Steve Porada is a co-founder of Verséa Health, Inc. He holds a position of a Chief Growth Officer and the President of Verséa Discovery. He has over 30 years of pharmaceutical research and commercialization experience. He began his career as a research scientist at Ciba-Geigy, now Novartis, and later held a variety of sales, marketing and commercialization positions at pharmaceutical and medical device companies. In 2004 Stephen’s entrepreneurial experience began with joining Aventine Co, a startup medical marketing and communications company focused in the therapeutic area of pain. Stephen, as partner, directly engaged with, consulted on, and established a variety of commercial-related plans and strategies spanning 12 unique analgesic brands. His work included preapproval clinical trial and market development plans, tactical new formulation development, multi-partner commercial planning, strategic marketing, launch planning and implementation. In addition to his work related to product commercialization, Stephen conceptualized and founded Aventine’s primary asset, PAINWeek, which was ultimately sold to Tarsus, a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange.

Dr. Rob Sambursky is the President of Verséa Health, Inc. and the President of Verséa Ophthalmics. He supports corporate strategy and operations as well as leads the company’s expansion into the ophthalmic market.

Dr. Sambursky is an innovator, successful businessman and a world-class ophthalmologist who brings over 20 years of scientific, clinical and business experience. He has built several commercial organizations and has in-depth knowledge of both rapid diagnostics and the eye care space through his former roles as founder and chief executive for RPS Diagnostics, Inc.  and Lumos Diagnostics, Inc.  Dr. Sambursky is also a founder of Visus Therapeutics, Inc and member of their Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors for PPK Solutions and as a corporate advisor to Axim Biotechnologies, Inc.

He has a strong scientific and clinical background in ophthalmology, infectious disease, and medical sciences. He has authored numerous patents and scientific papers, conceived a novel point-of-care (POC) diagnostic test platform, served as the clinical and regulatory interface that led to multiple POC diagnostic tests obtaining international regulatory clearances as well as U.S. FDA 510(k) clearances with CLIA waiver designations, and successfully commercialized multiple diagnostic tests for in the U.S. and abroad.

Dr. Sambursky is also a practicing, board-certified ophthalmologist with fellowship training in refractive surgery and corneal external and infectious disease. He completed his medical internship at Harvard’s Mount Auburn Hospital and both his ophthalmology residency and cornea fellowship at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, a global leader in ophthalmology and consistently ranked as one of the best ophthalmic hospitals in the U.S. He earned a BA in Biology from Brown University, an MA in Medical Sciences with concentrations in biochemistry and microbiology from Boston University and an MD from Boston University School of Medicine.

Mr. James (Jim) Olin is a Chief Commercial Officer at Verséa Health, Inc. He is a proven executive with over twenty-five years of leadership experience in brand marketing, sales, commercial development and general management. Prior to this position, he was the President & CEO of COM Holdings, LLC; a private equity owned B2B2C platform company. Jim’s unique background combines the classical training of leadership roles at Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, with senior executive positions in multiple high-growth entrepreneurial and private equity backed companies.  An expert at building brands and commercial teams, having led some of the nation’s most iconic brands, Jim’s capabilities span the full range of commercial processes across diverse industries including health & beauty, personal care, nutritional supplements, nutraceuticals, integrative health, natural products.  Jim resides in Maine with his wife, two daughters and their canine companions Mickey and Jeter.

Michael (Mike) DiMeo has joined Verséa Health with over 25 years of experience as a strategic finance executive in life sciences. A few of his relevant prior roles include serving as CFO of Vibalogics, Director of Finance for Exosome Diagnostics, and VP of Finance for Thermo Fisher. He has significant experience in operations and setting up both business and financial systems. Mike’s important role at Verséa Health is to successfully lead and direct the Finance Team and all forecasting, capital planning and deployment, as well as support in capital raising activities and investor relations.

