An Experienced Neurotech Team

Blackrock Neurotech is a team of the world’s leading engineers, neuroscientists, and visionaries. Together, we’ve developed the most powerful neurotechnology platform that improves patient lives today.

Board of Directors

Professor Florian Solzbacher | Co-Founder & Chairman

Dr. Solzbacher is co-founder and Chairman of Blackrock Neurotech. He is also a Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Center for Engineering Innovation at the University of Utah. Florian holds adjunct appointments as a Professor in Materials Science and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers AIMBE and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE. Prof. Solzbacher received his M.Sc. EE (Dipl.-Ing.) from the Technical University Berlin in 1997 and his Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) from the Technical University Ilmenau in 2003. He is co-founder of several companies, including Blackrock Microsystems, Blackrock Neuromed, Blackrock Microsystems Europe, Sentiomed, First Sensor Technology, and several others. He was a board member and Chairman of the German Association for Sensor Technology AMA and of Sensor + Test from 2001 until 2009. Florian was director of the Utah Nanofabrication Laboratory until 2013 and served on a number of company and public/private partnership advisory and reviewer boards in Europe and the US including the DFG German Excellence Initiative, the European Research Council ERC, The Utah Governor’s Science and Technology advisory board and on international conference steering committees such as the NIH/NINDS Neural Interfaces Conference. He was Co-Chair of the 2012 NIH Neural Interfaces Conference and the 2014 COMS Conference for Commercialization of Micro and Nanosystems. He is the author of over 190 journal and conference publications, 5 book chapters, and 16 pending patents.

Professor Florian Solzbacher

Co-Founder & Chairman

Marcus Gerhardt | Co-Founder & CEO

Marcus is CEO of Blackrock Neurotech. He is on the advisory board of various disruptive technology companies including fin-tech Deposit Solutions (US). Marcus has an MPhil from Oxford University and an MA from St. Andrews. He is an entrepreneur focused on innovative technologies and alternative investment markets. In 1999, Marcus helped set up his first start-up, Mondus, a pioneering e-commerce platform. Subsequently, Marcus founded BBI, which advised technology companies on funding, commercialization, and growth strategies. In 2003, he co-founded one of the leading frontier market asset managers in the Middle East. With Blackrock, he is hoping to improve the patient impact as it relates to the final frontier of the human body – the brain. He is all too aware of the limits of his own body when it comes to riding and hiking up and down the Wasatch mountains, but that does not stop him from trying to push that frontier too.

Marcus Gerhardt

Co-Founder & CEO

Dr. Tim Sievers | Board Member

Dr. Tim Sievers is an entrepreneur and investor. He founded the FinTech pioneer Deposit Solutions in 2011. By the time he left his role as CEO 10 years later, the company was working with over 400 banks in 25 countries with more than 25bn USD in AuM and had achieved a “unicorn” valuation. Before founding Deposit Solutions, Tim was trained as an economist at the universities of Oxford, LSE, Toulouse, and Hamburg, and has worked as an investor in private equity. He serves as a Member of the Board at Raisin DS and Blackrock Neurotech.

Tim Sievers

Board Member

Jan Hardorp | Board Member

Jan Hardorp is passionate about new science and our times’ unique mental health challenges. He is a founder and entrepreneur with a focus on health care. His specialties include investment and portfolio management, business development, digital strategies, B2B sales management, and M&A strategy formulation and execution.

Jan Hardorp

Board Member

TS Lau | Board Member

TS Lau

Board Member

Christian Angermayer | BCI Champion

Christian Angermayer is an entrepreneur, investor, and film enthusiast.

He is the founder of Apeiron Investment Group, his family office, and merchant banking business. Apeiron focuses on investments in biotech, fintech & crypto, and deep tech companies. Apeiron completes deals across the entire lifecycle and balance sheet of a company, from non-listed seed/start-up investments to larger-scale restructuring and special situations deals.

Passionate about the arts and film, Christian has (executive) produced 21 feature films including critically acclaimed movies like Filth, Aspern Papers and Hector and the Search for Happiness. He is the largest shareholder of DEAG, one of the largest live entertainment companies in Europe. Christian has a unique art collection centered around the theme “Psychedelics / Entheogens”.

With his biotech company ATAI Life Sciences, Christian has the ambitious goal to find cures for various mental health issues like depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD by bringing back so-called psychedelics like “magic mushrooms” and DMT into the legal realm as powerful medical treatment.

