Steve Carlson, President and CEO
Steve Carlson has been President and CEO of ApniCure™ since 2011. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of Obagi Medical Products, where he led the expansion and growth of the aesthetic physician dispense business from a private to a public company. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Operations at Orquest, a private orthopedic company. Steve also has served in various roles at Allergan, including Senior Vice President, U.S. Marketing, and Vice President, Global Botox, where his contributions included licensing and building the global Botox business. He holds an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Minnesota.

Matt Vaska, Chairman of the Board, Chief Technology Officer, Founder
Matt Vaska invented ApniCure’s core technology, assembled the founding team and started the company in 2007. As the founding President and Chief Executive Officer, he built and led the company over its first four years. Matt has more than 20 years of experience developing medical devices in the areas of sleep apnea, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, laparoscopy and arthroscopy. Prior to ApniCure, he was co-founder, vice president, and a board member of Epicor Medical, which developed a novel ultrasonic cardiac ablation system and was acquired by St. Jude Medical. Matt holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He is also an inventor with dozens of issued U.S. patents.

Lawrence Siegel, M.D., Chief Medical Officer
Lawrence Siegel has three decades of experience in medicine, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, spanning from early invention through commercialization and including major corporate transactions. Prior to ApniCure, he was Chief Medical Officer at PharmacoFore, where he took a new chemical entity successfully through pre-clinical and first-in-man studies. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Satiety, Chief Technology Officer at Heartport and Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Stanford University, where he headed cardiovascular anesthesiology. He remains clinically active, seeing patients and teaching at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He is a graduate of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology and was a fellow in the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Chris Daniel, Executive Vice President of Operations, Founder
Chris Daniel has more than 20 years of experience developing medical devices, primarily in venture-backed startups. Prior to ApniCure, he was Vice President of Research and Development at Rubicor Medical, where his team obtained six 510(k) clearances and released four products to market. Chris’s experience also includes R&D positions at Heartport and Stryker Endoscopy. He graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

David White, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer
David brings decades of research and clinical experience in sleep medicine and OSA, as well as industry experience in developing devices to treat sleep disorders. He is currently a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior physician, Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Prior to ApniCure, Dr. White served as chief medical officer for Philips Respironics. He has served as editor-in-chief of the journal SLEEP, and is the author of more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters on sleep and respiratory disorders. He has also held many leadership roles in organizations such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Thoracic Society.

John Lipman, Vice President of Marketing and Commercialization
John Lipman has more than 20 years of experience in healthcare marketing and sales, with a concentration in consumer medical devices. He has a proven track record in developing and executing strategic market entry plans for companies with new and emerging technologies. Prior to ApniCure, he was Global Vice President of Marketing at Rubicor Medical. Earlier in his career, he was a co-founder of Tapestry Medical, which was acquired by Alere. He also held sales and global marketing positions at FoxHollow Technologies, Scios, Inc. and LifeScan, Inc.

Jonathan Podmore, Vice President of Research and Development, Founder
Jonathan Podmore has 17 years of experience in medical device development. Prior to ApniCure, he was a Senior R&D Manager at both Allux Medical and Epicor Medical, where he was lead engineer for Epicor’s high-intensity ultrasound ablation device for atrial fibrillation. Jonathan started his medical device career with Guidant Origin Medsystems. He graduated with an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rose-Hulman.

Dan George, Vice President of Finance
Dan George has more than 18 years of financial leadership experience. Prior to ApniCure, he provided a broad range of financial management consulting services for several venture funded medical device companies. Prior to consulting, he was the Sr. Director of Finance at FoxHollow Technologies (acquired by Ev3; Covidien) during which time the company conducted a U.S. commercial launch and initial public offering. Earlier in his career, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the assurance and business advisory practice. He graduated with B.S. degrees in both accounting and finance from California State University, Long Beach.

Jed Crowe, Director, Research and Development, Founder
Jed Crowe has held engineering roles in various medical device companies over the past 13 years, in the areas of cardiac surgery and ENT. Prior to joining ApniCure as part of the founding team, Jed managed research projects at Allux Medical, focusing on the development of phototherapeutic technology. At Epicor Medical he held a variety of engineering positions where he developed handheld ultrasound devices. Jed holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford.