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About Cognition

With 20+ years of leadership in medtech and Biopharma and pioneering solutions for combination products, Cognition Corporation is a trusted partner to some of the greatest innovators in life sciences.

Our SaaS Solutions for Life Sciences Product Development

Purpose-built to streamline product development and compliance, accelerating the path to market and reducing risk at every turn.

Compass® MED

For MedTech products

Explore MED

Compass® BIO

For Biopharma products

Explore BIO

Compass® PRO

For combination products

Explore PRO

Navigating Product Development

Mission:

Enabling Life Sciences companies (medical device and pharma) to bring safer products to market faster with less risk and at less development cost.

Vision:

Cognition Corporation is a dominant supplier of software solutions to the market that empowers our customers to achieve our mission.

Leadership

Gerald Wesel
Gerald Wesel
Chairman, CEO, &CRO
David Cronin
David Cronin
Chief Business Officer, Biopharma
Dale Gallaher
Dale Gallaher
President
David Taylor
David Taylor
CTO & VP, Software Development
Stephen Chunias
Stephen Chunias
Chief Financial Officer
Hal Berman
Hal Berman
VP, Technology Development
Kristen Callahan
Kristen Callahan
Director, Marketing
Sally Carter
Sally Carter
Director, Application Engineering & Quality
Bridgette Perrier
Bridgette Perrier
Director, Software Engineering
Susan Parent
Susan Parent
Controller & HR Manager
Ansgar Liening
Ansgar Liening
Product Line Manager, Cockpit
Ben Higgitt
Ben Higgitt
Product Line Manager, Compass MED
Tim Murphy
Tim Murphy
Manager, IT & Customer Support
Santhi Kalathur
Santhi Kalathur
Manager, Quality Assurance

Board of Directors

Gerald Wesel
Gerald Wesel
Chairman, CEO, &CRO
Bio
David Cronin
David Cronin
Chief Business Officer, Biopharma
Bio
Dale Gallaher
Dale Gallaher
President
Bio
Bob Forlenza
Bob Forlenza
Managing Partner, Spring Lake Equity Partners
Bio
Jeff Williams
Jeff Williams
Partner, Spring Lake Equity Partners
Bio

Advisors

Mike Hess
Mike Hess
Former Vice President R&D, Technology and Innovation, Medtronic
Bio
Natalie Mcroberts
Natalie Mcroberts
Co-founder, Amstermed Group
Bio
Jim Weber
Jim Weber
Head CMC Biologics, NGT BioPharma Consultants
Bio

Ref. Partners

Partners

Qualio Logo
Astrix Logo

Gerald Wesel, Chairman & CEO

As Chairman and CEO, Gerald is responsible for setting the strategic direction of Cognition Corporation and ensuring that the company is operating ethically, efficiently, and transparently while fulfilling the board’s responsibilities to the company and its shareholders. In addition, as CEO, Gerald is responsible for setting and executing organizational strategy, allocating capital, and building and overseeing the executive team.

Gerald is a deeply accomplished, high-energy executive passionate about propelling innovative, disruptive technology companies to next level success.

In previous positions such as President, CEO, GM, Chairman, Executive Chairman and CRO, Gerald has built a reputation as a high-energy, dedicated, transformational leader who delivers unquestionable transparency and trust with boards, investors, customers, and management teams. Gerald’s strengths are in identifying and harnessing the winning formulas for game-changing growth and strategic exits that maximize shareholder returns, no matter the challenge: startups, turnarounds, and rapid growth.

Gerald’s record includes 7 startups and 4 large enterprises in VC-backed and established companies, consistently scaling and dependably steering each to a strategic exit – delivering the best possible returns for shareholders time after time. Gerald has never left a business he has joined before the exit.

Gerald was named Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year, New England Finalist” and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and has appeared on MSNBC.

Gerald holds A.S. degrees in Materials Engineering and Electrical Engineering, is a graduate of Boston University with a B.S., Business, and an MBA from Babson College.

David Cronin, Founder & CRO

Dale Gallaher is President of Cognition Corporation. Cognition Corporation has been offering solutions for product and process development for more than twenty years. During his time at Cognition, Dale has consulted with many product development companies to help in implementing specific parts of the product development process. Dale has also been the technical lead in the design and development for several of Cognition’s software tools.

Prior to Cognition, Dale was a product development engineer at General Electric. He has over 25 years of product development experience, most of which was focused on implementing leading edge product development tools. Dale holds a B.S.M.E from Bucknell University and M.S.M.E from MIT.

