Company adds veteran medical technology sales professional Mike Blitz as VP of Sales; Sandra Nielsen promoted to SVP of Sales and Marketing
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Great Basin Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBSN), a molecular diagnostics company, announced today the expansion of the Company’s leadership team with the appointment of Mike Blitz as vice president of U.S. sales, and the promotion of Sandra Nielsen to the position of senior vice president of sales and marketing. Previously, Ms. Nielsen served as the vice president of marketing and human resources and acting vice president of sales for Great Basin.
Mr. Blitz brings to Great Basin more than two decades of building and leading sales teams that consistently exceed revenue and profit goals, including 19 years at Meridian Bioscience where, as director of regional sales and North American sales development, he and his team launched the illumigene molecular system and were responsible for 75 percent of the system’s revenues in the first two years of launch. Since Meridian, Mr. Blitz served as West Region sales manager at Nanosphere, reporting to the CEO and managing half the U.S. sales team. At Nanosphere, he and his team launched the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture Test, where his team grew the business from $1.8 million in 2012 to more than $6.5 million in 2015, and secured over 150 new placements and multiple corporate contracts. He holds a B.A. from Pomona College where he played basketball for San Antonio Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich. Mr. Blitz will report to Ms. Nielsen.
“We are thrilled Mike agreed to join us at Great Basin. We brought Mike on board to grow our sales team, accelerate customer acquisition and assure the successful launch of our new FDA-cleared tests,” said Sandra Nielsen, senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Mike has been a uniquely successful sales leader in the molecular diagnostic space. His experience in successfully selling a Gram Positive blood culture panel will be incredibly valuable as we launch our Staph ID/R Blood Culture Panel this spring. Further, his leadership in both launching and securing a significant market share for a molecular platform brings further understanding of our target customer that will greatly benefit both our sales team and our customers.”
Ms. Nielsen joined Great Basin as vice president of marketing in 2010 and has since accepted leadership over the customer support and human resource functions. In 2014 she was appointed acting vice president of sales. Under her sales leadership, the Company nearly tripled its customer base and successfully launched Great Basin’s second product, a test for Group B Streptococcus (GBS). Throughout her tenure at Great Basin, she has been a key contributor to the Company’s strategic business planning process, including product development and customer retention strategy, corporate branding and messaging, and establishing HR policies and procedures that promote Great Basin's core values and corporate culture internally. Ms. Nielsen was recently honored as Utah Business Magazine’s Sales & Marketer of the Year.
“Sandra’s performance these past 20 months as acting head of sales was nothing short of spectacular,” said Ryan Ashton, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Great Basin Scientific. “Under her leadership our sales cycle has declined from 75 days to 44, our salesperson efficiency—new customers closed per month per salesperson—nearly doubled, and we saw our customer base expand from 76 to 201 at the end of January. She clearly has the leadership strength we need as we look to accelerate customer growth and launch our two recently FDA-cleared products.”
About Great Basin Scientific
Great Basin Scientific is a molecular diagnostics company that commercializes breakthrough chip-based technologies. The Company is dedicated to the development of simple, yet powerful, sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases. The Company’s vision is to make molecular diagnostic testing so simple and cost-effective that every patient will be tested for every serious infection, reducing misdiagnoses and significantly limiting the spread of infectious disease. More information can be found on the company’s website at www.gbscience.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s continuing business efforts related to its products, including but not limited to, statements regarding customer growth, sales cycle improvement, salesperson efficiency and the launch of Staph ID/R Blood Culture Panel. Forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risk and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (i) our limited operating history and history of losses; (ii) our ability to develop and commercialize new products and the timing of commercialization; (iii) our ability to obtain capital when needed; and (iv) other risks set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Great Basin Scientific specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Contacts
Media:
ICR
Kate Ottavio Kent, 203-682-8276
Kate.Ottavio-Kent@icrinc.com
or
Investor Relations:
CorProminence
Scott Gordon, 516-222-2560
gbinfo@corprominence.com
or
ICR
David Clair, 646-277-1266
David.Clair@icrinc.com
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Great Basin Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBSN), a molecular diagnostics company, announced today the expansion of the Company’s leadership team with the appointment of Mike Blitz as vice president of U.S. sales, and the promotion of Sandra Nielsen to the position of senior vice president of sales and marketing. Previously, Ms. Nielsen served as the vice president of marketing and human resources and acting vice president of sales for Great Basin.
