Leadership Team
Ralf Fassbender
Chief Financial Officer
Ralf joined Fortis as the Chief Financial Officer in December 2023. Prior to joining Fortis, he served as President of Shared Services and CFO for the US operations of Eurofins. In his role at Eurofins, Ralf built a strong platform that played a pivotal role in positioning Eurofins as a leading player in the US testing markets. He also has a proven track record of integrating acquisitions.
Before joining Eurofins in 2006, Ralf served as the Director of Finance of Siegwerk Ink Packaging, a German-based global manufacturer of printing ink for the packaging and publication industries. Before that he held various positions in Banking, Treasury and Corporate Controlling.
Ralf holds a bachelor's degree in business administration in Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and an Executive MBA from the University of Iowa.
Lori Nickerson
Chief Legal & Compliance Officer
Lori joined Fortis as the first General Counsel & Corporate Secretary in May of 2022. Since that time, Lori has expanded her role to include Chief Human Resource Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Head of the Quality & Regulatory Affairs organization.
Prior to joining Fortis, Lori served as Associate General Counsel at Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) where she led legal support for Clinical Operations, R&D and the Multi-Cancer division. Prior to Exact Sciences, Lori spent 11 years at Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOLX) as Senior Director, Senior Corporate Counsel supporting the Operations & Shared Services, Diagnostics and International divisions with their legal and compliance needs. Lori has over 22 years of broad legal and compliance experience with over 14 years in various sectors of the life science industry.
Education: BA in English and Psychology from Boston College; JD from Suffolk University Law School
Fred Pettijohn
Chief Business Officer
Fred is responsible for corporate development, strategy, innovation, and operational excellence. He was previously a life sciences & healthcare investor at Summit Partners, a leading private equity firm with more than $40 billion of capital under management. Prior to that, he advised on M&A transactions for public and private companies and institutional investors at Deloitte Corporate Finance. He began his career as a high school AP Calculus and AP Statistics teacher and as a member of Teach For America.
Education: BS University of Florida (summa cum laude), MBA from Harvard Business School
Jeff Hurst
General Manager, Nanomaterial Solutions
Jeff has over 10 years of experience in product management, sales, and marketing functions and has served technologies ranging from life sciences consumables to RF components for defense and telecommunications. As General Manager for Nanomaterials Solutions, Jeff draws from his tenure at nanoComposix and his background in physical chemistry to serve the unique challenges of nanomaterials manufacturing and integration.
Education: BS Chemistry from University of Washington
Emily Moran
General Manager, Cell & Gene Therapy Solutions
Emily Moran is a transformational leader in cell and gene therapies and biologics. She most recently served as SVP, Manufacturing and MS&T for Cell, Viral, and Plasmid Manufacturing at SK Pharmteco, formerly Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Prior to that she served as Head of Viral Vector Manufacturing at Lonza and served multiples operational and quality roles at Sanofi. During her time in industry she became highly skilled in commercial and operational acumen, driving positive revenue generation, building a customer base, and developing operational processes to support high growth models.
Emily enjoys leading and developing large, high-performing teams and building patient and asset centricity. She has a B.S. in Biology from Ursinus College and an MBA in Project Management from New York Institute of Technology. She has Demonstrated success in commercial and clinical manufacturing operations, CDMO, startups, M&A, VC/PE, and building organizations with integrity.
Emily is skilled in operational excellence to build efficient, profitable business units that deliver on time and in full to our patients and clients. Emily is a trusted industry leader, mother, patient advocate, and equality ambassador.
David Ray
General Manager, Diagnostic Solutions
David was a co-founder and the CEO of International Point of Care (IPOC) with 40 years of experience in the diagnostic industry at both large public companies and entrepreneurial new ventures. Prior to the acquisition of IPOC in 2008, David served in executive leadership roles with Nanogen, Spectral Diagnostics' and Aruna Biomedical, David began his career in the life science industry during a 12-year tenure at AMF Medical Products. David has experience and expertise in various organizational disciplines including, Manufacturing, Quality, Regulatory, and Business Development.
Education: Paramedic, Texas DPH - Scott and White Hospital, BS in Physiology from Texas State University and his MBA from The University of Texas, San Antonio.
Advisors
John Carwile
Senior Advisor
John has over 12 years of experience in the antibody manufacturing space as the Chief Executive at Bethyl Laboratories, Inc. He previously served as the Section Chief of Hematology and Laboratory Director at Sadler Clinic, in the Houston area.
Education: BS in Animal Science from Texas A&M, MD from Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Residency & Fellowship training in Internal Medicine & Hematology from Baylor College of Medicine.
Steve Oldenburg
Senior Advisor
Nearly 20 years in the nanoparticle field as the CEO/Founder at nanoComposix.
Education: PhD in Applied Physics from Rice University, BSc in Physics and Computer Science from the University of British Columbia
Fortis Board of Directors
Dave King
Dave King
Executive Director & Chairman of the Board
David P. King is is a respected senior healthcare executive who operates with a strong emphasis on deeply understanding the healthcare industry, strategic planning, "playing the long game," and staying ahead of rapidly evolving industry trends and challenges. He uses the insights gained in his 20+ year healthcare career in providing strategic and operational advice to industry stakeholders.