Dale Gallaher, President

Dale Gallaher is President of Cognition Corporation. Cognition Corporation has been offering solutions for product and process development for more than twenty years. During his time at Cognition, Dale has consulted with many product development companies to help in implementing specific parts of the product development process. Dale has also been the technical lead in the design and development for several of Cognition’s software tools.

Prior to Cognition, Dale was a product development engineer at General Electric. He has over 25 years of product development experience, most of which was focused on implementing leading edge product development tools. Dale holds a B.S.M.E from Bucknell University and M.S.M.E from MIT.

Bob Forlenza, Managing Partner, Spring Lake Equity Partners

Bob is a founding partner of Spring Lake Equity Partners. Prior to founding Spring Lake, Bob served as Managing Partner of Tudor Investment Corporation’s private equity group, the predecessor to Spring Lake, for nearly two decades. He has served on the Board of Directors of numerous companies including Art Technology Group, Classic Sports Network, Wired, and Intelligrated. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Professional Trading Solutions (PTS), SmarterHQ and PhoenixET. Prior to joining Tudor, he was a Vice President at Carlisle Capital, a leveraged buyout firm based in Boston where he played a key role in the acquisition and management of several plastics companies which were consolidated to form Carlisle Plastics, a diversified plastics company that was taken public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Bob was also an executive with the American Management Company, a start-up software company which developed and marketed systems management software for mini-computers. Bob initially served as Chief Financial Officer and was later appointed Chief Executive Officer and led a successful effort to sell the company to a strategic acquirer. Bob was also a management consultant with Bain & Company at which he worked in a variety of industries including communications services, financial services and information technology. Bob earned a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration from Washington and Lee University.

Jeff Williams, Partner, Spring Lake Equity Partners

Jeff is a founding partner of Spring Lake Equity Partners. Prior to founding Spring Lake, Jeff served as a Partner in Tudor Investment Corporation’s private equity group, the predecessor to Spring Lake, since 1999. He has focused on investments in the software, internet infrastructure, cybersecurity and healthcare IT sectors. Jeff currently serves on the boards of InsideView, Forefront Telecare, and is a board observer for Illusive Networks. Prior investments where Jeff served as a director or was actively involved include Remedy Partners, ObserveIT, Sqrrl, Dorado Systems, Plated, NetProspex, Single Digits, Thorne Research, TractManager, Crossbeam Systems, Intelligrated, and Velocity Technology Solutions. Prior to joining Spring Lake Equity Partners he was an associate with Downer & Company, an international mergers and acquisitions firm. Jeff was also a strategic consultant to Oplab, a start-up medical device company. Previous to that he was a financial analyst in the Corporate Finance Department of Fox-Pitt, Kelton Ltd. Jeff earned a Masters in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in History, cum laude, from Yale University.

Mike Hess, Former Vice President R&D, Technology and Innovation, Medtronic

Michael Hess currently consults on the Medical Device industry. Before this, he was employed at Medtronic for over three decades, holding various positions at the company (01/1991 – 05/2023). Medtronic develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Most recently he served as Vice President Corporate Technology and Innovation at Medtronic (05/2020 – 05/2023).

As Vice President Corporate Technology, he led center-based technology org focused on platform technologies, preclinical research, knowledge and collaboration, quality in R&D design, enterprise technology initiatives and product stewardship. He has also served as Vice President Engineering and Medtronic Fellow (09/2019 – 05/2020); Vice President and General Manager, MCS Business (03/2018 – 09/2019); Vice President Heart Failure R & D, CRHF Division (07/2017 – 03/2018); Vice President Bradycardia Research & Development, CRDM Divison (04/2012 – 07/2016); as well as a variety of other corporate facing positions at Medtronic.

Currently Mike Hess is a an adjunct professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and Editor in Chief of the IEEE EMBS Pulse magazine, focused on advances in biomedical technology.

Jim Weber, Head CMC Biologics, NGT BioPharma Consultants

Jim Weber is currently the Head of CMC Biologics at NGT BioPharma Consultants. Jim is a high-performing R&D leader with significant experience developing biologics and small molecules into successful drug candidates. As an accomplished scientific leader and functional manager in areas of Analytical and Pharmaceutical Development, Jim has led teams in the development of several new biologic and chemical entities that are now marketed drugs. He has a proven track record of building and optimizing organizations, managing cross-functional projects, and applying essential technologies and data strategies to achieve business objectives while minimizing risk. Click here to learn more about Jim’s expertise.