R. John Fletcher
Chairman of the Board; Director and Chairman since 2019
Mr. Fletcher brings more than 35 years of healthcare and medical device experience to KORU. He founded Fletcher Spaght Inc., a strategy consulting and venture capital firm, in 1983 and as its managing partner emeritus, remains active with the company, advising both the consulting practice and venture capital activities, with analytical insights and creative solutions derived from his years of experience with clients, portfolio companies and the investment community. John works across Fletcher Spaght’s practice groups, with a focus on healthcare. Prior to founding Fletcher Spaght, Mr. Fletcher was a senior manager at The Boston Consulting Group, advising a broad range of companies in healthcare and high technology industries. Mr. Fletcher joined the board of directors of publicly-traded medical device company Spectranetics Corporation in 2002 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2010-2017 during its turnaround and subsequent sale to Philips N. V. For this work, he was selected as 2018 Director of the Year by the National Association of Corporate Directors. Mr. Fletcher currently also serves as the Chairman of ClearPoint Neuro (formerly MRI Interventions), Vyant Bio and Metabolon, Inc. He is Chairman Emeritus of the Corporate Collaboration Council at the Thayer School of Engineering/Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and serves on the Board of Advisors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Mr. Fletcher received his MBA from Southern Illinois University, his BBA in Marketing from George Washington University and his MS in International Finance from Carnegie Mellon University. He is an instructor for courses in international business and was a PhD Candidate at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Fletcher was a Captain and jet pilot instructor in the US Air Force.
Joseph M. Manko Jr.
Lead Director; Director since 2016, Lead Director since 2018
Mr. Manko has been the Senior Principal in Horton Capital Management LLC, the investment manager for the Horton Capital Partners Fund, LP (“Horton Fund”) since 2013. The Horton Fund is a significant shareholder in the Company. Mr. Manko has over 20 years of investment experience in the asset management, investment banking, private equity and corporate securities markets. From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Manko was a Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Switzerland-based BZ Fund Management Limited, where he was responsible for corporate finance, private equity investments, three public equity funds and the firm’s Special Situations and Event-Driven strategies. Prior to that Mr. Manko was a Managing Director with Deutsche Bank in London. He began his investment banking career at Merrill Lynch as a Vice President in Hong Kong and prior to that, Mr. Manko was a corporate finance attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Mr. Manko has served on the board of several companies in the bio-pharmaceutical industry and has advised numerous companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech industries and currently serves as a director of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. Mr. Manko has also served on the board of directors of Wireless Telecom Group, Inc., and Creative Realities, Inc. Mr. Manko earned both his B.A. and Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert A. Cascella
Director since 2022
Mr. Cascella has more than 30 years of impressive track records in supporting value creation in the healthcare industry, with a strong focus on innovation and integrated solutions. Mr. Cascella joined Royal Philips in 2015 and served as CEO of its Precision Diagnostics business and an executive committee member until 2021. Prior to this advisory role he held the position of Executive Vice President and Strategic Business Development Leader at Royal Philips and was also a member of the company’s Executive Committee. Before joining Royal Philips, Mr. Cascella spent 11 years at Hologic, a global leader in women’s health, as its president and later CEO. Mr. Cascella currently serves on the boards of Celestica Inc., Mirion Technologies, Inc, Neuronetics, Inc. and Metabolon, Inc. Mr. Cascella holds a B.A. in accounting from Fairfield University.
Dr. Donna French, Ph.D.
Director since 2021
Dr. French, Ph.D., is a pharmaceutical industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical sciences and drug-device combination products. Dr. French, has been Vice President of Dosage Form Design and Development at AstraZeneca since June 2017. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. French was Senior Director of Device Development at Genentech from January 2009 to May 2017. She was Executive Director of Drug Delivery Engineering at Amgen, Inc. before joining Genentech. For her entire career, Dr. French has been developing and commercializing drug products, drug delivery systems and devices. She has led the development and commercialization of numerous products with delivery devices worldwide, including auto-injectors, pen injectors, needle stick prevention devices, prefilled syringes, needle-free injectors, subcutaneous infusion devices, intraocular delivery devices, inhalation drug delivery systems, and patient aids and tools for drug preparation and administration. Dr. French earned her B.S. in Pharmacy from Albany College of Pharmacy, and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nebraska.
Shahriar (Shar) Matin
Director since 2021
Mr. Matin is the CEO and director of Cordis Corporation, a customer focused provider of interventional cardiovascular technologies, since August 2021. Mr. Matin has over 20 years of medical device technology experience in Fortune 500 and mid/small cap companies where he led commercial and technical teams in the United States, Europe and Asia. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer of ViewRay, Inc. from July 2018 through March 2021, he built the organization’s team and capabilities to disrupt the $6 billion radiation oncology market. As Chief Operating Officer of Spectranetics, from January 2014 to November 2017, he was instrumental in growing the enterprise value from $250 million to over $2 billion prior to its acquisition by Royal Philips. From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Matin held commercial and operation leadership roles of increasing responsibilities at Spectranetics. Before joining Spectranetics, Mr. Matin also served in several commercial and engineering leadership roles at Boston Scientific and Guidant Corporation. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a B.E. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Linda Tharby
Chief Executive Officer and President, Director since 2022
Ms. Tharby has served as the Koru Medical System’s Chief Executive Officer and President since April 2021. Ms. Tharby has over 25 years of executive leadership experience building and leading strong-performing global organizations that develop and commercialize products and service innovations while delivering solutions to patients in the home setting. Prior to joining Koru Medical Systems, Ms. Tharby spent 24 years with Becton Dickinson (“BD”). Ms. Tharby was a member of the Executive Leadership team of BD that transformed the company from an $8 billion medical supplies company to an $18 billion global medical technology company. During her time at BD, she held numerous global business leadership roles at BD, including Chief Customer Experience Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, Executive Vice President and President of Life Sciences, Group President of Pre-Analytical Systems and Biosciences, Worldwide President of Diabetes Care, and Vice President/General Manager of Pharmaceutical Systems. Ms. Tharby has an Honors Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Edward Wholihan
Director since 2023
Mr. Wholihan has over 25 years of experience as Chief Financial Officer driving growth and shareholder value for public, private equity-sponsored, and venture capital-funded life sciences and healthcare businesses. Most recently, he has leveraged his strategic management, financial, and operational expertise consulting for various companies. Prior, he served as the CFO for Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, Inc, a community of veterinary hospitals; CFO of Allena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company; and CFO of Medical Specialties Distributors, a leading solution provider to the specialty pharmacy, home infusion, and oncology practice markets that was acquired by McKesson Corp (NYSE:MCK) in 2018. Mr. Wholihan also held two other CFO roles within the life science sector earlier in his career and, prior to that, spent seven years as a management strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company. Mr. Wholihan earned his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and a BA in economics from Yale University.