CEOCFO Magazine covers Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc., Amytrx Therapeutics, Inc., Qorval Partners, LLC, SB Financial Group
CEOCFO interviews CEOs from Onsite Utility Services Capital, LLC, De Lune Corp, Cleanbox Technology, Green Point Research, QuSpin, Inc.
Plantation, FL / November 20, 2020 / CEOCFO Magazine, an independent business and investor publication that highlights important technologies and companies, today announced an interview with Karl Pinto, CEO of Goodwin Biotechnology, Inc., a Plantation, FL -based, a Biological Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO).
“The biopharmaceutical industry is making great strides towards responding, not only to the pandemic that we have recently seen, but to improving itself for the longer-term benefit of human kind. Goodwin Biotechnology is fortunate to be at the cutting edge of that as a company, because we get to work with products that are very nascent in their life cycle, the development stage. Being able to do our job better and faster and more efficiently promises to have a very positive impact towards healthcare into the future.” Asked by CEOCFO’s Senior Editor Lynn Fosse what Goodwin Biotechnology has done for continued growth during the Covid pandemic Mr. Pinto said, “Even in the midst of Covid-19, the challenges related to employee safety, operational continuity and other business uncertainties, we have shown a steady increase in our revenue in the first three quarters of this year. We have added to our employee base compared to a year ago. We have made quite a number of changes and upgrades to our facility. That still continues with the inclusion of a new Fill/Finish suite and fully automated machine. We are in the process of expanding our capacity. We are deploying more strategic, fundamental, longer term-oriented investments in a big way, objectively speaking.” said Mr. Bergevin during the interview.
Asked if they are ready to prioritize any project aimed at addressing the Corona virus pandemic Mr. Pinto told us, “That is a very good question. I think that everyone, the world frankly, in the last five or six months, has become far more knowledgeable about our space, the biopharmaceutical industry. That’s because this pandemic has led to far more recognition and concern relating to the progress and issues around therapeutics and vaccines than there ever was before. This also puts our industry under a sort of a spotlight, because we are the ones who are contributing towards and have a very real responsibility around these very important solutions. It is often said that things will return back to normal only after we get a vaccine and/or a therapeutic against Covid-19!”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/goodwinbiotechnology20.html)
CEOCFO Magazine spoke with Advancing the Next Generation of Inflammation-Targeting Therapies, Amytrx Therapeutics, Inc. Founder, President and CEO, Dr. Matthew A Gonda, Ph.D. told CEOCFO Magazine about their AMTX-100 technology and how they are delivering a first-in-class biologically active molecule to treat chronic diseases mediated by inflammation. Dr. Gonda, shared with Lynn, “Amytrx’s inflammation-targeting technology is an entirely new therapeutic approach with immense potential to yield safer and more effective therapies for a large array of unmet medical needs… Our peptide technology is breakthrough in that this will be the first time a biological molecule is able to penetrate the skin and treat disease. This is not only true for inflammatory skin conditions like atopic dermatitis but for a whole host of other chronic inflammatory diseases for which AMTX-100 could be specifically formulated to deliver superior treatment.”
