ALTAVIZ - Key Persons


Anura Welikala

Job Titles:
  • VP of Plastic Injection Molding
Bio Mr. Welikala has a lifelong love of plastics that has only grown with his decades of experience focusing on injection molding for medical devices. He joined Altaviz in 2013. Starting with the founding of Apec in 1997, he built the company from the ground up to focus exclusively on injection molding of medical parts and successfully grew the business until it was acquired by Helix Medical in 2007, where he continued to serve for another 6 years as the Executive Vice President Global Business Development. In 2014 he cofounded Medacys, an injection molding company based in Shenzhen, China that flourished and eventually merged with EG Gilero. Foundational to his life is his family. In his free time he enjoys cultivating new types of plants in his garden and his relentless curiosity has inspired him to pursue education in bee biology and Beekeeping to better understand the fascinatingly complex insects that help his garden thrive.

Bob Barron

Job Titles:
  • Business Leader With a Strong Operating
  • CEO of Chromatis Networks
  • CO - CEO and CO - Founder
Bio Bob is the CO-CEO and CO-Founder of Altaviz. Mr. Barron is a proven business leader with a strong Operating background, along with experience in transactions and investments. He has led businesses from start-ups to Fortune 1000 firms, and was a Venture Partner at a leading venture capital firm. He has served on various Boards, numerous Advisory Boards, and guided entrepreneurs to the successful launching of their companies. As CEO of Chromatis Networks, Bob was responsible for a $4.5B M&A transaction that led to him being featured on CNBC for leading the largest Small Cap transaction in U.S. history. Bob also lead a highly successful commercial spin-out of a government contract manufacturing business, MQA, facilitating a 500% market capitalization increase. Throughout his career, Bob's focus and success was based on building and motivating teams to develop strategies for growth, and to execute successfully through proven business processes. Mr. Barron began P&L responsibility in 1986 as Group Vice President of Stanford Telecom, a public technology company. Today, Bob enjoys flying his Bonanza, backcountry skiing, getting off-the-grid in Alaska, and being married to his wife.

Cesar Leyva

Job Titles:
  • Director Program Operations & Program Management
Bio Cesar Leyva has been working in the medical device industry for over 13 years and specializes in process development, new product introduction and technology transfers for class 3 implantable devices. Cesar has led cross-geographical teams in the technology transfer projects and has supported successful regulatory approvals across the globe. Cesar heads up Altaviz operations and program management. Cesar graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and holds an MBA, he is also certified as a lean/six sigma black belt. He dedicates his free time to his family of 3 boys and a beautiful wife!

Colin Millstone - CMO

Job Titles:
  • CMO
  • Founder and President of Marketing
Bio Colin is the CMO of Altaviz. Colin is also the founder and President of Marketing as a Service. A business-centric leader, Colin has 20+ years of hands-on marketing, operations, technology and management experience delivering excellence by first asking questions, doing the research, connecting with team members, and understanding organizational goals, strategies, capabilities, resources and shortfalls. Colin has a broad and deep record of success in aligning business, operations, sales and marketing strategies to deliver authentic and engaging brands, holistic customer experiences, high performing campaigns and thriving teams.

Jack Auld - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Co - Founder
  • CO - CEO & CO - Founder
Bio Jack is a Co-Founder of Altaviz and well-established in the medical device industry. Jack's passion is leading smart people to creatively solve real-world problems with innovative solutions that yield effective, high-demand products and processes. Prior to founding Picocyl, Jack worked extensively with retina surgeons to deeply understand their objectives, identify their needs and translate those needs into current market-leading, state-of-the art, handheld surgical instruments. His fifteen successful years in motorsports and specialty vehicle design/development with the Toyota off road racing team and MillenWorks taught Jack to flourish at solving challenging problems in fast-paced, team-centric environments. He currently holds 51 US and 100 International patents. Jack graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He is happily married with two great twenty-something children, active in the outdoors with a passion for hiking, lightweight backpacking and riding motorcycles.

