John Thero, chief financial officer at Abiomed (Danvers, Massachusetts), has resigned "to pursue a venture-backed opportunity," the company said. Abiomed's controller, Charles Haaser, will serve as acting CFO until a new CFO is named. Edward Berger, vice president for strategic planning and policy, will assume interim responsibility for investor relations. Abiomed is the developer of the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart and other heart-assist technologies.

Doug Janzen has been named chief financial officer for Cardiome Pharma (Vancouver, British Columbia). Most recently he was managing director, health sciences, and a partner at Srott Securities. Cardiome also reported the promotion of Christina Yip to vice president of finance and administration. Cardiome Pharma is a developer of cardiovascular drugs.

Robert Mattioli has been named vice president, North American sales and global electrophysiology marketing, for CryoCath Technologies (Montreal, Quebec). He previously was vice president, market development, for the U.S. sales division of St. Jude Medical. CryoCath is a developer of minimally invasive, catheter-based cryotherapy products to treat cardiovascular disease in three indications: tachyarrhythmia, ischemia and restenosis.

Mark Adams has joined EPMedsystems (West Berlin, New Jersey), a maker of electrophysiology (EP) products used to diagnose and treat certain types of cardiac rhythm disorders, as vice president sales & marketing. He has more than 21 years of successful sales and marketing experience in the EP and cardiovascular device industry, with specific skills centered on diagnostic and therapeutic EP products, and on ultrasound products. He most recently was with Irvine Biomedical. EPMedSystems recently announced a new organizational structure focusing on the EP-WorkMate electrophysiology system, the Alert internal cardioversion platform and the ViewMate intercardiac ultrasound catheter system.

Don MacDonald, senior vice president and CFO of Forbes Medi-Tech (Vancouver, British Columbia), has accepted an executive position in the mining industry, effective in mid-January. Patricia Pracher, controller, will serve as acting CFO. MacDonald had more than 20 years' experience in the mining industry before joining Forbes, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of pharmaceuticals and nutraceutical products for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and related diseases.

Robert (Al) Beardsley, PhD, has been named president and chief executive officer of Kereos (St. Louis, Missouri) and will join the company's board of directors. He was a co-founder and is a managing member of Simile Investors, a private equity partnership focused on biotechnology investments. Prior to joining Kereos, he was acting CEO of MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals. Kereos is developing therapeutics and imaging agents based on its nanoparticle technology that seeks out molecular markers specific for various diseases to permit more effective diagnosis and targeted treatment of a broad range of disorders. Its initial clinical focus is on cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Spectranetics (Colorado Springs, Colorado) has named John Schulte president and CEO, assuming the duties previously being fulfilled on an interim basis by Emile Geisenheimer, the company's board chairman. Schulte has been a member of the Spectranetics board of directors since 1996. In addition, Bruce Ross has been promoted to executive vice president of customer and product programs and Guy Childs has been named vice president and chief financial officer. In citing Schulte's extensive background with medical device companies and his lengthy service on the company's board, Geisenheimer said the board "has not only achieved the goal of attracting an 'A' player to Spectranetics' CEO position, but has also achieved the goal of maximizing continuity of direction and assuring as seamless a transition as possible." Schulte joins Spectranetics from Consensus Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company where he was a director and CEO. Consensus expects to sign a definitive merger agreement with a biopharmaceutical company and Schulte was to oversee the transition as he assumed his new management responsibilities with Spectranetics. Previously, he was president and CEO of Somnus Medical from January 1999 until its acquisition by the Gyrus Group in July 2001, and earlier served as president of Genzyme Surgical Products, as well as holding senior management positions with Target president of sales, service and marketing. He had served as acting chief operating officer since last June. Prior to Spectranetics, Ross served in various senior management positions at Picker International. Childs joined Spectranetics in September 1991 and has held various accounting and financial management positions, including director of finance. Spectranetics manufactures single-use medical devices used in minimally invasive surgical procedures within the cardiovascular system in conjunction with its CVX-300 excimer laser system, which it said is the only system approved by the FDA for multiple cardiovascular procedures, including coronary atherectomy, the treatment of in-stent restenosis prior to radiation therapy and the removal of problematic pacemaker and defibrillator leads. The company is conducting two trials designed to obtain FDA approval for additional applications.