ACCELINX EXPANDS ITS EXPERTISE

AcceLINX Adds to Expertise Available to Start-ups

May 6, 2020, Warsaw, IN — AcceLINX, the musculoskeletal health business accelerator launched by OrthoWorx, announced today that it has added four new members to its roster of consultants who are available to assist startups in developing their technologies and growing their businesses.

AcceLINX President Sheryl Conley said the new consultants brings the roster to a total of 12 and adds both new areas of expertise as well as greater depth to those that were already represented by the AcceLINX consulting team.

“We are delighted that medical device industry veterans John Armacost, Jody Claypool and Dan Williman are now affiliated with us,” said Ms. Conley. “In addition, we are excited that Matt Hall, who has deep experience in start-up funding in the life sciences, is now part of the team. With these additions, we believe AcceLINX has an unmatched breadth and depth of relevant experience and expertise.”

Ms. Conley noted that the areas of expertise available to start-ups include the following: capital sourcing and business financing; grant writing; marketing and business development; business strategy; research and development; structural mechanics; quality systems engineering and manufacturing, regulatory affairs; reimbursement affairs; and intellectual property and compliance.

“We have held exploratory discussions with and provided feedback to 90 entrepreneurs and university researchers since our inception. Some of those discussions progressed to more involved consulting engagements and the companies we are working with come from Indiana, across the US as well as overseas,” said David Anderson, AcceLINX Commercial Affairs Consultant.  “Many of our client companies have advanced through several stages of growth with the assistance of our consulting team. We are pleased to be able to make even more resources available to those seeking to build their companies, leverage the unprecedented musculoskeletal health supply chain that exists here or establish a greater presence in our region.”

Biographical information:

John Armacost—Structural Mechanics, Finite Element Analysis

John is a highly experienced mechanical/biomedical design engineer and structural mechanics analyst, with 30+ years in a variety of industries, including medical devices, automotive and defense.  His technical expertise includes product design, structural mechanics finite element analysis (FEA), design verification and validation, design control, as well as project management and team leadership.

While John joined the AcceLINX team of consultants in 2019, he has been working as an independent consultant since 2014, when he founded his own firm to apply his engineering skillset in the areas that he enjoys most, namely, structural mechanics FEA and product design in the medical device field.

Before launching his consulting career, John spent 16 years at DePuy Synthes in their Joint Reconstruction Division, serving in various R&D roles including engineering technology, computational biomechanics, product development and design controls.  He applied his technical skills, especially in finite element analysis, to mentor others on their projects and to further his own product development and intellectual property efforts, most notably in hip and knee implant design.

John earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University and holds a growing IP portfolio, currently comprising 23 US patents and one trade secret. 

Jody Claypool—Technical Affairs Consultant

Jody Claypool has 20 years of experience developing products for the orthopedic medical device industry.  Four years ago, he established an independent consulting business and has supported clients’ efforts to discover and develop advanced technologies for extremities, developed implants and instruments for ankle, knee, and shoulder product lines, and was an independent reviewer for a design control process for spinal implants and instruments.  Prior to that, Jody spent 12 years at Zimmer Biomet, where he developed products and technologies for the knee and hip business units, winning an Excellence In Design (EID) Award for the innovative features he designed in the company’s flagship Persona Knee System.  Jody also held roles in product management, program management and design history file remediation.  Before that he was an engineer at Paragon Medical, where he developed case and tray products and supported the manufacturing of instrumentation.

Jody holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo and an MBA from the Indiana Institute of Technology.  He is currently an adjunct professor at Trine University where he teaches Advanced Parametric Design, Machine Component Design, Mechanics of Materials, among other classes. Jody holds more than 20 US patents.

Matthew Hall—Capital Sourcing & Business Financing

Matthew Hall joined AcceLINX in 2019 as a Capital Sourcing and Business Financing Consultant to help start-ups develop and execute their capital sourcing strategy. He brings over 12 years of relevant experience to this role, most recently through his independent consulting firm, Highland Park Partners, which he formed in 2016 to provide finance, investment and economic development consulting solutions to venture capital, private equity, non-profit and governmental clients seeking to enhance the innovation economy. 

Before initiating his consulting career, Matthew was a Vice President at The Carlyle Group where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing fund investment opportunities and leading the life sciences efforts for the firm’s AlpInvest Partners business segment.  He joined Carlyle in 2014 from BioCrossroads, where he was Director of Projects and Finance working on project development, capital formation and enterprise investment of BioCrossroads, its entities and initiatives and was a Principal of Indiana Seed Fund II where he was responsible for deal sourcing, diligence and execution of portfolio company investments. 

Prior to that he held investment banking and municipal finance positions negotiating and financing high profile economic development projects.  Matthew holds a BA in Political Science from Indiana University.

Daniel Williman—Regulatory Affairs Consultant

Daniel Williman has 15 years of experience in the medical device industry. He started his career as a product development engineer and then moved into regulatory affairs leadership roles at Zimmer and DePuy Synthes.  Daniel formed his own regulatory affairs consulting business in May 2019, with a goal of helping medical device companies bring innovative products to market and maintain regulatory compliance.

Throughout his career, Daniel has specialized in U.S. and EU regulatory strategy development and execution. He has been responsible for U.S. Pre-Submissions, U.S. 510(k) clearances, U.S. PMA Supplement approvals, a U.S. IDE approval, and various EU Design Dossier approvals and Technical Files.

Daniel’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science Degree in Bioengineering from the University of Toledo with a minor in Business Administration. He holds a Regulatory Affairs Certification from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.

About AcceLINX

AcceLINX is a multi-stage, musculoskeletal health business accelerator that provides an unmatched level of industry-specific support to select inventors and entrepreneurs looking to enhance their prospects of business success. AcceLINX leverages the unprecedented concentration of medical device industry resources in northern Indiana and the deep industry expertise and global networks of its team members to provide a unique capacity to accelerate the results of start-ups it engages with. Additional information available at www.accelinx.com.

About OrthoWorx

Formed in 2009 with initial funding from the Lilly Endowment, OrthoWorx

(www.orthoworxindiana.com) is a community-based initiative that works strategically and collaboratively with the orthopedic industry and other stakeholders to ensure that the Warsaw region continues to reap the social and economic benefits that derive from its position as The Orthopedic Capital of the World.®