Akonni Biosystems Leadership

Dr. Daitch is the Founder of Akonni and has served as the CEO and Board member since its inception in 2003. He has 26 years of product development experience in integrated biosensors encompassing a broad range of disciplines including chemistry, biology, biomaterials, engineering, and chemical/biological defense. He manages and leads multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers focused on the development of next-generation in-vitro diagnostic devices. Dr. Daitch has experience in developing a wide variety of sensor system products for remote autonomous or point-of-use detection of complex samples employing miniaturized analyte purification, and specialty biomaterials interfaced with microfabricated detection components coupled to a variety signal transduction modalities. He brings strong product development and R&D experience from the NIH/FDA, USDA, Sandia National Labs and the Intelligence Community. In addition, he has commercial senior management experience (P&L responsibility) from PSR/Veridian, CUBRC, HandyLab, and Akonni. Dr. Daitch was recruited by HandyLab Inc., a microfluidics diagnostic company, to serve on the executive management team as Vice President of R&D. Prior, Dr. Daitch launched a biodefense product development facility and business unit for PSR/Veridian Corp., a premier DOD/IC contractor, and led the growth of the operation to 24 employees and >$5M in annual revenue. As the CEO of Akonni he is responsible for 1) setting and executing strategic direction, 2) product management, 3) leading equity financing rounds (>$30M to date), managing capital, financial audits, 4) corporate governance, shareholder relations, 5) leading business development, strategic partnerships, 6) recruiting, mentoring, listening and learning from our exceptional staff, and 7) setting the company’s culture. He has 5 U.S. patents, 24 publications and served as principle investigator on over $20 million in government grants and contracts.

Lawrence Firestone joined Akonni as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in April of 2018. Mr. Firestone draws on over 35 years of executive management experience in both public and private technology companies as a C-level executive. Most recently, since February 2014, Mr. Firestone was the Chief Executive Officer and President, and is now the Chairman of FirePower Technology, Inc. a provider of power supplies to the high-performance computing market. Prior to FirePower Technology, from June 2012 to July 2013, Mr. Firestone was Chief Executive Officer and President of Qualstar Corporation, a provider of power supplies for high performance computing, instrumentation and tape libraries – markets where large amounts of electronic data are stored and maintained. From February 2011 to May 2012, Mr. Firestone served as Chief Financial Officer of X-IO Technology Corporation, a supplier of enterprise storage systems. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Firestone was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., a provider of power conversion devices for the semi-conductor and solar inverter markets. From 1999 until 2006, Mr. Firestone served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Applied Films Corporation, a supplier of thin film deposition equipment. Prior to joining Applied Films, from 1996 to 1999, Mr. Firestone served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Avalanche Industries, a contract manufacturer of custom cables and harnesses. Prior to joining Avalanche Industries, Mr. Firestone held executive management positions at Woolson Spice and Coffee Company, Honolulu, HI, TechniStar Corporation, Longmont, CO and Colorado Manufacturing Technology, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. Mr. Firestone’s public company board experience includes CVD Equipment (Symbol: CVV), Qualstar Corporation (Symbol: QBAK), Amtech Systems, Inc. (Symbol: ASYS) and Hyperspace Communications, Inc. (Symbol: HCO). Mr. Firestone received a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Slippery Rock University.

Dr. Daitch is the Founder of Akonni and has served as the CEO and Board member since its inception in 2003. He has 26 years of product development experience in integrated biosensors encompassing a broad range of disciplines including chemistry, biology, biomaterials, engineering, and chemical/biological defense. He manages and leads multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers focused on the development of next-generation in-vitro diagnostic devices. Dr. Daitch has experience in developing a wide variety of sensor system products for remote autonomous or point-of-use detection of complex samples employing miniaturized analyte purification, and specialty biomaterials interfaced with microfabricated detection components coupled to a variety signal transduction modalities. He brings strong product development and R&D experience from the NIH/FDA, USDA, Sandia National Labs and the Intelligence Community. In addition, he has commercial senior management experience (P&L responsibility) from PSR/Veridian, CUBRC, HandyLab, and Akonni. Dr. Daitch was recruited by HandyLab Inc., a microfluidics diagnostic company, to serve on the executive management team as Vice President of R&D. Prior, Dr. Daitch launched a biodefense product development facility and business unit for PSR/Veridian Corp., a premier DOD/IC contractor, and led the growth of the operation to 24 employees and >$5M in annual revenue. As the CEO of Akonni he is responsible for 1) setting and executing strategic direction, 2) product management, 3) leading equity financing rounds (>$30M to date), managing capital, financial audits, 4) corporate governance, shareholder relations, 5) leading business development, strategic partnerships, 6) recruiting, mentoring, listening and learning from our exceptional staff, and 7) setting the company’s culture. He has 5 U.S. patents, 24 publications and served as principle investigator on over $20 million in government grants and contracts.

Dr. Daitch is the Founder of Akonni and has served as the CEO and Board member since its inception in 2003. He has 26 years of product development experience in integrated biosensors encompassing a broad range of disciplines including chemistry, biology, biomaterials, engineering, and chemical/biological defense. He manages and leads multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers focused on the development of next-generation in-vitro diagnostic devices. Dr. Daitch has experience in developing a wide variety of sensor system products for remote autonomous or point-of-use detection of complex samples employing miniaturized analyte purification, and specialty biomaterials interfaced with microfabricated detection components coupled to a variety signal transduction modalities. He brings strong product development and R&D experience from the NIH/FDA, USDA, Sandia National Labs and the Intelligence Community. In addition, he has commercial senior management experience (P&L responsibility) from PSR/Veridian, CUBRC, HandyLab, and Akonni. Dr. Daitch was recruited by HandyLab Inc., a microfluidics diagnostic company, to serve on the executive management team as Vice President of R&D. Prior, Dr. Daitch launched a biodefense product development facility and business unit for PSR/Veridian Corp., a premier DOD/IC contractor, and led the growth of the operation to 24 employees and >$5M in annual revenue. As the CEO of Akonni he is responsible for 1) setting and executing strategic direction, 2) product management, 3) leading equity financing rounds (>$30M to date), managing capital, financial audits, 4) corporate governance, shareholder relations, 5) leading business development, strategic partnerships, 6) recruiting, mentoring, listening and learning from our exceptional staff, and 7) setting the company’s culture. He has 5 U.S. patents, 24 publications and served as principle investigator on over $20 million in government grants and contracts.