Mr. King most recently served as executive chair and CEO of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp). Under his leadership, Labcorp transformed from a pure-play U.S. testing laboratory into a leading global life sciences company — tripling in size through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, entering the Fortune 500, and being named to Fortune's List of World's Most Admired Companies. It is now the world's largest clinical laboratory and second-largest drug development business. In 2019, Forbes named Mr. King to its list of America's Most Innovative Leaders.
Prior to joining Labcorp, Mr. King was partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells) where he was a key leader in the firm's healthcare fraud and abuse practice, representing national healthcare companies in investigations and litigation. Mr. King was also an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
Mr. King's board service includes non-executive chair of Privia Health (NASDAQ:PRVA); nonexecutive chair of ZimVie (NASDAQ:ZIMV); and board member of several privately-held companies. Mr. King's community service includes serving as a board member of Novant Health, a multi-state integrated health system; and on the advisory board and executive committee of Duke University's Robert J. Margolis, MD, Center for Health Policy. Mr. King previously served on the board of Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH), a Fortune 20 healthcare company; PATH, a nonprofit global health organization (board chair from 2018 to 2021); The Emily K Center, a college-readiness center founded by Duke Men's Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski; and the American Clinical Laboratory Association, (board chair from 2010 to 2014). Mr. King holds a bachelor's degree, cum laude, from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Darren M. Black
Darren M. Black
Darren joined Summit Partners in 2013 and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. Darren's current board directorships include InnovaCare HealthPartners, Leon Medical Centers, LifeStance Health (NASDAQ: LFST), Paradigm Outcomes, PharmScript, Sound Physicians, TurningPoint Healthcare Solutions, U.S. Renal Care, VaxCare and Veranex.
Prior to Summit, Darren was a Managing Partner with SV Life Sciences, where he focused on healthcare services, healthcare information technology and pharmaceutical services. Prior to SV Life Sciences, Darren was Cofounder and President of two companies—ClinCare and PharmaStar. Previously, he was a healthcare consultant for Accenture.
Darren holds an AB in government from Harvard College and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the board of directors for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Friends of the IDF.
Julie Coletti
Julie Coletti
Julie Coletti is EVP, Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer at Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), a leading global medical device company and the world’s largest 3D printing company. Align designs, manufactures, and sells the Invisalign® system of clear aligners, iTero™ intraoral scanners, and exocad™ CAD/CAM software and is driving the evolution in digital dentistry through the Align Digital Platform. Julie advises the Align Board and Executive Committee, drives business-focused strategies and outcomes to support rapid growth, geographic expansion and business model transformation and leads a team of over 1,000 legal, regulatory and quality professionals. Prior to joining Align, Julie served as the Vice President and Global General Counsel for Danaher Corporation’s Dental Platform (NYSE: DHR) and before that as Vice President, Bayer HealthCare, Chief Legal Officer for Bayer Radiology and Interventional.
Heiner Dreismann, Ph.D.
Heiner Dreismann, Ph.D.
Dr. Dreismann, is a seasoned executive with more than 35 years of experience in the life sciences and health care industries and is regarded as a pioneer in the early adoption of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, one of the most ubiquitous technologies in molecular biology and genetics research today.
He earned a master of science degree in biology and his doctor of philosophy degree in microbiology/molecular biology (summa cum laude) from Westfaelische Wilhelms University in Muenster, Germany. Heiner holds a post-doctoral fellowship at the French Center for Nuclear Research in Saclay, near Paris, France and then joined the biotechnology company Roehm and Haas in Darmstadt, Germany where he headed the genetic research and development effort to improve the yield of enzyme manufacturing fungal and bacterial strains.
He then joined F. Hoffmann La Roche AG in 1985, and held various national and international management positions, including head of manufacturing for microbiological diagnostics, head of R&D microbiological diagnostics and head of the Business Area Microbiology.
After Roche’s acquisition of PCR technology in 1991, Dr. Dreismann has made significant contributions to the organizational and financial growth of the Molecular Business Area, beginning with his role in 1991 as the head of the PCR Business Unit for Europe and the head of the strategic planning for PCR diagnostics. From 2000 to 2006 he was President and CEO of Roche Molecular Systems in Pleasanton, California.
Other senior positions he held in Roche included Head of Global Business Development, Roche Diagnostics and Member of Roche's Global Diagnostic Executive Committee.
Dr. Dreismann currently serves on the boards of several public and private life sciences and health care companies in the United States, Europe and Israel
Ross D. Stern
Ross D. Stern
Ross joined Summit Partners in 2009 and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. His investment and board experience includes Abode Healthcare, DMG Practice Management Solutions, My Dentist, Paradigm Outcomes, PharmScript, Sound Physicians, TurningPoint Healthcare Solutions, U.S. Renal Care and VaxCare.
Previously, Ross worked at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and in Cowen and Company’s Health Care Investment Banking Group, where he focused on M&A transactions as well as public and private offerings.
Ross holds a BA in economics and history from Bowdoin College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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