In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Christian places great value on social, political, and societal commitments. He is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council of His Excellency President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and a member of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle. Christian’s “Angermayer Policy and Innovation Forum” convenes several times a year Head of States, leading politicians, artists, investors, and scientists to discuss crucial topics and issues.

Christian Angermayer

BCI Champion

Executive Team

Professor Florian Solzbacher | Co-Founder & Chairman

Dr. Solzbacher is co-founder and Chairman of Blackrock Neurotech. He is also a Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Center for Engineering Innovation at the University of Utah. Florian holds adjunct appointments as a Professor in Materials Science and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers AIMBE and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE. Prof. Solzbacher received his M.Sc. EE (Dipl.-Ing.) from the Technical University Berlin in 1997 and his Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) from the Technical University Ilmenau in 2003. He is co-founder of several companies including Blackrock Microsystems, Blackrock Neuromed, Blackrock Microsystems Europe, Sentiomed, First Sensor Technology, and several others. He was a board member and Chairman of the German Association for Sensor Technology AMA and of Sensor + Test from 2001 until 2009. Florian was director of the Utah Nanofabrication Laboratory until 2013 and served on a number of companies and public/private partnership advisory and reviewer boards in Europe and the US including the DFG German Excellence Initiative, the European Research Council ERC, The Utah Governor’s Science and Technology advisory board and on international conference steering committees such as the NIH/NINDS Neural Interfaces Conference. He was Co-Chair of the 2012 NIH Neural Interfaces Conference and the 2014 COMS Conference for Commercialization of Micro and Nanosystems. He is the author of over 190 journal and conference publications, 5 book chapters, and 16 pending patents.

Professor Florian Solzbacher

Co-Founder & Chairman

Marcus Gerhardt | Co-Founder & CEO

Marcus Gerhardt

Co-Founder & CEO

Doug Grindstaff | Chief Strategy Officer

Doug is a serial successful entrepreneur and recognized global thought leader in biotechnology, emerging technologies, and cybersecurity strategy. He consulted with multiple governments in their development of policies and programs for medical devices and cybersecurity. His experience includes over 25 years of verifiable value-creating success in global environments ranging from a $17 billion manufacturing company to multiple successful mid and early-stage technology and biotech companies. Doug is a classically trained strategist and risk manager with extensive experience in de-risking security and portfolio investments by building strategic insights which require a deep understanding of critical behavioral and regulatory drivers in global markets and industries. He is a highly successful value-creator with a passion for creating infectious visions, building relationships with key decision-makers, and delivering on commitments. Doug leads a private investment firm working with multiple family offices/high net worth individuals and serves on several boards.

Doug Grindstaff

Chief Strategy Officer

Taryn Southern | Creative Director

Taryn Southern is an award-winning storyteller, strategist and brand ambassador known for her work at the intersection of emerging technology and human potential. Recent career highlights include co-directing and producing I AM HUMAN, an award-winning documentary on brain-computer interfaces (Official Selection in the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival), composing the world’s first AI album (Top 100 US Radio Charts), and producing an award-winning Google VR series (Winner of the AT&T Film Award).

An early content creator with more than 750 million views across her work, Southern has developed series and produced campaigns for National Geographic, Conde Naste, The Today Show, MTV, Snapchat, and Maker Studios. From biotech to blockchain, she has also designed dozens of media initiatives to help science and technology companies tell stories that spark consumer conversation and investment. She has worked with companies like Vessel, Hour One AI, HTC Vive, Extend Fertility, Invitae Genetics, Forever Labs, Amper AI, Oura, GoodTrust, and Tubular, and is a contributing writer to Business Insider and TechCrunch.

Taryn Southern

Creative Director

Jeff Jensen | Chief Technology Officer

Jeff C. Jensen brings more than twenty years of experience in hardware and software engineering, robotics, and product development to Blackrock. As CTO, Jeff leads Blackrock’s world-class technology team in developing the most advanced brain-computer interfaces used to treat neurological disorders. He previously served as the Vice President of Engineering at Creator, where he led R&D, prototyping, and operation of Creator’s innovative robotic kitchens.

His experience spans brain-computer interfaces, the world’s first fully automated commercial kitchens, system design tools for heterogeneous distributed control systems, mobile robots for mechatronics education, and research in design methodology for cyber-physical systems.

Jeff Jensen

Chief Technology Officer

Nathan Smith | Chief Financial Officer

Nathan Smith is an experienced senior finance executive with over 20 years of comprehensive management, accounting, financial, and technical experience. He’s been educated at BYU, the University of Virginia, and most recently the Harvard Business School.

