OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - September 30, 2009) - Dr. Paul Lem, Founder, and the Board of Directors of Spartan Bioscience Inc., a Canadian molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets DNA analyzers for on-demand applications, today announced the appointment of Mr. Larry D'Andrea as CEO. This appointment, together with the recent addition of Dr. Steve de Hennin as Director of Research and Development and a move to larger offices, positions Spartan to be a dominant player in the DNA marketplace.
"We are excited to add Larry D'Andrea and Dr. Steve de Hennin to the Spartan team. As Spartan's CEO, Larry will be responsible for implementing our strategy of providing customers with end-to-end solutions for DNA testing," said Dr. Paul Lem, founder, Spartan Bioscience. "In my new role as Founder, I will be supporting Larry in developing Spartan's technology strategy. Steve will be a great help in this regard because he is a crackerjack engineer and an inspiring executive."
"Since the inception of Spartan in January, 2005, we have strived to add the best 'Spartans' we could find. With these recent additions we have established a very experienced senior team to guide the company to the next level of performance," said Mark D. Kershey, President of Spartan Bioscience. "As one of the 3 original inventors/founders of Spartan, Dr. Lem has deemed this point as the logical time to transition his role and we applaud him for what had to be a difficult decision on his part. Having established commercial sales in August, 2009, we are poised for accelerated growth and are more than pleased to have both Larry and Steve on the Spartan team."
Larry D'Andrea as new CEO
Mr. D'Andrea has more than 20 years experience in consulting to companies and producing dramatic bottom-line results. Most recently the leader of the Canadian M&A practice for Grant Thornton LLP, Mr. D'Andrea was a co-founder of Alluence Capital Advisors Inc. and a former partner with Ernst & Young. He has international experience leading projects in Canada, US, Mexico, Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Singapore, and China. Mr. D'Andrea's professional designations include Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and Professional Engineer (P.Eng.).
"I am excited by Spartan's potential - the Spartan technology will be a key part of the complete end-to-end solution that will bring low-throughput DNA testing to a broader market. Spartan will be able to create markets that previously could not access DNA testing because of the high cost of the instruments and the high skill requirements of the scientists performing the tests. While creating a new market does have its challenges, I look forward to working with the Spartan team as we begin to establish our footprint," said Larry D'Andrea, the new CEO of Spartan Bioscience.
New Director of R&D
Dr. Steve de Hennin was recently appointed Director of Research and Development at Spartan Bioscience. He is responsible for managing all of the development engineering activities of Spartan.
He brings a wide range of product and application development experiences. Among his many previous successes was managing the telecom product development and manufacturing release of MEMS / spectrometer based ROADM product and technologies and automated alignment and laser welding stations. The products Steve and his team developed currently dominate the world telecom market. Earlier in his career, Dr. de Hennin headed a technical team operating a billion-dollar steel rolling mill, implementing state-of-the-art control systems on steel traveling at speeds in excess of 1m/s. Steve holds B.Eng Hons. from the University of Queensland and a Ph.D. in Process Systems Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.
New offices
As the company has grown, so too has the need for more office space, so Spartan Bioscience has recently relocated to a larger space to accommodate more staff - both in the management and on the scientific and research side of the business. They are now located at 204-6 Gurdwara Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2E 8A3. New contact numbers include Tel: (613) 228-7756 and Fax: (613) 228-8636.
About Spartan Bioscience
Founded in 2005, Spartan Bioscience Inc. is a privately-held molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets PCR-based DNA analyzers for on-demand applications. The company is focusing on applications where rapid and convenient DNA testing is particularly important, such as low-throughput research experiments and non-batched testing for infectious diseases. For more information, please visit the website at www.spartanbio.com.
Contacts:
Spartan Bioscience Inc.
Shelley Mullins
Public Relations & Communications
613-866-8803
shelley.mullins@spartanbio.com
www.spartanbio.com