Atonarp announces key additions to executive leadership team to drive next phase of growth in industrial metrology and diagnostics

Atonarp, a leader advancing clinical diagnostics, life science research, semiconductor and industrial process control through digital molecular profiling, announces key additions to its executive team. Six seasoned executives have joined Atonarp to build the Company’s commercial team and launch the ASTON mass spectrometry platform, lead product development, plus leaders for marketing, business development, and regulatory affairs/quality assurance for the ATON platform for in vitro diagnostics.

Shubneesh Batra, Ph.D., joined Atonarp as Chief Business Officer and will build and lead worldwide sales, marketing and service for the semiconductor and industrial metrology portfolio. Dr. Batra served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the Advanced Packaging division of Applied Materials. He served as General Manager of Kulicke & Soffa’s Advanced Packaging Business Unit for 3 years and led the Worldwide Channel Sales Group at Micron Technology for 7 years.

“Shubneesh understands the semiconductor business deeply from FAB operations and technical challenges to the customer’s business needs,” said Prakash Murthy, Founder and CEO. “He has built and developed complex sales and service organisations, which is exactly the skill set Atonarp needs to build and scale to make Atonarp a commercial success.”

Dr. Batra is supported by a commercial team led by Keitaro Okada, Vice President, Commercial Operations APAC, and a team of nine marketing and sales professionals.

Chris Valcke, Ph.D., joined as Chief Product Development Officer and will lead the global research and development organisation. His expertise is in product lifecycle management in the medical device and diagnostic industry, with successes in commercialising novel products from concept through development and launch. These solutions are now helping patients in cancer diagnosis, genetics, blood donation screening, hospital acquired infections and emergency medicine. Prior to joining Atonarp, Dr. Valcke held leadership roles at Invetech and Roche/Ventana Medical Systems.

Shaun Chen, Ph.D., joined Atonarp at the same time as Dr. Valcke as Vice President of Engineering. Dr. Chen also has a distinguished record in medical device product development including Carl Zeiss and Optovue. He brings expertise in optics, electronics, mechanics, systems, software, algorithms and clinical applications.

“Chris and Shaun bring expertise in medical device design and development along with a deep understanding of the regulatory requirements of the IVD industry,” said Mr. Murthy. “They have made a significant impact already, bringing process and communication best practices to our worldwide development teams.”

Drs. Valcke and Chen are supported by a skilled team of 92 engineers, software developers and biochemists in Japan, India and the United States.

Three additional executives recently joined the Company to bolster the Diagnostics leadership team.

Carrie Mulherin, Vice President of Marketing, is a 30-year diagnostics industry marketing and sales executive with deep experience in strategic marketing, cross-functional team management and commercialisation. Most recently, she was Chief Marketing Officer at LightDeck Diagnostics, a point-of-care platform technology company with products for the emergency department and critical care, clinics, veterinary and environmental testing.

Erik Tyrrell-Knott, Vice President Business Development, is s seasoned business development executive with expertise in strategic planning and licensing. Most recently, he was Head of Business Development & Product Management, Rapid Diagnostic Solutions for Thermo Fisher Scientific, following the acquisition of Mesa Biotech, the innovator of the Accula RT PCR point-of-care testing platform. Prior to Mesa, he served as Vice President of Business Development for Elsevier, with responsibility for business development for non-traditional channels, including health insurance, pharmaceutical and life sciences, employer health and wellness, and medical devices.

Lisa Charter, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance, brings more than 20 years of RA/QA experience in multiple areas of diagnostics. Most recently, Ms. Charter led regulatory efforts at 23andMe to secure de novo FDA authorisations and 510(k) clearances for direct-to-consumer genetic tests.

Shaun Holt, COO, commented, “With Shubneesh driving ASTON commercialisation and partnership efforts, the new team of experienced leaders from the diagnostics industry, and our dedicated teams around the globe, we are well positioned to achieve our mission of unlocking molecular insights to accelerate human progress.”