Dr Toby Moeller-Bertram (aka Dr. Toby) is also the Chief Medical Officer of Summit Institute and Desert Clinic Pain Institute that has 17 locations in Southern California. Prior to going into private practice, he held an appointment as associate clinical professor of anesthesiology and psychiatry and as the director of clinical pain research at the University of California San Diego. He is double-board certified in Anesthesiology and Pain Management and became an assistant clinical professor and enrolled in the masters program for clinical research. He joined the VA San Diego Healthcare System and established his pain clinic there serving the Veteran population. Dr. Toby also serves as the Director of Research with Vitamed Research, LLC., conducting research projects and trials in the field of pain and neurosciences. Dr. Toby served as the director for clinical pain research at UCSD, is well published and is an associate clinical professor (voluntary) with the University of California Riverside School of Medicine. Toby was part of the founding team of Verséa, where he understands that there is an unmet need to further the science of the Endocannabinoid System to find solutions for patients looking for alternative therapy treatments.

Dr. Jimmy DeMesa is the President of Verséa Biologics. He is an experienced biopharmaceutical corporate executive, with over 30 years experience working in the areas of general management, strategy, and clinical, medical, and regulatory affairs. He has been CEO and member of the Board of Directors of five biopharmaceutical companies, both public and private, and has been a business partner with Tony Robbins, a renowned personal development coach. Before his business career, Dr. DeMesa was a practicing physician, operating three busy emergency clinics in the Tampa area. He received his undergraduate, MD and MBA degrees from the University of South Florida in Tampa.  

Robin Brooks is joining Verséa AgroTech as the President of this newly launched business division. She is a highly skilled, experienced chief executive, entrepreneur and a recognized Food Industry leader.

Ms. Brooks has over 20 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions, strategic management (sales/marketing/operations), implementation of proprietary technologies to increase sales, efficiencies, profitability and improve on sustainability.

From 1999 to 2012 Ms. Brooks served as a CEO of Brooks Food Group. Ms. Brooks operated 2 manufacturing plants, employing 330 people and generating more than $100 million.  She implemented a business growth strategy which generated approximately $70MM in revenue by cross-selling new product lines and expanding customer base.

Ms. Brooks also worked for Deloitte & Touche, Touche Ross, Arthur D. Little Valuation, and General Electric Credit Corporation. She served as a Trustee of Smith College, a member of the Committee of 200 Foundation Board, and treasurer and director for the Women’s Foodservice Forum, which named her the 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year.

She is a founding board member and former treasurer of the Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance and had served on the SBA National Advisory Council.  Ms. Brooks is the recipient of several awards including National Minority Supplier Development Council’s Supplier of the Year, National Urban League’s Excellence in Leadership, and Ernst & Young’s Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year.

Currently Ms. Brooks serves as an independent Board Member of Flagship Food Group and Creo Capital  Operating Partner.

Ms. Brooks holds a BA in economics from Smith College and a Master of Management from Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Sanjay is an independent Board Member and advisor to Verséa on Biologics, Pharmaceuticals and other Healthcare initiatives. He is also a board member of several molecular lab systems in the US and Canada, and advises multiple diagnostics companies.  For the decade ending Q1’18, Sanjay served as a Board Member of CanLab, Inc, a National network of leading Cannabinoid testing and analysis laboratories and Global President of the Toxicology division of Alere, Inc (NYSE: ALR), the Global leader in diversified toxicology products, services and rapid diagnostics. Sanjay deployed over $1B across diagnostics assets, merging 30+ companies to form a stand-alone division of 2,500+ employees across all world regions. As a member of the company’s executive team, he supported Alere’s $5.3 billion sale to Abbott Laboratories, Inc (NYSE: ABT) in 2017. Sanjay has executive experience across diversified In-Vitro Diagnostics platforms and health services – including Biologics, Point-of-Care Diagnostics, Laboratory Services and Health Information Solutions Based Screening Services- and has developed the world-leading business in every healthcare category he has worked in. He held successive executive and commercial leadership positions within the Point-of-Care and Diabetes Care divisions of Roche Diagnostics, Inc. and within the Specialty Chemicals division of Dow Chemical, Inc. Sanjay holds an MBA from Northwestern University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University.

