The HTG Management Group
Our management team has seasoned veterans of in the biotech industry
Tim (TJ) Johnson
Chief Executive Officer
Tim (TJ) Johnson, an accomplished management executive, joins HTG from LVC Consulting, where he was a partner with the firm. Previously, he was senior vice president of global business services at Ventana Medical Systems. During his five years at Ventana, Johnson held various senior management positions of increasing responsibility.
Prior to Ventana Medical Systems, Johnson was vice president of global marketing at Hill-Rom Company a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries. With Hill-Rom Johnson also served as VP/GM of Hill-Rom Airshields, handled North American operations, and lead the global strategic planning team. He has also served as a senior consulting manager at Price Waterhouse and has sales and operational experience at Batesville Casket Company, Caloric Corporation and Frito-Lay. Johnson earned a B.S. in business from Indiana University.
Bruce E. Seligmann, Ph.D.
Founder, Board Member and Chief Science Officer
An internationally recognized scientist, Dr. Bruce Seligmann began his scientific career at the NIH-NIAID, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, and then joined Ciba-Geigy (Novartis). There he led the drug discovery programs within the Department of Molecular Biology, Inflammation, and Osteoarthritis Research. He went on to join the start-up biotech company, Selectide, where as V.P. of R&D, Dr. Seligmann initiated the development of non-peptide small molecule combinatorial chemistry (combichem). He established drug discovery programs and selected compounds which produced a novel Factor Xa drug that advanced into clinical trials. After serving as Center Director upon the acquisition of Selectide by MMD (Aventis), Dr. Seligmann went on to found both SIDDCO and HTG, which developed and markets the quantitative Nuclease Protection Assay (qNPA™). As one of the inventors and developers of the intellectual property forming the basis of the ArrayPlate and qNPA™ technology, Dr. Seligmann’s vision is to provide this time and cost saving technology to assist the advancement of research, drug discovery and the development of better therapies and diagnostics, which ultimately provides better patient care and quality of life.
His philosophy is better tools mean better research, better research means better results, and better results mean better patient outcomes.
Kirk A. Collamer, MBA, CPA
CFO
Mr. Collamer provides HTG with the experience and vision necessary to strategically manage its financial, sales and corporate growth as well as maximize its resources. His previous experience includes guiding two start-up firms to and through IPO’s, and obtaining public and private financing for numerous other companies.
His impressive 30-year career includes finance (serving as Chief Financial Officer for Ameritech/Telecom Corp. of New Zealand, Muzak, Pointshare and Coinstar), accounting (as controller of Aladdin Industries and Brown-Forman/Jack Daniels Distillery) and planning. His work encompasses both large Fortune 500 companies as well as start-ups.
Bille-Jo (BJ) Kerns
Vice-President, Strategic Marketing and Business Development
BJ Kerns joined High Throughput Genomics (HTG) as Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Business Development, in March 2008. In this position Ms. Kerns is responsible for developing and implementing HTG’s strategic plan and business development activities. A significant area of her responsibility is managing HTG’s emerging diagnostics business, specifically overseeing the development of the diagnostic content for the qNPA system.
Most recently, Ms. Kerns held the position of Director of Integrated Solutions and Molecular Diagnostics at Promega Corporation, Inc. Previously she held several positions at Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., including Director of Women’s Health, Director of Strategic Marketing, and Senior Director of Product Technical Support in Operations. Ms. Kerns has also managed a variety of functions at BioGenex and Becton Dickinson, including Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Research and Development, and Project Management.
Ms. Kerns brings with her more than 27 years of Diagnostics experience, including launching Ventana Medical System’s first FDA approved companion diagnostic PATHWAY® HER-2. She has an academic background in science and medicine which augments her general management, sales, marketing, and business development skills. While at Duke University Medical Center, Ms. Kerns published 60 scientific papers, 38 abstracts, and presented over 30 workshops in her career to date.
Ms. Kerns received an A.A.S. in Medical Technology from Elon College in Elon, North Carolina and a B.S in Health Care Management from Century University in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has received a certification in Managing Strategic Resources from Darden Executive Education at the University of Virginia.
