Management

Ed Merrifield, President and Chief Operating Officer

Ed Merrifield has over 35 years of progressive and successful experience in private and public companies alike. Experience ranges from early beginnings in the finance accounting arena to Chief Operating Officer for an internationally recognized software company. Merrifield has considerable experience in the wholesale and distribution industries in upper management positions, served as a corporate officer for an international insurance brokerage, a senior officer for one of the leading publicly traded call center companies (Sykes Enterprises, Inc. NASDAQ-SYKE), and president and co-owner of Big Kahuna Productions, Inc., a movie and video company in Maui, HI. Merrifield has enjoyed a prosperous career in high technology, service and distribution arenas. During his tenure he has been directly responsible for both large and small operations, managed strong growth and profitability, handled an array of mergers and acquisitions, managed international accounts, closed high profile sales on both a national and international basis, established national and international distribution programs, written and negotiated high value contracts, developed first class management teams, and led very successful turnaround operations. Merrifield has strong beliefs within a myriad of business principles, including the importance of integrity, customer relationships, team spirit, quality, and employee morale, while always striving to enhance community relations, corporate profitability and shareholder valuations. Merrifield holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Accounting.

Brian Windsor, Ph.D., Chief Technical Officer

Brian Windsor serves as Senior Vice President, Portfolio Company Management for Emergent Technologies, Inc. (ETI) and currently serves as Chief Technical Officer for ETI portfolio company Auxano Biomedical.

Dr. Windsor joined ETI in the spring of 2004, and during his time at ETI, has served as Managing Director for six of ETI’s portfolio companies. He is also part of ETI’s Strategic Planning Group, which assesses new technology opportunities and oversees formation and implementation of portfolio company strategy. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Texas at Austin, and his graduate work on cell transport modulation in the laboratory of Professor Alan Lloyd helped lead to the development of licensed technology. Prior to joining ETI, Dr. Windsor served as founder and Vice President of Research and Development for Texagen, Inc., a startup biotech company. Dr. Windsor is a co-inventor on 11 patents.