Kurt Phinney has over 20 years of health care operations experience, including point-of-care manufacturing and technology transfer. He helped build operations and manufacturing foundations at four biomedical startups in Boston, Sarasota, and in Adelaide Australia. Additionally during his career, Kurt oversaw both quality and research and development teams.  Before focusing on operations, Kurt developed and manufactured several diagnostic assays ranging from human HIV and Anthrax to K9 Lyme disease.

Kurt’s prior roles have included serving as VP of Operations at Lumos Diagnostics, Sr Director of Operations at RPS Diagnostics, Quality Manager at Great Lakes Cheese, Principal Consultant at ICA Biotechnology and R&D and Manufacturing Manager at Immunetics.

Kurt excels at team building, assessing risks, project management, and implementing complex processes. He is adept at developing the foundational structure necessary for company growth and success and helping organizations reach the next level of operational efficiency and excellence.

Kurt is a former United States Coast Guard Corpsman and holds a BS in Biology and AS in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany as well as is Project Management Certified from University of California at Irvine.

Rahim K. Hirji, RPh has joined Verséa Ophthalmics as our Vice President of Ophthalmic Marketing. He has over 20 years of marketing, medical education, and market access experience with FDA-approved products. His prior roles have included serving as Head of Professional Relations Marketing and Market Access & Reimbursement Strategy for Kala Pharmaceuticals, focused on building and implementing a comprehensive payor and reimbursement strategy for their lead product Eysuvis, a treatment for dry eye disease. Prior to Kala, Rahim held the role of Head of Ophthalmics Marketing for Omeros, where he planned and executed the launch of OMIDRIA, an intraoperative product used in cataract surgery, which ultimately was divested by Omeros in a deal valued at over $1B. Rahim also brings to Verséa valuable KOL relationships with eye care professionals. Rahim’s important role at Verséa Ophthalmics will be to successfully lead and direct all of the marketing initiatives for our ophthalmic portfolio.

Rahim is a graduate of Cornell University with a Master’s in Health Administration and holds a BSc in Pharmacy from the University of British Columbia.

Natasha Svast is an experienced senior level manager specialized in Product & Brand Marketing Development and Life-cycle Management. She has over 12 years of work experience in the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare industry and 7 years in Business Advisory & Consulting.

Prior to joining Verséa Natasha worked for a European based pharmaceutical/healthcare company at different senior level management positions (last one being a Global Product Portfolio Manager) and an American advertising agency as a Brand Strategist for healthcare industry clients.

She developed and managed OTC products, dietary supplements, and functional foods & beverages for: cardiovascular health, immunology & inflammation, metabolic health and weight management, anti-aging, skin health & beauty.

She promoted and sold patented and non-patented active ingredients for pharmaceutical, food production and cosmetics industries (herbal and fruit extracts, peptides, enzymatic antioxidants) and developed and implemented preventive, pre-clinical Health Management programs at private clinics and Medical Wellness centers.

Natasha holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Management and is an author of books and scientific articles on intellectual capital, branding and competitiveness.

Lisa Sawmiller is a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 30 years of visible, pro-active leadership in the areas of talent acquisition, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, succession planning, contract and benefits administration. Lisa has used her strong human resources background and a blend of experience working for a diverse range of industry leaders, including Rooms to Go, UnitedHealth Group, WellCare Health Plans, Inc., and Kelly IT Resources, to fuel growth and affect positive change in the organizations. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the hiring of hundreds of professionals into Fortune 500 companies, specialized in the areas of Information Technology, Engineering, Finance and Accounting, Sales & Marketing, Operations, and Administration.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science (Magna cum laude) in Human Resource Management from Syracuse University and is an active member in the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).

A serial entrepreneur, investor and software developer, Colby Fox, owns Bit9 Systems, a software development firm. He has been supporting Verséa since its beginnings.