Telling Lynn about the targets for their technology and where they are today, Dr. Gonda said, “We have produced enough GMP drug to enable executing on our FDA approved Phase 1/2b clinical protocol and raised enough capital to support our commercialization plans over the next year or two. There are a large number of diseases caused by inflammation that still represent unmet medical needs. Inflammation causes or is associated with 80% of all diseases worldwide. We wanted to select a disease which represented an unmet medical need and where we could see the results quickly with our new therapeutic. So skin was our target. Of course, there are many skin diseases caused by inflammation, including psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, which is also known as eczema, rosacea, acne, herpes infections and shingles. I said, ‘Let’s target a significant disease of skin with AMTX-100 where we could have safety results and obtain insight into its biological activity to determine if there was sufficient data to move the drug forward.’ We chose atopic dermatitis, developed proof-of-concept in an animal model, safety testing studies and a clinical protocol for a topically applied drug to accelerate drug development and submitted it to get regulatory approval from the FDA. The type of protocol we developed is called an adaptive Phase I/IIb, which means we could accelerate the clinical process, simply because we do not have to go back to the FDA with a Phase II after the Phase I protocol for approval. We started our Phase I clinical trial in March of 2020 and have completed two out of five cohorts and have enrolled several patients in the third cohort. The results thus far are very encouraging. Completing the Phase I is a priority. That is basically where we stand today.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/amytrxtherapeutics20.html)
Florida-based Management Advisory Firm Qorval Partners, LLC, CEO and Senior Managing Partner, Paul Fioravanti, MBA, MPA, discusses taking businesses out of the red and putting them back into the black with CEOCFO Magazine. Mr. Fioravanti, told Lynn, “Over the years I’ve been a fierce networker and I’ve never approached network to ‘get something,’ but rather to give something. At Qorval we’ve always worked hard to help people when they are struggling or, for example, when their bank is pressuring them, or they’ve found themselves out of work, and we’ve always made it a priority to pay it forward up front, with no expectation of anything in return. I think most professionals in my craft and all of the ones in Qorval are those kinds of individuals. Life isn’t easy, and business isn’t either – so it seems logical that we should all support each other, be communicative, respectful, and encouraging. Our job at Qorval is to help people, to drive results. We provide clients access to leadership, expertise and experience they need in order to improve and transform their companies. Often if we can’t help them, depending on their unique challenge or need, odds are we can refer them to someone who can. Our network is immense, and it’s gotten that way by treating people with respect, compassion, and care.”
“Qorval is a boutique consulting firm where we work with a variety of businesses, from smaller entrepreneurial companies to middle-market, publicly held, and private equity-owned businesses, across a mix of industries. We provide a range of services, from turnaround and restructuring services, to financial and operational improvement, transaction advisory, due diligence support for acquisition, divestiture, and post-merger integration. We also frequently serve as Chief Restructuring Officer, trustee and expert witnesses weighing in on various matters related to early, mid and late stage businesses. Qorval works in healthy growth situations as well as distressed ones. We advise on a variety of challenging situations that businesses find themselves in, or are about to find themselves in. We often describe our approach to our tactical assignments as “red2black,” meaning taking businesses out of the red and putting bringing them back into the black. We often say, as compared with larger firms we compete with, our emphasis is on generating results, not generating reports. For businesses in crisis, time isn’t their friend, and high impact execution, not theoretical strategy, is what matters,” said Mr. Fioravanti
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/qorvalpartners20.html)
Onsite Utility Services Capital, LLC, Founder and CEO, Fritz Kreiss tells CEOCFO Magazine’s Lynn Fosse how that are changing the energy efficiency industry from CapEx to energy Savings-as-a-Service model. Mr. Kreiss said, “We need to get organizations to look at it more from a, ‘How do I use my core capital and is this the best use of my core capital.”
Explaining how they have reinvented energy efficiency, Mr. Kreiss said, “Traditionally, the energy efficiency upgrades for customers have been sold on a return on investment or a fast-simple payback. The problem with that whole direction and path is that your energy project is now competing with their core use of their capital. That is why, typically, the energy efficiency contractors sell one out of four, even though the return on investment looks great. However, that business owner has limited capital and is always looking at what happens if there is a business opportunity to be able to grow the company.
He continues, “In our case, we just looked at it and said, ‘We have got to be just like the utilities.’ The utility borrows the money, they build a power plant of whatever energy project is going on, they maintain it, they service it, they earn a return on investment and they charge a monthly service fee to the customer. We just happen to offer onsite utilities. Therefore, we are deploying equipment onsite at the customer’s site. They do not have to buy equipment; they do not take on debts. We own, operate and manage the equipment, taking care of all the service work and we agree to provide them with energy savings, so their monthly service fee is going to be less than what they currently spend for generating their own lumens, for light and BTUs for heating and cooling.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/onsiteutilityservicescapital20.html)
CEOCFO Magazine spoke with De Lune Corp President, Gaddafi Ismail about making its mark in the Federal contracting sphere. Mr. Ismail, told Lynn, “In order to succeed one has to concentrate on what they are doing and do it well and I need to make sure this is practiced in each of the sectors that we work in.”