Nathan Smith

Chief Financial Officer

Senior Leadership

Amy Boyle

SVP, Research Unit

David Hoagland | SVP, Remedy

David joined Blackrock Neurotech in 2021 with 15 years of experience in the medical device industry driving portfolio strategy, product innovation, and commercialization. He spent over 10 of those years with Medtronic and IMRIS in the neurosurgery navigation and intraoperative imaging markets. This med device background is complemented by broad high-tech industry experience generating high margin, thoughtfully-designed consumer products and business solutions at companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and TiVo. David earned his BA from Stanford University and his MBA from Northwestern University (Kellogg Business School). When not working, he is a lover of many hobbies, yet master of none – enjoying cooking, music, reading, movies, and a host of sports: skiing, soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, pickle ball, tennis, water sports, and hiking.

David Hoagland

SVP, Remedy

Rob Franklin | VP, Restore

Rob earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he developed electrodes for in vivo neurotransmitter sensing. Following his Ph.D. studies, Rob began his work at Blackrock Neurotech where he has directed a team of engineers in the design and development of implantable, wireless neural interface electronics and novel silicon electrodes for recording and stimulation in the brain. His deep technical understanding and solution-oriented engineering approach have put him at the core of our clinical translation activities. Rob’s enthusiasm and commitment know no bounds, whether it is showing his support for the environment by braving US highways with an electric vehicle or his team spirit by playing soccer when really he would prefer football tackling us all.

Rob Franklin

VP, Restore

Julia Brown

VP, Software Product & Strategy

Raj Bhandari Director, Clinical Translation

Raj received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Utah and an MTech degree in solid-state materials from the Indian Institute of Technology. He is currently Director of Clinical Translation Electrodes in Blackrock Neurotech and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah. He has been involved in prototyping and manufacturing various microfabrication, neural interface technologies, and devices. Raj is the author of several scientific and engineering publications and has three patents and several others pending in the USPTO. Raj is a specialist in implantable devices and systems, MEMS, and grants. He has introduced the Blackrock team to the merits of Indian food and tea.

Raj Bhandari

VP, Development Electrode

Kristen McIntosh | VP, Business Operations

Kristen completed her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah where she researched the optimization of hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels for applications in tissue engineering. Following her undergraduate studies, Kristen began work at Blackrock Neurotech within the R&D department and has since risen up the ranks to take on the position of VP of Business Operations. Her work focuses on maximizing efficiency and productivity while maintaining Blackrock’s highest quality standards. No matter how pressing, no matter how tall the task, no matter how unreasonable the ask, Kristen somehow manages to stay calm and navigate matters to success. When not hard at work, you’ll find her playing tennis, chasing after her 3 kids, or relaxing with a good book.

Kristen McIntosh

VP, Business Operations

K. Elizabeth Waite

VP, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs

Shehan Jaro | VP, Finance

Shehan joined Blackrock Neurotech in 2017 and has more than 15 years of experience in accounting, financial analysis, treasury management, grant and governmental finance, and commercial & retail banking. Before being named VP of Finance, Shehan served Blackrock in a variety of roles of increasing importance, including Senior Accountant and Finance Manager. He began his career at banking giant HSBC in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and moved to the United States to peruse a degree in Finance at the University of Utah. Outside of his duties at Blackrock Neurotech, Shehan served in financial / management consulting roles at several nonprofits in Utah and Sri Lanka, including the Utah Pride Center.

Shehan Jaro

VP, FINANCE

Sandeep Negi | Director of Research Electrodes

Sandeep is the Director of Research Electrodes. Sandeep received his master’s degree in physics from IIT-Delhi and Ph.D. from the University of Utah. He has been PD/PI in several federal and state-funded grants. He is the author of over 50 journal and conference publications, book chapters, and 10+ pending patents. He has 21 years of experience in microfabrication and testing of semiconductor and MEMS implantable devices. While his expertise in microdevices and bio-materials is unquestionable, his talents extend to football (soccer) and teaching the staff cricket (a tall order when considering it is played for five days without necessarily identifying a winner).

Sandeep Negi

Director of Research Electrodes

Danny Powell | Director of Strategy, Advanced Technology

Danny Powell

Director of Strategy, Advanced Technology

Siv Ghaffari | QA & RA

Siv worked in the Salt Lake valley for over two decades in biotechnology and pharmaceutical settings including over 6 years of quality management and regulatory affairs experience. After 12 years working in the R&D division at Myriad Genetics and Myrexis (formally Myriad Pharmaceuticals), retooled by going back to school and getting a Master of Science and Technology at the University of Utah, and continued his career development by obtaining Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) for medical devices, Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification, and Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE). As the Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, it is the department’s primary goal to nurture a culture to maintain an effective and efficient Quality Management System, that complies with global regulatory requirements and meets the challenges of developing, manufacturing, and releasing medical devices that are safe and effective for disruptive technologies, clinically cleared and research devices.

