Board of Directors

Dr. William Freytag, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BiOptix Inc, received a B.S. from Purdue University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Kansas Medical Center and completed a post doctoral fellowship at Duke University. He brings over 25 years of research, product development and commercialization experience. Recently Dr Freytag served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company focused on identifying, developing, and, upon approval, commercializing evidence-based medicines for patients living with less common diseases. As Chairman and CEO of Myogen, he built a focused cardiovascular biotechnology company with a robust clinical pipeline with sales and marketing capabilities. Dr. Freytag served as a Senior Advisor to Gilead as a result of Gilead's acquisition of Myogen in November 2006. Prior to Myogen, Dr. Freytag was a Senior Vice President at Somatogen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company where he led corporate and commercial development from 1994 to 1998. He also served as President of Research and Development at Boehringer Mannheim Corporation, an international healthcare company and spent over a decade with DuPont in various research and business management positions. He is a CEO of BaroFold Inc., Director of Immunicon Corporation, ARCA Discovery, Inc. and is a member of the Executive Board for the Colorado Biotechnology Association.

Dr. William Coleman came to Boulder after earning his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He started working for a small chemical company in Boulder that eventually was taken over by Syntex Chemicals Inc., now Roche Colorado. During his stint with Syntex, he managed a new chemical plant in the Bahamas and later served as president of Syntex Chemicals from 1972 to 1979. In 1979, he founded Colorado Venture Management and acquired partners during the following year. This venture-capital company provides early-stage seed funding for business ventures along the Front Range. Over the years, the group has invested in 70 businesses, including BioStar Inc., Hauser Chemical Research, BI Inc., and Horizon Organic Dairy. Recently, the group opened the new CVM Equity Fund V, which is focused on funding similar startup companies. Doctor Coleman has received Boulder's Esprit Entrepreneur's Life Time Achievement Award, and Northern Colorado's Bravo Entrepreneur's Award. Doctor Coleman has also been included into Boulder County's Business Hall of Fame.

Dr. William Marshall received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Marvin Caruthers at the University of Colorado, Boulder where his research focused on developing chemical synthesis methods and determining the biological properties of oligonucleotide analogs including phorphorodithioates. Until recently William Marshall served as Site Director and Executive Vice President of Research and Operations at Dharmacon. In this capacity, Dr. Marshall oversaw Dharmacon's daily operations and directed the company's research and development programs. Dr. Marshall was instrumental in leading the chemistry, biology, and bioinformatics research, which led to the development of the industry's most effective siRNA design algorithm and novel chemical modifications to enhance siRNA specificity and stability. Prior to joining Dharmacon, Dr. Marshall held several senior scientific positions at Amgen from 1992 through 2002, most recently as associate director of research and head of the Nucleic Acid and Peptide Technology department. Dr. Marshall also led the development of peptide library approaches for lead discovery and development via carrier protein fusion and peptidomimetics. Dr. Marshall is author and co-author of 30 research papers and 10 patents.

Dr. Misha Plam, Founder of BiOptix, has an extensive background in commercializing research and building high tech entrepreneurial companies. Misha previously founded and served as Chairman, President and CEO of Sievers Instruments, Inc., an analytical instrument company now owned by General Electric. Sievers received a number of SBIR awards and developed an instrument to measure water quality on the Russian Space Station MIR. A Sievers instrument is now used on the International Space Station and the product was successfully marketed to the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries. Misha was selected as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur-of-the-Year (Rocky Mountain Region) in 1997 and was also named Entrepreneur of Distinction at Esprit 97 in Boulder, Colorado. Misha is an Academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering, one of only 77 foreign members of this prestigious organization. He has been widely recognized for his contributions to the American-Russian Space Program and has promoted the US SBIR program in China and Russia. Misha is currently an Adjunct Professor in the University of Colorado's Mechanical Engineering Department and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and the US-Russia Center for Entrepreneurship. He is a graduate of Moscow State University in Russia, where he received an advanced degree in Glaciology.

Richard Whitcomb, President and CEO. Rick’s background is in operations, services, and finance. Prior to joining BiOptix, Rick Whitcomb was Senior Manager of the On Site Services business for Agilent Technologies’ Electronic Measurement Group. His background also includes several years of Corporate Development experience for Agilent and Hewlett-Packard Co., and he was formerly Operational CFO for the Communications Network Solutions business unit at Agilent. Rick brings substantial international experience, having spent five years living and working in Europe for Agilent and Hewlett-Packard Co. During his career, he has worked with scientists in Agilent Labs and HP Labs to move promising new technologies from the lab into commercialization, and ultimately into the hands of customers.