems.