We Offer Experienced Leadership in Clinical Immunology & Allergy Research, Development & Testing
IBT’s team members are leaders in immunological research, pharmaceutical development, contract research, client service, quality assurance, medical technology and laboratory operations. We have extensive experience in the laboratory aspects of immunologic and allergic diseases and our technical staff and is actively involved in research programs to develop new in vitro methods.
Executive Leadership Team
- John Martin, Chief Executive Officer
- Steven Kleiboeker, DVM, PhD,Chief Scientific Officer
- Michael Torno,Vice President of Human Resources
- Matt Urbanek,Chief Financial Officer
John Martin serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Martin was named President of ViraCor in 2007, having joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2005. In these roles he helped ViraCor to become a leader in high quality, service-oriented, molecular diagnostic testing for infectious diseases. Prior to ViraCor, Mr. Martin was Managing Director of Investment Banking for George K. Baum & Company (GKB), where he advised on numerous merger, acquisition and financing transactions over an eleven year period. Before joining GKB, he spent six years with the Sprint Corporation in financial and strategic management positions, including Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Martin began his career with General Electric, where he held positions with GE Capital and GE Aerospace. He earned a BS in Finance from Kansas State University.
Steven Kleiboeker is responsible for scientific direction and oversight of the company's clinical diagnostic efforts as well as its pharmaceutical research services. Dr. Kleiboeker served the Chief Scientific Officer and a Vice President of ViraCor Laboratories since 2006. Prior to joining ViraCor, Dr. Kleiboeker was a faculty member at the University of Missouri where his duties included research, graduate teaching, and supervision of three university-based diagnostic service laboratories (virology, serology and molecular diagnostics). His research has focused on viral pathogenesis, phylogenetics and diagnostics and has included projects investigating a broad range of human and animal pathogens. Dr. Kleiboeker has served as both principal investigator and co-investigator on numerous government-funded research grants (USDA, NIH). He has published over 40 scientific articles and monographs and serves on editorial boards and as a reviewer for several prominent virological and microbiological journals. Dr. Kleiboeker received his PhD in Physiology from the University of Missouri and DVM from the University of Missouri.
Michael Torno is the Vice President of Human Resources, responsible for the company's human resource functions. He served most recently as Vice President of Human Resources for ViraCor, which he joined in 2008. Prior to ViraCor, Mr. Torno was a Human Resource executive at Cerner Corporation. While at Cerner he was chosen for the company's Fast Track executive program and held leadership roles in the company's consulting and human resource functions, including as the executive responsible for Cerner's global human resources in 11 countries. Prior to Cerner, Mr. Torno worked for Arthur Andersen in the Chicago practice where he performed both domestic and international human resource consulting roles. He holds a degree in Psychology from Kent State University and a Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Akron.
Matt Urbanek serves as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He most recently held these roles at ViraCor, with responsibility for the company's finance and logistics functions. Prior to joining ViraCor in 2007, Mr. Urbanek was a Vice President at George K. Baum Advisors, LLC, an investment-banking firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions, raising private capital and financial advisory services for middle-market companies. In this role he initiated and executed mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and financings, as well as business valuations, fairness opinions and board advisory services for clients in the business services sector. Mr. Urbanek earned a BA in business administration and finance and a BS in economics from Kansas State University.
Scientific Leadership Team
- Michelle Altrich, PhD, HCLD (ABB), Clinical Laboratory Director, Allergy and Immunology
- Sharon Arnoldi, Director of Scientific Affairs
- Jeff Hester, PhD, Assistant Laboratory Director, Infectious Disease
- Joanne Parker, PhD, Director of Pharmaceutical Services
- Linda Rene Pfaltzgraff, Vice President of Clinical Laboratory Operations
Dr. Altrich is the Clinical Laboratory Director for allergy and immunology. In her previous role at IBT, Dr. Altrich was responsible for new test development in the area of cellular function testing for allergy and autoimmune diseases as well as serving as the Assistant Lab Director for IBT's menu of immunodiagnostic tests. Dr. Altrich joined IBT in 2006 as a Senior Scientist. Prior to joining IBT, Dr. Altrich held an appointment at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where she specialized in molecular and cellular immunology. Dr. Altrich received her PhD in pathology and microbiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center where her research focused on tumor immunology.
Sharon Arnoldi is the director of scientific affairs for ViraCor. Ms. Arnoldi has nearly thirty years of experience in diagnostic virology. She joined ViraCor shortly after its inception in 2000 to establish the company’s clinical laboratory and has been instrumental in the laboratory’s exponential growth. In her role as the director of scientific affairs, Ms. Arnoldi serves as the liaison between the scientific and business sides of the company, exploring ways to expand our services to meet client needs. She also works with physicians across the United States on infectious disease testing issues concerning the immunocompromised patient population. Prior to joining ViraCor, Ms. Arnoldi developed the first diagnostic virology laboratory at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. She also specialized in pediatric virology at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Ms. Arnoldi is a member of the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Advisory Board for the University of Kansas School of Allied Health and earned a BS in Cell Biology from the University of Kansas.