James Lescoulie

Job Titles:
  • Director of Engineering
Bio James joined Altaviz in 2013 and has been developing leading edge medical device technology with a focus in the ophthalmic industry since 2003. With broad experience in all areas of medical device development including R&D, Manufacturing, Quality, and Regulatory, James has been leading the Altaviz engineering team in the development of FDA Class II and Class III medical devices. James graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS and MS in Biomedical Engineering. He and his wife enjoy activites with their two kids including sporting events, camping, kayaking, and traveling.

Matt McCawley - CTO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Technical Officer
Bio Matt has eighteen years of experience as a Mechanical Engineer, eight of which have been spent designing Pico-Cylinders for medical devices. Matt joined Altaviz in 2012. He currently holds fourteen patents, three related to the development of Pico-Cylinders. Matt has over 14 years in developing disposable delivery devices. He is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Matt and his wife Jenna have five daughters- Kara, Allison, Sadie, Nomathemba and Lerato. In his free time Matt enjoys mountain biking, reading, and spending time with his wife.

Nelson Quintana

Job Titles:
  • Director of Drug Delivery
Bio Nelson boasts over 27 years of experience in groundbreaking technology development, covering diverse areas such as medical devices, drug delivery, semiconductors, and robotics. As a seasoned mechanical engineer, Nelson is passionate about smaller, high-performance/impact companies, contributing leadership in scientific research, engineering, product development, project management, and innovation. With a background spanning design, manufacturing engineering, quality engineering, and R&D, he has built world-class engineering teams. Nelson's expertise includes successfully commercializing over 12 products, enhancing marketability for previously unfeasible technologies. Holding over 70 patents, his contributions range from diabetes sensing to smart capsule drug delivery. Outside his dynamic professional life, Nelson is happily married with three bright sons, overindulging his passion for tennis, exploring new technologies, and cherishing family adventures. He dedicates his free time to his family of 3 boys and a beautiful wife!

Patrick Lee - CFO

Job Titles:
  • CFO
  • Founder and Principal of KLP Tax & Financial Group, Inc
Bio Patrick is the CFO since the inception of Altaviz. Patrick is also the founder and principal of KLP Tax & Financial Group, Inc. and has over 32 years of experience in providing professional accounting, tax and financial planning services. Patrick is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) serving startup companies, closely held businesses, and high net worth clients. Patrick was a tax manager with Ernst & Young specializing in tax planning services, mergers and acquisitions, tax examinations and appeals, due diligence, transaction structuring, financial accounting for income taxes, buyer and seller side representation, and international tax planning. Patrick earned his undergraduate finance degree from University of Wisconsin, Madison and his Master in Accounting Science degree with concentrations in Taxation and Information Systems from University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. Patrick is committed to actively contributing to the community and various non-profit organizations. He was the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for 2-1-1 Orange County and a board member at the Orange County Heritage Museum. His favorite ways to enjoy life are to spending time with family and friends, traveling to different places, reading or listening to good books, and dining out.

Pete Bliss

Job Titles:
  • Applications Engineer
  • Principal
Bio Mr. Bliss has over 35 years of experience in medical device and industrial gas equipment design and manufacturing. He holds numerous patents and is an author of studies published in peer reviewed medical journals as well as abstracts and conference presentations. He is currently a principal in the consulting firm Techniflow Inc. Peter received a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. He has been with the industrial gas equipment firm Minnesota Valley Engineering (now Chart Industries), Chief Engineer of the custom valve manufacturer Wair Products Inc, and partner in the consulting firm Valley Inspired Products. Peter was co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the start-up device firm, Oxytec Medical which introduced an innovative and industry leading portable oxygen concentrator for respiratory patients. After acquisition of Oxytec he stayed on as Principal Engineer with Philips Healthcare for 7 years.

Thomas Costello

Job Titles:
  • Director of Business Development
Bio Tom has 30+ years of product / business development, marketing and sales experience in medical devices and pharma with experience in start-up and large corporations. Tom has led global strategic business development activities for a CDMO where he established the company's first DMF in China. With another company, he was instrumental in the promotion and proliferation of the first lay-person automatic external defibrillator (AED) to improve the 2-3% survival rate of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) victims via early defibrillation. Tom earned his B.A. in Biology from Lafayette College and M.B.A. from Villanova University. Tom enjoys activities with his 2 kids, riding his Harley and the beaches of S. Florida!