Mr. Johnson has 12 years of sales experience. While the first half of his career was spent building and growing a multi-million-dollar territory as a corporate Account Executive for companies such as Smith & Nephew and Celularity Inc, he soon learned to leverage that success, as well as his relationships with practitioners and other medical professionals into his own distribution company. He then began contracting directly with other medical device and biologic companies such as Celularity, Organogenesis, Medline, Omni, as well as Verséa, to market and sell their products.  With his ability to identify opportunities and relationships that add value for all parties, and his high level understanding of the rapidly growing and evolving Regenerative Medicine space, Tyler joined the Verséa team in a more permanent role in November 2021 to help oversee, develop, and grow the Verséa Biologics division. In October 2022 he joined the Verséa Ophthalmics Division at a position of the VP of Eye Care Sales.

Austin White is an entrepreneurial business leader with an impeccable 35+ years of senior leadership experience accomplishing exponential revenue and profit growth for Fortune 500 businesses in a variety of industries.

A passionate, proactive CEO and Corporate Turnaround Specialist with proven success in developing key personnel, comprehensive business processes, business development, infrastructure plans, tactical implementation and measurement protocols to drive business revenue and profit.

Entering the US Healthcare and Telehealth markets in 2010, Mr. White recognized many key areas of improvement for providing affordable access to quality healthcare.  Utilizing experience and skills learned from 25 + previous years in strategic marketing, product development, design, manufacturing, sales management and logistics, Austin took the lead in OnMed’s design, manufacturing, marketing, business development, legislative, regulatory and government initiatives.

Rick joined the Verséa team to develop Strategic alignment of business development processes and procedures with the Verséa strategic business goals. Over the years, Rick has developed a rolodex of ideal clients using brand promises that companies like Verséa can deliver upon.  Rick is founder of several innovative corporate and population health, compliance and transparency initiatives including Health Coach^® Corporate Wellness Centers, LifeStrive^® Corporate Wellness, Direct Access Lab^®, TrendShift^® and most recently Strategic Compliance & Clinical Solutions. The healthcare and corporate transparency programs he has developed are unique in combining the expertise of population health-trends, predictive models and fiduciary oversight to meet both corporate health and financial goals. Clients include ADP, Qwest, Century Link, Maricopa County, Allstate, Aflac, The City of Phoenix, Discover Card, American Express, Microsoft, AT&T, Consol Energy, Pizza Hut,

Gary has over 23 years of pharmaceutical commercialization experience. He is the Founder and President of Sapient Pharmaceutical Advisors Inc., a consulting company targeting startup companies preparing for commercialization. Prior to this Gary was the Senior Director of Market Development at Depomed Pharmaceuticals and led the commercial development and execution of strategy for a portfolio of Pain and CNS brands including Cambia®, Zipsor®, Gralise®, Lazanda®, Nucynta®, Nucynta® ER and a new chemical entity cebranopadol. Gary was Senior Director of Marketing and successfully led the re-launch of the $1 billion-dollar acquisition of the Nucynta and Nucynta ER franchise. Prior to Depomed, Gary was Director of Marketing at Purdue Pharma L.P. overseeing the portfolio of pain products including MS Contin®, MSIR®, OxyContin®, OxyFAST®, OxyIR®, Dilaudid®, Dilaudid® HP, Palladone®, Ryzolt®, Butrans®, and Hysingla® ER. Gary is an experienced commercial leader who has overseen new product development ranging from Pre-clinical through Launch and Phase IV.

Rebecca Chandler has joined Verséa Ophthalmics as our Executive Director of Strategic Accounts. She has over 20 years of sales experience in advertising, construction, and medical device. Most recently, Rebecca spent 7 Years with the Bausch + Lomb Vision Care division where she managed teams and focused on strategic account development with corporate accounts (Private Equity Groups, Doctor Alliance Groups and Corporations). From there, she worked with Sight Sciences as their Director of Strategic Accounts for the last 4 years and was responsible for building the team and structure for the commercialization of TearCare, a Dry Eye Device used for in-office heat therapy procedures.  Rebecca will have the important role of growing and managing our strategic accounts.

Rebecca is a graduate of Auburn University and brings another War Eagle to the team.