As to the vision at De Lune Corp today, Mr. Ismail said, “De Lune Corp was incorporated in 2016 with the mission of connecting North American producers to global markets through supply chain efficiency and customized logistics. Building on the success of its international operations, De Lune ventured into the field of government contracting for international food aid and domestic food assistance programs in 2018. As a contractor to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), we have been able to secure over USD 20 million in contracts to date. Most recently, we were selected to implement the Farmers to Families Food Box Assistance Program as part of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, the only company in Virginia to be awarded this contract. Being selected from a pool of 600 nation-wide applicants is a major achievement for a small business. Currently, we have diversified into health, energy and IT. So the vision at De Lune Corp today is to translate the same success it has had in its agro operations to the other verticals that it is engaged in.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/delunecorp20.html)
SB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SBFG) and State Bank President and Chairman, President and CEO Mark A. Klein, told CEOCFO Editorial Executive, Bud Wayne, “You can have a great plan but it is all about who is going to out-think, out-work the competition and I think that is one of our competitive advantages; we have people with great values who are willing to do whatever it takes to survive and thrive.”
As to what sets State Bank apart and why shareholders and potential investors should have confidence, Mr. Klein said, “I think community banking is the backbone of any community. Without a bank in a community, a community tends to die on the vine. We have developed some great initiatives in an attempt to remain relevant; one example is our State Bank’s GIVES Program, “Gathering Individuals to Volunteer, Empower and Serve.” We bought a 28 ft. food truck and we now go to every one of our communities to sponsor events, raise money and do things that are important for the community and to our staff. These philanthropic events are important to our staff and we give back to each of our communities.” He continued, “Why would somebody have confidence in State Bank? We have a vision of high-performance and we are willing to do whatever it takes to deliver it. We have some great people who are buying into our vision of high-performance and we think we have great, diverse business lines. In addition, we are in some very stable rural communities that are now in vogue given the fact that some of our more metropolitan areas have had some challenges. We also have very good clients who are very loyal.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/statebank20.html)
Providing a suite of UVC hygiene products, Cleanbox Technology CEO and Co-Founder, Amy Hedrick told Lynn, “We were here before COVID and we will be here after COVID. We are constantly innovating and integrating new technology and functionality.”
Asked what is available today, Ms. Hedrick said, “We currently have several products and three product lines on the market that decontaminate a range of devices from HMDs to tablets and phones, and a product for masks. For example, an organization has employees that wear masks in front of their customers, which is pretty much every company in the US, instead of disposing masks you can reuse them and this product has been tested specifically against COVID on N-95 masks.” Explaining their product’s ease of use, “It is a simple process; sixty seconds. You open the door, you place the item in, close the door, push the button and it goes through a process of both decontaminating and drying the headset. If there is sweat or other kinds of moisture from something else, it will continue to dry that over the sixty seconds, or if there is hair or something that has stuck to that product it will blow it off. There is also a visual countdown for the cycle. It is very, very simple.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/cleanboxtechnology20.html)
Green Point Research tells CEOCFO readers how they will grows into 2020 with robust hemp farming services, creating value for partners and fulfilling market needs for seed to sale agricultural supply chain scale. CEO David Hasenauer told Lynn, “Green Point Research’s strong value chain throughout several different agricultural seed stocks is expected to provide both live and manufacturing opportunities as we adapt to a post COVID world. With our unified long-term commitment to quality and support of farmers, we’re excited about the impact we’re collectively making now and in the future. The carbon capture ability of the hemp plant and its robust natural nature makes it a very logical solution to a lot of issues in agricultural and manufacturing supply chains. With this strong framework, talented team, and the power of this amazing plant, the future is bright for Green Point Research in 2020 and beyond”
Asked what is happening today at Green Point Research, Mr. Hasenauer said, “We have a seed production greenhouse in Colorado on the Western Slope at a place call Montrose, Delta County. We start by producing our own genetics in house. We do seed production there. Then we have tailored our activity for tropical and subtropical climates, which is why we are located in Florida, and we have developed our strains and genetic varietals to form in those regions. We have a thirty-acre nursery campus here in Fort Meade, Florida, that has significant greenhouse and shade house space, where we take our seeds from Colorado. We then seed, flat and start the plants that we deliver to farmers. We deliver rooted seed starts to farmers that will be transplanted in the fields. We have three pilot farms in Florida; North, Central and South Florida, Boynton Beach, Fort Meade, and Jasper, respectively. We are growing on each of those sites in conjunction with Florida State University, doing the research on the market viability, and it is conjoined with human clinical trials on a proprietary CBD based soft gel that we are comparing against ibuprofen. We have a clinical drug known as Satividol that we are working to bring to market.”