Jeff Hester is the company's Assistant Clinical Lab Director for Infectious Disease. Dr. Hester has been a Senior Scientist directing the development of cellular immunology assays at ViraCor Laboratories since 2007. Prior to joining ViraCor, he was an Assistant Professor and Director of Molecular Diagnostics in the Department of Pathology at the University of Kansas Medical Center where he oversaw the molecular pathology laboratory. Dr. Hester began his career developing diagnostic immunological assays as Associate Director for Research at IBT Laboratories. He received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and completed his postgraduate training in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Research Fellowship Program at the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Joanne Parker is Director of Research & Pharmaceutical Services with responsibilities for oversight of all pharmaceutical research services. Dr. Parker joined IBT in 2007 to help lead the company’s custom assay development services for biopharmaceutical clients. Prior to IBT, Dr. Parker was Associate Director of Clinical Immunology at Globeimmune, where she provided support for two vaccines in clinical development. Before joining Globeimmune, she was Director of Immunology and then Director of R&D for Biomira (now Oncothyreon), overseeing the preclinical development of several products, including two cancer vaccines that went to Phase III. Early in her career Dr. Parker was a scientist at Centocor, where she worked on developing monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Parker received her PhD from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia and completed her postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, specializing in the combinations of vaccines, cytokines, and costimulatory molecules for use in cancer therapy.
Linda "Rene" Pfaltzgraff is in charge of Clinical Laboratory Operations with oversight of the company's allergy and immunology diagnostic assays. Ms. Pfaltzgraff served as IBT's Vice President of Laboratory Operations, with responsibility for the management of the laboratory as well as for the implementation and maintenance of GLP-level quality systems for clinical trial testing. Before joining IBT, Ms. Pfaltzgraff served as quality assurance and regulatory affairs manager at CRLMedinet, a clinical trial and genomics reference laboratory. In her early career she held leadership positions at Osborn Laboratories including: R&D scientist, General Manager of the medical devices division, Laboratory Manager and Director of Operations. Ms. Pfaltzgraff holds a BS as a medical technician from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Baker University.
Board of Directors
- Laurence McCarthy, Ph.D, Executive Chairman
- Vijay Aggarwal, Ph.D.,Board Member
- Thomas W. Burnell, PhD., Board Member
- Jared Bartok, Board Member
- Herbert H. Hooper, Ph.D., Board Member
- Phillip D. Short, Board Member
Dr. McCarthy is President of Scientific Technologies and Solutions, LLC., a consulting company that specializes in assisting growth companies and venture capital firms with business and scientific strategies. He served as Vice President of Research and Development for Becton Dickinson’s microbiology businesses (1981-1983); Vice President and General Manager of their immunomicrobiology business (1983-1985); President of Boehringer Mannheim’s US diagnostics division (1985-1987), and was with Focus Diagnostics (1987-2007) where he served as President and CEO, Chairman, and Chief Technology Officer. Dr. McCarthy serves on the Board of Directors of Magellan Biosciences, Primera Biosystems and Mraligen Biosciences. Dr. McCarthy received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire, underwent postdoctoral training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University School of Business. Dr. McCarthy has served on the faculties of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Cornell University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Aggarwal serves as president and chief executive officer of Aureon Laboratories in Yonkers, New York. Aureon develops and provides predictive testing for personalized clinical cancer care and for the pharmaceutical research and development industry. As a recognized scientific and business leader in the fields of pharmaceutical development, contract research and clinical laboratory testing, Dr. Aggarwal provides IBT with strategic counsel in the areas of new business initiatives, operational protocol and research and development. Prior to joining Aureon, Dr. Aggarwal served in executive leadership roles at companies such as AAI Development Services, Inc.; Quest Diagnostic Ventures; and SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories. His areas of expertise include new technology, new business models, clinical trials testing, direct-to-consumer strategies and laboratory operations. Dr. Aggarwal holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia.
Dr. Burnell has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Nebraska Heart Institute and the Nebraska Heart Hospital, two organizations with more than 500 employees, including 28 physician specialists providing services in cardiac, thoracic and vascular care. Prior to joining Nebraska Heart in 2005, Dr. Burnell was Chief Executive officer and Vice Chairman of Eurofins Scientific, Inc., an international biotechnology company providing bioanalytical support service to clients from a wide range of industries. Dr. Burnell received is BS and Master's degrees from the University of Nebraska and holds a PhD in nutrition with emphasis in statistics and biochemistry from the University of Kentucky.
Jared Barkok joined Ampersand in 2007 as a Principal. Previously, Jared was a Senior Associate at Wellspring Capital Management, where he worked on a number of leveraged acquisitions and recapitalizations of middle-market companies. Prior to joining Wellspring, Jared was with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the Financial Sponsor Group focusing on acquisition finance and exit alternatives for private equity clients. Jared holds a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science from Middlebury College. Jared currently serves on the boards of MedVenture Technology Corp. and ViraCor-IBT Laboratories.
Dr. Hooper joined Ampersand Ventures in 2002 and leads the firm’s Healthcare practice. He currently serves as Chairman of Chantest, Magellan Biosciences and RadPharm, and as a director of Signature Genomic Labs and Victory Pharma. Dr. Hooper previously served as Chairman of Assay Designs and as a director of ACLARA Biosciences, Cyclis, Medifacts and Panacos. Prior to Ampersand, he co-founded ACLARA Biosciences and served as the company’s Chief Scientific Offer. Dr. Hooper received a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Phillip "Flip" Short was the founder of ViraCor and served as its Chief Executive Officer from the company's inception in 2000, growing the company from a start-up of four associates to a business with over 100 associates. Prior to ViraCor, he ws Founder and President of StatScript, Inc., which specialized in drugs for patients with AIDS and other chronic illnesses and which is now one of the largest specialty retail pharmacies in the United States, having been purchased by Chronimed in 1996. Mr. Short received a BA in Business Management from Sam Houston State University.