Management Team

Experienced Leadership

Ivan Trifunovich, Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Ivan Trifunovich, Ph.D., is an established leader in the healthcare and life science industries, where he has held a number of executive positions and served as a strategic consultant to global multi-national companies. He was the Executive Chairman of Helicos Biosciences from October 2010 until September 2012.  Previously, Dr. Trifunovich served as the Senior Vice President of Third Wave Technologies, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company, from December 2001 through August 2008. Prior to joining Third Wave Technologies, Inc., Dr. Trifunovich held successive positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing and R&D with large pharmaceutical companies. During his tenure in large pharma, he was the named inventor on multiple patents related to the semi-synthesis of TAXOL(R). Dr. Trifunovich received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at UCLA and an M.B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

John Harland

Chief Financial Officer

John Harland joined WaferGen in June 2011 and was promoted to Interim Chief Financial Officer in March 2012. He brings 29 years of experience in senior financial roles at high technology companies, including serving as the CFO at Alliance Fiber Optic Products, Inc., Neurobiological Technologies, Inc., Cardiovascular Imaging Systems, Inc. and Circadian, Inc., all of which he took public.
Immediately prior to joining WaferGen, Mr. Harland served as a financial consultant to emerging growth companies. From October 2008 to April 2010, he served as Vice President, Finance and Administration for Trinity Biosystems, Inc., and from June 2006 to October 2008, Mr. Harland served as Chief Financial Officer for Light Dimensions, Inc. Mr. Harland began his career as an auditor at Arthur Young & Company where he gained his FCA and CPA. Mr. Harland holds an MA in Business Studies and Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, and an MBA in Taxation and Finance from Golden Gate University.

Syed Husain

Senior Vice President, Engineering

Syed joined WaferGen in October 2009 with more than 20 years of experience in leading engineering teams and developing successful products and product lines in the life sciences and semiconductor industries. As vice president of engineering he is responsible for the engineering and development of the SmartChip System, and for overseeing the transfer of manufacturing of the instrument and chip products.

Prior to joining WaferGen, Syed was vice president of engineering at Microfluidic System Inc. where he was responsible for the development and manufacturing of instruments for the Biowatch program for homeland security. Previously, he was at Caliper Life sciences for eight years, where he successfully led the development of the Caliper 250 HTS system that integrated microfluidics chip, optical detection and robotics; the LC 3000; and Lab Chip GX, Desk Top Profiler – products that are recognized as leading microfluidics systems for life science research. He also has experience developing single wafer products, which he achieved while at Alcatel Comptech. His engineering and development experience spans from micro fluidics instrumentation, PCR, sample preparation, chip and chip products.

Syed is a co-inventor/inventor on 9 U.S. patents, and has a BS in Chemical engineering from Texas A&M University, Texas.

Jude Dunne, Ph.D.

Vice President, Product Development

Jude Dunne, Ph.D., joined WaferGen in July 2010 and has over 16 years of experience in product development spanning multiple roles and industries. In his role as Vice President, Jude has expanded responsibility in overseeing the integration of new assays and applications on the WaferGen Platform as well as continuing to oversee process development and consumables manufacturing operations.

Prior to joining WaferGen, Jude has held positions with Microfluidic Systems and Caliper Life Sciences with responsibility in product development, project management, system integration, validation and product support as well as transfer to production of assays and products into next generation life sciences devices.

Jude holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and is named on several US patents.

Michael Vishnevetsky, Ph.D.

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Michael Vishnevetsky, Ph.D., joined WaferGen in March 2013 and has over 12 years of experience in sales, marketing and corporate strategy. As Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Michael leads all sales and marketing activities and is responsible for extending WaferGen brand into the field of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Prior to joining WaferGen, Michael has held positions with PerkinElmer, Life Technologies and  NuGEN leading sales, marketing and technical support teams.

Michael earned a B.Sc. in Genetics from Agricultural University of Leningrad, holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has completed his Posdoctorate at California Institute of Technology.