Jessica Barr has joined Verséa Ophthalmics as our Director of Implementation and Clinical Applications. She has over 18 years of clinical, educational, and commercial experience in the eye care industry.  Among some of her related experience, Jessica has worked with RPS Diagnostics, MacuLogix, and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and has experience launching point of care diagnostic products. While working in industry, she contributed to an award-winning sales team to deliver dry eye products to eye care providers throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Jessica has her advanced level credential as a Certified Ophthalmic Medical Technologist and has leadership experience providing clinical care in every subspecialty of ophthalmology. Jessica has provided over 60 continuing education courses and workshops throughout her career and has contributed to several academic and industry publications. She served on the Board of Directors for several years for the national Association of Technical Personnel in Ophthalmology and regularly participates with her local Philadelphia Regional Ophthalmic Society.

She was a Professor of Ophthalmic Science and Program Director for an accredited Ophthalmic Technician training program for many years. Jessica will have the important role at Verséa Ophthalmics to develop and lead our clinical implementation team.

Kiana Panlilio is one of the longest members of Verséa Team. She joined the company in January 2019 and since then advanced to a position of a Director of Sales. She oversees all distribution and direct account management across 20+ states. Kiana works alongside Verséa’s medical advisors and management & regulatory affairs teams with a goal to further legitimize the medical hemp industry through quality products, clinical studies and education. She is also very actively helping Diagnostics division promote and sell their product solutions.

Kiana graduated with honors from Gulf Coast University with a degree in Health Science and is best known for her contributions to United Way, as a mentor helping underprivileged children learn how to read and write.

Chelsea Keys has 10+ years of administrative and operational experience and is well versed in standardization and process improvement. As one of Verséa’s first employees, Chelsea has been instrumental in facilitating and enabling the rapid growth of Verséa in the last few years.

In the past, Ms Keys has created and implemented an award-winning community service event that continues annually to this day, taking the spot as one of her proudest achievements. She has years of experience supporting Executive level professionals and has filled many roles in the Business Operations and Administrative arenas.

Currently serving as the Sales Operations and Compliance Manager at Verséa, Chelsea spearheads market and sales research, overseas compliance, ensures proper function of the services department, and promotes Verséa ‘s customer success. She effectively improved workplace safety, has established efficient processes, and has turned setbacks into successes among many other accomplishments. During her time with the company, she has been recognized for her ability to multitask effortlessly, her incredibly keen intelligence, and her overall stellar work ethic and attitude.

Chelsea holds a BS in Biomedical Sciences from University of South Florida and ran collegiate Track for the university’s Track and Field team.

William Zorn brings over 25 years of logistics, supply chain, and operations experience to the Verséa Team.

During his 20+ years of service in the Army, he served in a wide range of leadership positions and managed a diverse selection of materials and products for use by the US military and its allies.

William comes to Verséa after a successful time at Arturo Fuente Cigars where he worked as the Warehouse and Operations Manager for the Tampa area.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of South Florida.

Gavin Steward is a senior accounting professional with 15 years of experience working for profit and non-profit companies from different industry sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the American International College, Springfield, MA.

He started his career at Citigroup working as a Tax Analyst, handling all Employee accounts and working directly with State and Local Departments to determine rates, changes, active employees, and billing issues.

Gavin continued his professional career at Phoenix Life Insurance working as a Business Analyst, using actuarial models to construct insurance plans. In 2008 he was hired as an Accountant by a non-profit organization New Opportunities. He managed all their accounts, transactions and donations, produce detailed financial reports, prepare grant requests and work on special Accounting projects: Pension analysis, Economic Strategy Team.

He continued his Accounting career working for a media Tribune Company, non-profit healthcare company Healthfirst, ecommerce company FANCY, and healthcare staffing agency Nomad Health where he managed payroll for 250+ medical clinicians and was heavily involved in hiring and training payroll team.

He managed Billing and Collections, and traveled out of state to establish and implement training for a new billing department in Charlotte, N.C. He worked on special projects and analysis: Profitability reporting, receipts and disbursements reporting, collection reporting, implementation of new ERP systems and applications. He assisted auditors in analysis work, prepared schedules as well as provided supporting documents, researched financial information for auditing purposes and financial reporting for end of month and end of year end. Gavin has experience mentoring 5 supporting members of the finance team as well as 10 members in various teams and delegated assignments and tasks to appropriate member.