Jim Kasic
Chairman and Founder
With more than 30 years of experience in the Class I, II, and III medical device industry, Jim’s range of experience spans a spectrum from large multi-national organizations to start-ups with both national and international scope. He holds over 40 U.S. and international patents and has authored several dozen scientific publications.
Prior to Boulder iQ, Jim founded and served as president of Boulder BioMed, and president and CEO of Sophono, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic). At Otologics LLC, he held the positions of director of clinical research and training, and worldwide director of sales and marketing. Early in his career, Jim was an engineering manager and senior design engineer with Boston Scientific, and a reliability/process/design engineer with W. L. Gore and Associates.
Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, and a Master of Science degree in chemical and biological engineering from the University of Colorado. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix.
Melissa Brookshier
Director of Quality and Regulatory
Melissa is a senior life science and biomedical device professional with more than 25 years of experience in quality, regulatory, research and development. Her expertise and leadership experience ranges from concept feasibility to product launch and post-market surveillance.
Before joining Boulder iQ, Melissa was director of consulting services of the Denver office at the Azzur Group. She has held the positions of vice president of operations and director of product development at Sharklet Technologies, project manager of research and development at Baxter International Inc., and manager of product evaluations and study director at BDC Labs, all in the Denver area. Previously, she was the research and development manager at Spectranetics (now Philips Healthcare) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a product specialist for W.L. Gore & Associates in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Melissa, who holds two patents, received a Bachelor of Science degree in materials science and engineering from Purdue University, and a Master of Science degree in bioengineering from Clemson University.
Larry Blankenship
Director
Larry is a veteran medical device industry professional, with more than 30 years of experience in product development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, strategic management, and funding. With hands-on experience in business planning, staffing, funding, design, development, regulatory approval, manufacturing, launch, and exits, he has helped start-up companies in the medical device industry get products to market since 2007. Larry has also held management positions in divisions of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and the Battelle Memorial Institute.
He is a member of the advisory board at Colorado State University’s School of Biomedical Engineering, and of the Constituency Committee at the University of Colorado Denver Department of Bioengineering. He serves as a healthcare industry advisor to Blackstone Entrepreneur Network of Colorado and is a former director of the Colorado BioScience Association.
Larry holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University.