Mr. Blitz brings to Great Basin more than two decades of building and leading sales teams that consistently exceed revenue and profit goals, including 19 years at Meridian Bioscience where, as director of regional sales and North American sales development, he and his team launched the illumigene molecular system and were responsible for 75 percent of the system’s revenues in the first two years of launch. Since Meridian, Mr. Blitz served as West Region sales manager at Nanosphere, reporting to the CEO and managing half the U.S. sales team. At Nanosphere, he and his team launched the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture Test, where his team grew the business from $1.8 million in 2012 to more than $6.5 million in 2015, and secured over 150 new placements and multiple corporate contracts. He holds a B.A. from Pomona College where he played basketball for San Antonio Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich. Mr. Blitz will report to Ms. Nielsen.
“We are thrilled Mike agreed to join us at Great Basin. We brought Mike on board to grow our sales team, accelerate customer acquisition and assure the successful launch of our new FDA-cleared tests,” said Sandra Nielsen, senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Mike has been a uniquely successful sales leader in the molecular diagnostic space. His experience in successfully selling a Gram Positive blood culture panel will be incredibly valuable as we launch our Staph ID/R Blood Culture Panel this spring. Further, his leadership in both launching and securing a significant market share for a molecular platform brings further understanding of our target customer that will greatly benefit both our sales team and our customers.”
Ms. Nielsen joined Great Basin as vice president of marketing in 2010 and has since accepted leadership over the customer support and human resource functions. In 2014 she was appointed acting vice president of sales. Under her sales leadership, the Company nearly tripled its customer base and successfully launched Great Basin’s second product, a test for Group B Streptococcus (GBS). Throughout her tenure at Great Basin, she has been a key contributor to the Company’s strategic business planning process, including product development and customer retention strategy, corporate branding and messaging, and establishing HR policies and procedures that promote Great Basin's core values and corporate culture internally. Ms. Nielsen was recently honored as Utah Business Magazine’s Sales & Marketer of the Year.
“Sandra’s performance these past 20 months as acting head of sales was nothing short of spectacular,” said Ryan Ashton, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Great Basin Scientific. “Under her leadership our sales cycle has declined from 75 days to 44, our salesperson efficiency—new customers closed per month per salesperson—nearly doubled, and we saw our customer base expand from 76 to 201 at the end of January. She clearly has the leadership strength we need as we look to accelerate customer growth and launch our two recently FDA-cleared products.”
About Great Basin Scientific
Great Basin Scientific is a molecular diagnostics company that commercializes breakthrough chip-based technologies. The Company is dedicated to the development of simple, yet powerful, sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases. The Company’s vision is to make molecular diagnostic testing so simple and cost-effective that every patient will be tested for every serious infection, reducing misdiagnoses and significantly limiting the spread of infectious disease. More information can be found on the company’s website at www.gbscience.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s continuing business efforts related to its products, including but not limited to, statements regarding customer growth, sales cycle improvement, salesperson efficiency and the launch of Staph ID/R Blood Culture Panel. Forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These risk and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (i) our limited operating history and history of losses; (ii) our ability to develop and commercialize new products and the timing of commercialization; (iii) our ability to obtain capital when needed; and (iv) other risks set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Great Basin Scientific specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Contacts
Media:
ICR
Kate Ottavio Kent, 203-682-8276
Kate.Ottavio-Kent@icrinc.com
or
Investor Relations:
CorProminence
Scott Gordon, 516-222-2560
gbinfo@corprominence.com
or
ICR
David Clair, 646-277-1266
David.Clair@icrinc.com
