Bruker AXS Names Trio of Exec-VPs; Haseltine to Advise CMEA Ventures; James Heffernan Named CEO of NextGen; Tim McGrath Named VP at Genaissance; and Others

Frank Burgaezy, Roger Durst, and Bernard Kolodziej were all named executive vice presidents at Bruker AXS last week. The newly appointed executive management team will be responsible for all aspects of the firm's business, including global sales and marketing, customer support, manufacturing, research and development, operations and financial management, the company said.

Burgaezy is now responsible for the firm's X-ray diffraction business as well as its X-ray fluorescence business, and also has global responsibility for marketing. He holds a doctorate in physics from the Max-Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany.

Durst heads Bruker's X-ray single crystal diffraction business, and is also the firm's chief technology officer. He holds a BS in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in physics from the Universityof Texas at Austin.

Kolodziej is now head of global finance function and European operations, as well as worldwide subsidiaries, Bruker said. Kolodziej had served as vice president of finance since 2004. Kolodziej holds a MA in business administration, finance and production engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

William Haseltine has become a senior life sciences advisor of CMEA Ventures, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm said on Monday. He is the former chief executive of Human Genome Sciences. Haseltine holds a doctorate in biophysics from HarvardUniversity

James Heffernan has become chief executive officer of NextGen Sciences, the UK-based company said on Tuesday. He joins NextGen from Upstate, where he was managing director for Europe. Previously, he held senior executive positions with Sigma-Aldrich and Promega.

Tim McGrath has become senior vice president of molecular services of Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, the company said on Tuesday. He replaces Carl Balezentis, who will resign as senior vice president and president of Lark Technologies, Genaissance's wholly owned subsidiary, effective Aug. 31. Balezentis will receive $262,500 in severance pay over 12 months. MacGrath will receive an annual salary of $200,000.

James Collins will head the directorate for biological sciences at the National Science Foundation starting in October, NSF said last week. He replaces Mary Clutter, who is retiring. Collins is currently a professor of natural history and environment at ArizonaStateUniversity. As assistant director for biological sciences, he will oversee NSF's nearly $580 million annual investment in fundamental biological research. Collins received a BS degree from ManhattanCollege and a Ph.D. from the Universityof Michigan.

Dale Olson has joined Exagen Diagnostics as director of finance and administration, the company said last week. Most recently, he was CEO of Lovelace Sandia Health System Rehabilitation Hospital of New Mexico. Olson holds an MBA from the Universityof New Mexico and a BA in business administration from WesternMichiganUniversity. 

Michael Monko has become vice president of sales for the research products segment of Serologicals, the company said last week. That segment consists of Chemicon International and the Upstate Group. Monko, who will be based in the company's Temecula, Calif. office, comes to Serologicals from Invitrogen, where over almost 20 years he held a number of sales positions. Most recently, he was the senior director of sales force effectiveness. He holds an MBA from BabsonCollege in Wellesley, Mass., and a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the Universityof New Hampshire.

Jerome Konecsni has been appointed as president and chief executive officer of Genome Prairie, the Calgary, Canada-based company said last week. He succeeds Randal Johnston. Previously, Konecsni was vice president of corporate development at the Saskatchewan biotech firm Bioriginal. He holds BA, BEd, and MA degrees from the Universityof Saskatchewan.

Atul Butte has joined the Stanford University School of Medicine as an assistant professor in medical informatics and pediatrics. Butte was previously an instructor at Children's Hospital Boston and HarvardMedicalSchool. Butte is also on the scientific advisory board of Genstruct.

Tidu Maini and John O'Connell have joined the board of directors of InforSense, the London-based company said last week.

Maini is the pro rector of corporate affairs and development of ImperialCollege, where he is responsible for the commercialization of the college's most promising intellectual assets and key development projects.

O'Connell is the founder and former chairman and CEO of Staffware, which provides business process management and workflow technology.   

Fritz Bittenbender will become senior director of corporate affairs of Cephalon, where he will direct community outreach and state government relations, Pennsylvania Bio said last week. He resigned as president of Pennsylvania Bio, effective Oct. 1.