He continued, “The final piece of that is that we have expanded internationally into Colombia, so we have licensure to import/export road produced seeds in Colombia and should have our full-on cultivation permit here soon, as well as extraction and oil processing. We have gotten to attract some great partners down there, so day-to-day, we are continuing to develop that supply chain where we have high throughput drawing capacity to help farmers dry their product and get in an identity-preserved state for developing additional extraction capacity and expanding into fiber and grain markets outside of just cannabinoids. We are expanding our footprint internationally to serve in Latin America and the European Union out of Columbia. Therefore, we have got a lot going on. It has been a pretty explosive growth over the last eighteen months for us, and we are very excited about what we are doing. We are doing good work, so it is a good day at Green Point every day.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/greenpointresearch20.html)
Interviewing QuSpin, Inc. CEO, Vishal Shah, CEOCFO features the latest in Optical Atomic Magnetometers with the potential to fundamentally advance neuroscience and neuroimaging with real-time visualization. Mr. Shepherd tells Bud, “We pride ourselves on being able to merge science and engineering really well to build practical products that can make a massive real-world impact - something that has traditionally proven to be quite difficult.”
As to their magnetometers and how they can be used in brain imaging, Mr. Shah responded, “What connects magnetometers and brain imaging is the following. Whenever there is an electrical current that runs through a wire, a magnetic field is produced. The human brain is filled will neurons and the neuron communicate with each other using electrical currents. The currents produced by neurons generate magnetic fields. This magnetic field propagates through the brain tissue and the skull and can be measured outside the head using a super sensitive magnetometer.” He continues, “The magnetic fields produced by the human brain are really tiny, about 10 billion times smaller than the earth’s field. This is why we need highly sensitive magnetometers.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/quspin20.html)
Securing information transactions just as seamlessly as major credit card providers secures financial transactions, i2Chain, Inc. Co-Founder & CEO, Ajay Jotwani, tells CEOCFO, ““Now, the “aha moment” comes in because, in the new normal era, we help enterprises attain their dual goals of security and privacy, which means that enterprises can be both performing as well as become trusted partners for their consumers and ecosystem.”
Discussing how they accomplish this, Mr. Jotwani said, “We are a deep engineering startup at the confluence of cybersecurity, immutable ledgers, and heuristics. Our ‘how’ is split into two factors. One is that from an engineering perspective, we superglue cryptography to an information artifact in a way that security travels with that information artifact throughout its lifecycle. The second part is from a standpoint of usability, which is equally and perhaps more important - the users are able to consume the ‘Chained’ information or secured information easily and intuitively.” He continues, “Looking at these two big factors, we broke up this challenge in three vectors. The first is encryption-decryption, which means that at any point of time, whether it is at rest or in motion, the information remains encrypted, and hence tamper-proof, hack-proof, and secure. The second vector is rights management or loss prevention. Our rights management is light-weight and non-intrusive giving enterprises a unique capability to set rights at the enterprise level that automatically are enforced with employees, contractors, remote workers, partners, and the entire ecosystem - again imagine security traveling with the document both within and outside the networks. And the third vector is traceability, which establishes chain-of-custody to enable enterprises to harvest evidence quality forensics in real-time.”
(https://www.ceocfointerviews.com/i2chain20.html)
About CEOCFO Magazine:
CEOCFO Magazine, is an independent business news and investment publication that highlights important technology, products, services, medical, natural health clean-tech and financial companies. Publishing since September 1999, CEOCFO brings interviews with CEOs and other top executives in their own words and thoughts to our worldwide readership. In a CEOCFO interview you will find salient insights into product discovery, development, go to market strategy, customer and partnership acquisition and retention.
For more information or to schedule an interview:
Lynn Fosse
Senior Editor
CEOCFO Magazine
352-431-3400
lf@ceocfomail.com
