Why we are here
Where we come from: Founded in May 2008 near the Blackrock Desert in Utah, the company draws on a legacy of high tech innovation that began with Bionics, a spin-off from the University of Utah in 1997. The company started by Brian Hatt and Prof. Richard A. Normann - also the inventor of the Utah Electrode Array – was later taken over by Cyberkinetic Neurotechnologies Inc. Having taken major strides in applying the technology to the human body, the research business of CKI was then acquired by Blackrock Microsystems LLC.
What we are: Blackrock is a privately held company that provides enabling tools for the neuroscience, neural engineering and neuroprosthetics research and clinical community worldwide.
Where we are heading: Prof. Florian Solzbacher, President and Chairman of Blackrock Microsystems, has created a commercial vision for the company to lead the market in implantable microsystems. Our team caters to the immediate and future needs of the research markets.
These existing markets together with major technical breakthroughs in chronically implantable microsystems propel us to the forefront of clinical key solutions for next generation pharma development, healthcare and personalized medicine.
Who we are looking for: Blackrock builds its business and operations on the firm belief that the best technologies are those that answer the needs of customers and are successfully commercialised out of sophisticated (academic) research and partnerships.
If you have a technology or application know-how that could contribute to our portfolio, or if you just want to know more, please contact us.
Prof. Florian Solzbacher – Chairman & President
Florian is Director of the Microsystems Laboratory at the University of Utah and co-Director of the Utah Nanotechnology Institute. His research focuses on harsh environment microsystems and materials, including implantable, wireless microsystems but also high temperature and harsh environment compatible micro sensors. Prof. Solzbacher received his M.Sc. EE from the Technical University Berlin in 1997 and his Ph.D. from the Technical University Ilmenau in 2003. He is author of over 100 technical and scientific journal, conference and book publications and 16 pending patents and applications on MEMS devices. He is co-founder of several companies such as First Sensor Technology, and holds numerous board and advisory positions in the US and the EU. He was the Chairman of the Association for Sensor Technology AMA until 2009.
Andrew Gotshalk - CEO
Andrew is a business operations senior manager with over ten years experience in sales, strategic planning, process improvement, business design, financial modelling and customer relationship management. Previously, he was Director of Research Products Business at CKI, leading the sales strategy and responsible for annual revenue growth in excess of 40%. Prior to CKI, Andrew was sales operations manager at Haemonetics Corp. in Braintree (MA) for five years. Haemonetics Corp. is the global lead in developing, manufacturing, and marketing of blood processing technology. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Rick van Wagenen, PhD - CTO
Rick is an experienced professional with more than 30 years of technical and management experience in the medical device development industry. He was the Research and Development Team Leader and Senior Engineer at CKI. Prior to CKI, Rick co-founded Biomaterials International, Inc. in 1981 which became Albion Instruments in 1987 and was sold to OHMEDA Medical Systems in 1990 for $23.5m. He remained at OHMEDA as Director of Research and Development managing a team of 25 scientists, engineers, and technicians. Rick has numerous publications and patents to his name. He has a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Marcus Gerhardt - CFO
Marcus is an entrepreneur and investment advisor focused on innovation technologies and alternative investment markets. In 1999, Marcus helped set up his first start-up, Mondus, a pioneering e-commerce platform. As Managing Director UK, he oversaw the growth of the company to 145 employees. He co-ordinated several funding rounds, raising in excess of $170m, providing shareholders with a 10-fold exit through a trade sale to Seat Pagine Gialle. Subsequently, Marcus co-founded BBI which advises technology companies on funding, commercialisation and growth strategies. He holds various board and advisory positions at companies such as Demotix. Marcus has an MPhil from Oxford University.
- Brian Stern: Partner, Starboard Capital, Boston, MA
- TS Lau: President and CEO, KimAnn Engineering Group, Singapore
