SALONA GLOBAL - Key Persons
Dennis Nelson is the Chief Financial Officer of Salona Global. Most recently he was Corporate Controller of Manscaped Holdings, LLC based in San Diego, California. Dennis was previously Principal Financial Officer of Alphatec Spine, Inc., a medical technology company trading on the NASDAQ. Dennis is a Corporate Finance Executive and Certified Public Accountant with 25 years of experience building and leading teams and companies, both private and publicly traded, through periods of rapid growth, acquisition and divestiture, complicated restructurings, international expansion and complex financing transactions. He is a seasoned leader with a track record of creating improved financial performance, heightened productivity, and enhanced compliance. Dennis earned his BA in Business Economics from University of California, Santa Barbara.
Job Titles:
- COO of Chromocell Corporation / Former CMO, Ferring Pharma ( Valued at over US$1B )
Dr. Ken Kashkin brings over 30 years of experience in medical devices, research and development, and corporate governance to the board. An expert physician, Dr. Kashkin serves as a technical medical expert on all transactions for the Company. Dr. Kashkin received his undergraduate and medical degrees from University of California, Los Angeles and completed his education at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Kyle Wilks graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. After his time as a Naval Officer, he worked at Montgomery Pacific Group, a mid market healthcare private equity group as an Executive Director managing portfolio companies. A former senior manager at Baxter in the rare immune deficiency therapies division, and Shire in the rare disease division, he was later a professor of Leadership at the US Naval Academy. He has substantial expertise in finance, leadership and management; medical device and biologics manufacturing and global healthcare market strategy.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Senior Executive
Lana Newishy is a senior executive with over 20 years of cross-functional leadership experience in transformation, operations, strategy and finance with Fortune 500 companies. Her expertise extends to collaborating with top-notch consulting and M&A firms, where she's worked on transformation and acquisition or divestment deals and has had her own practice in the field.
Lana is also an accomplished entrepreneur, having launched and operated two startups, and has a passion for the not-for-profit world where she served as a COO of a global organization.
Outside of her career, Lana enjoys mentoring entrepreneurs at different stages of their business lifecycle and participating in the Alumnae Network for Harvard Women as a steering committee member.
Les Cross focused on acquisition and integration as a means of strategic growth during his tenure as CEO of DJO Global, resulting in significant returns and a lucrative private equity exit to Blackstone. His extensive US capital market and medical device company acquisition experience will be the driving energy behind the acquisition of companies in the pipeline.
He led the IPO of DJO Global, raising US$150 million and the sale of DJO Global to Blackstone for US$1.6 billion
Mike Seckler was appointed Permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Salona Global in July 2023, following one month as interim CEO. He has more than 30 years of life sciences experience commercializing and developing innovative medicines, medical devices, and diagnostics for patients across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
Prior to Salona, Mike was the COO of FerGene where he was responsible for establishing a groundbreaking joint venture between Blackstone Life Sciences and Ferring International Center SA. He led the global development and commercialization efforts for ADSTILADRIN, an innovative gene therapy approved for the treatment of bladder cancer.
Mike has also held several executive leadership positions with Ferring Pharmaceuticals, a multi-billion-dollar company based in Switzerland, where he was the General Manager of its $100M Canadian subsidiary; Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Communications; and Orthopedics Business Unit leader.
Mike honed his expertise at Pfizer and Merck, where he held various leadership positions in marketing, sales, and market access. Mike obtained a B.S. in Health Sciences as well as an M.B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University. He was previously a board member of GlyPharma, a Montreal-based developer of innovative therapeutic medicines, and K2 Biotechnology Ventures, an organization dedicated to founding and operating life science companies emerging from universities
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and President of Simbex
Rick Greenwald is the President of Simbex, a wholly owned subsidiary of Salona Global and Salona Global's second acquisition. Rick was also Co-Founder of iWalk (now BionX, acquired by OttoBock). He is co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit National Institute for Sports Science and Safety and is an Adjunct Professor at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He has led two federally funded medical technology Commercialization Centers as Co-Director of the NIH funded Center for Translation of Rehabilitation Engineering Advances and Technology (TREAT), a national rehabilitation infrastructure resource, and Co-Director of the previously FDA funded New England Pediatric Device Consortium (NEPDC). Dr. Greenwald's research interests include biomechanics, injury prevention, sports equipment, product development, and technology commercialization.