Siv Ghaffari

Director of Quality

David Burk | Director, PMO

David Burk

Director, PMO

Sherman Wiebe | Director of European Office

Sherman has over 17 years of experience in the neuroscience research field. He earned degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, followed by a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from New York University where he studied the role of the hippocampus in olfactory memory in freely-behaving rodents. He also holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University. Sherman held multiple positions at Plexon Inc, first as sales manager, then as director of worldwide sales and marketing, and finally as Managing Director of Plexon Europe. Subsequently, Sherman founded NeuronautX, a scientific consultancy firm based in Brussels. Since 2016, Sherman is a key advisor for Blackrock Neurotech in Europe. Sherman’s clearest thinking occurs during the long runs which have already led him to four completed marathons in the last years. Not even the fact that he is based in Brussels, the capital of beer and fine chocolates, could keep him from this achievement.

Sherman Wiebe

Director of European Office

Kieran Hall | Product Innovation Director

Jessica Fossmeyer

Director, Communications

Bryan Satterfield | Director, Operations

Bryan Satterfield

Director, Operations

Sales & Support

Greg Palis | Sales Engineer, Research Unit

Greg completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Rochester where he optimized hardware and software systems for stem cell bio-reactors and other experimental paradigms. He believes the human brain is the most fascinating thing in existence and that Blackrock Neurotech’s tools provide the best opportunity for further discovery. Greg enjoys working closely with researchers and clinicians to get the most out of the current generation of hardware and software while working with engineers to influence the next generation of revolutionary research tools. When Greg isn’t in the lab, you’ll find him climbing, biking, hiking, or flying.

Greg Palis

SALES ENGINEER, RESEARCH Unit

Shine Wang | Sales - Asia, Research Unit

Shuai Wang completed his Bachelor’s degree at Nanchang U, China, in Life Sciences and then earned his Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience from the Institute of Neurobiology at Fudan University in China. His doctoral research was on neural coding of effort-reward decision-making. He has conducted or assisted in numerous electrode-array implantations and ephys experiments on various animal models including mice, rats, cats and non-human primates, etc. in different labs. Shuai joined Blackrock Neurotech in 2013 and now mainly focuses on the Asian-Pacific market. Since moving to Utah, Shuai is a total skiing enthusiast and his bowling celebrations put NFL touchdown celebrations to shame.

Shuai Wang

SALES – ASIA Research Unit

Khaterah Kohneshin | Sales-Europe, Research Unit

Khaterah completed her B.S. in Neuropsychology and M.S. in Neuroscience at Utrecht University. Her interest in brain-computer interfaces led her to work at the Rehab Neural Engineering Lab at the University of Pittsburgh where she investigated how to restore sensation impacts within prosthetic arm control. Now, she uses her research skills and experience in electrophysiology at Blackrock Neurotech as a Support Engineer. Outside of ephys systems, she enjoys outdoor activities, spending time with her friends and family, and eating delicious Afghan food (emphasis on eating).

Khaterah Kohneshin

SALES – EUROPE Research Unit

Jeff Tsang | Support Engineer, Research Unit

Jeff Tsang spent 18 years in the Bay State before deciding he needed a change in scenery. He completed his B.S. in bioengineering at Rice University in Houston and briefly worked at Epic Systems in Wisconsin before deciding to return to Boston and attend Boston University for an M.S. in biomedical engineering. During his time at BU, he fostered an interest in electrophysiology in Dr. Laura Lewis’s lab working on utilizing wire loop motion sensors for artifact reduction in simultaneous EEG-fMRI. He uses his experience in technical services and ephys at Blackrock Neurotech as a member of the Support team. When he’s not troubleshooting ephys systems, he can be found eating a kickin’ a capoeira roda or scratching the 8-ball in a pool game.

Jeff Tsang

SUPPORT ENGINEER, Research Unit

Thomas Lancaster | Support Engineer, Research Unit

Thomas received a B.S. and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan and is a member of the Support team at Blackrock Neurotech. During his time at UM he garnered an interest in electrophysiology in courses on neural engineering and machine learning, when he wasn’t playing tenor saxophone as a part of the Michigan Marching and Hockey Bands. Outside of work he likes skiing, rock climbing, and building computers.

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