Leadership Team

Led by a strong, experienced leadership team dedicated to developing and delivering leading-edge technologies for the global surgical marketplace, NDS Surgical Imaging (NDSsi) is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, USA. The company has a strong global presence in over 38 countries with sales, distribution and repair facilities in Europe and Asia.

The leadership team is comprised of industry veterans from the video signal processing technology, electronic displays, and medical devices with an average of more than fifteen years of experience.

• Dr. Fred B. Parks
  Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Fred B. Parks was appointed CEO at NDS Surgical Imaging in August 2011. Prior to joining NDSsi, Dr. Parks served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Urologix, Inc. from 2003 to 2008. Previously, Dr. Parks served as president and CEO of Marconi Medical Systems, a multi-modality supplier of medical imaging equipment and, following its acquisition by Royal Philips Electronics, led its integration into the Philips medical business. He has held positions as president, chief operating officer, and board member of St. Jude Medical, Inc., a medical device company focusing on implantable cardiovascular products, and as president, chief operating officer, and board member of EG&G, Inc. (now PerkinElmer), a diversified technology company. Dr. Parks has also served on the board of directors of Steady State Imaging, LLC, a privately held developer of specialized magnetic resonance imaging technology, since 2010.

• Katia Bejan
  Vice President, Human Resources

Ms. Katia Bejan joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2007 and is responsible for global human resources activities within the Company. She has over eighteen years of experience as a human resources professional among the medical device, manufacturing, and market research industries. Prior to NDSsi, Ms. Bejan held human resource management positions at Arthrocare Corporation, Ball Screws & Actuators Inc. (a division of Danaher Corporation), and Dataquest (now a part of Gartner). Ms. Bejan holds a BS degree in business administration with a concentration in human resources management from California State University at Stanislaus.

• Rajesh Bhakta
  Vice President, Service and Information Technology

Mr. Rajesh Bhakta joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2008. He is responsible for the Service Business Unit comprising of customer support, repair and warranty services. He also leads the Information Technology initiatives for the Company. Mr. Bhakta has over twenty years of experience as an IT and support professional and has held management and leadership roles for fifteen years. Prior to NDSsi, Mr. Bhakta held senior management positions at UPEK, Inc., a spinoff from STMicroelectronics, AlphaSmart, BuildPoint Corporation and Preview Systems, Inc. Mr. Bhakta holds a Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering and a MS in Management Information Systems from Southern Illinois University.

• Richard Brownhill
  Vice President, Operations

Mr. Richard Brownhill joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2012, and leads NDSsi’s global operations team. He has over thirty years of executive and engineering operations management expertise, with an extensive background in medical imaging and the healthcare industry. Prior to joining NDSsi, Mr. Brownhill held senior executive positions with leading technology companies, including Senior Vice President of Operations at VIASYS Healthcare, and Vice President of Operations at Marconi Medical Systems. Before this, he served as Vice President of Manufacturing at St. Jude Medical, and led several divisions of EG&G/Perkin Elmer at the President & General Manager level. Mr. Brownhill holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Newark College of Engineering, and a MS in Management from New Jersey Institute of Technology.

• Steven J. Olechny
  Vice President, Chief Legal Officer

Mr. Steven Olechny joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2010 with responsibility for all aspects of the Company’s legal requirements, including corporate governance, FDA compliance, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, trademarks, patents and litigation. Mr. Olechny is also responsible for overseeing the Human Resources functions. With over twenty years of experience, Mr. Olechny most recently served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Barriersafe Solutions International, Inc. Prior to that, he served as Deputy General Counsel at The Timberland Company, and Assistant General Counsel at United Technologies Corporation. He began his career in private practice at a major U.S. law firm. Mr. Olechny holds a BA in Economics from Vassar College, and J.D. from Cornell Law School.

• Kees Poot
  Vice President and General Manager Europe, Middle East and Africa

Mr. Kees Poot joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 1997 and helped grow the Company with successful opening and running of the Company’s European office in The Netherlands that same year. Prior to starting up NDSsi’s European operations, Mr. Poot held various International management positions with Westinghouse Building Management Systems as Division Manager and at Honeywell Europe. Mr. Poot studied Electronics at the Royal Dutch Navy and Business Management at the London Business School.

• Alex Qu
  Area Manager, Asia-Pacific

Mr. Alex Qu joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2008 to run the Company’s Asia-Pacific operations. He has over fifteen years of imaging technology expertise in the APAC region. Prior to NDSsi, Mr. Qu was Area Sales Manager at Planar Inc., Shanghai, where he was in charge of marketing and sales for the Dome product line. Before this, he held Asia-based management positions as China Sales Manager at Whitney International, and Regional Sales Manager at Kodak (China) Ltd. Mr. Qu holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Hefei University of Technology.

• Jens Ruppert
  Vice President and General Manager, Surgical Business Unit

Mr. Jens Ruppert joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2006 and oversees sales, engineering, marketing and product management for all surgical products. He has over seventeen years of professional experience in product management, sales, engineering, and research and development. Prior to his current position, Mr. Ruppert held a product management leadership role and before that, a key sales position in Europe, Middle East and Africa at NDSsi. He has extensive medical device experience and previously held roles at Kuhnke GmbH, KLS Martin Group and Maquet/Getinge. Mr. Ruppert received a degree from Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck-Schule in Germany for electronics.

• Dr. Peter M. Steven
  Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Peter Steven joined NDS Surgical Imaging in 2009. With more than twenty years of experience in medical imaging display technologies, he has significant expertise leading multi-disciplinary technical teams in a product management and development capacity. As a founding member and CTO of DOME Imaging Systems prior to its acquisition by NDSsi, Dr. Steven was instrumental in the design and development of the first diagnostic LCD displays for radiology. He also played a leading role in the development of the first auto-calibrating medical flat panel display. He has one awarded patent and a second patent pending, and has published numerous articles on medical displays and display calibration. Dr. Steven received a SB, SM & Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.