Craig Bonsignore, Director of Medical Design
Craig has more than fifteen years of experience designing, analyzing, and developing implantable cardiovascular implants. He has authored numerous patents for stent designs and has been closely involved with the development of multiple peripheral vascular stents and related implants. Craig’s career began at Johnson & Johnson Interventional Systems where he supported the launch of the Palmaz Schatz coronary stent and established J&J’s first in-house stent Finite Element Analysis capabilities. At NDC, Craig works closely with clients on a variety of early stage Nitinol implant and instrument development programs. Craig received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University in 1995, and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley in 2007.
Matt Boyle, Principal Manufacturing Engineer
Matt is NDC’s Principal Manufacturing Engineer for wire and tube products. Matt first began working with Nitinol in 1986 at Beta Phase, Inc. and then picked up high-volume manufacturing experience with IBM and StorMedia Inc. Since joining NDC in 1999, Matt has reviewed thousands of customer specifications and prototype proposals. He has worked closely in a technical support role with hundreds of Nitinol rookies and veterans, helping to improve the accuracy, feasibility and manufacturability of their designs. Matt holds a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Michigan State University and a MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Tom Duerig, President and CEO
Tom has served as the President of NDC since its inception in 1991, through its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in 1997, stepping down in 2007 in order to negotiate an asset purchase back from Johnson & Johnson. While at Johnson & Johnson, he was instrumental in the development of the SMART® stent line of products, the TrapEase® filter, and several other products within the company’s Cordis division. Tom served on the Cordis management board and managed its Advanced R&D group. He also co-founded the Society of Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies, an organization that has since been acquired by the American Society of Metals. He has authored more than a hundred patents and publications in the field of shape memory alloys, as well as the fiction novel Stan’s Leap. Tom received his BS in Physics from Lehigh University, and his MS, ME and PhD in Materials Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
Bill Ng, Rapid Prototyping Services Manager
Bill created NDC’s Rapid Prototyping Services Group in 2009 after years of championing and expediting component and device design and development efforts at NDC. When Bill joined NDC in 1996 he brought a wealth of experience from other pioneers in the Nitinol medical device field. His resume includes Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (Guidant Corporation) where he brought Nitinol development in-house to successfully manufacture tube and wire, and Shape Memory Applications, Inc., where he spearheaded Technical Sales/Support and Manufacturing. Bill holds a BS in Engineering from California State University, Fresno.
Alan R. Pelton, Chief Technical Officer
As NDC’s CTO, Alan’s responsibilities include process development and component prototyping, with an emphasis on the corrosion and fatigue behavior of Nitinol. Alan has published over 100 technical papers with primary emphasis on the structure, processing, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and fatigue properties of Nitinol, and is recognized by industry leaders, academics, and the regulatory authorities as a leading expert in Nitinol. Alan co-founded the Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies Society and edited the conference proceedings in 1994, 1997, 2000, and 2003. Alan received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982, followed by an appointment of postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University and faculty positions at Iowa State University and the University of Notre Dame.
Dieter Stöckel, Co-Founder and Director
Dieter has 40 years of experience in the development and commercialization of products made from advanced materials. Before joining NDC in 1993, Dieter worked at Raychem Corp., a pioneer in Nitinol technology, and at G. RAU GmbH, Pforzheim, Germany, where he directed the development and commercialization of advanced materials, and launched the first commercial product from shape memory alloys in the European market. In 1993 Dieter initiated the formation of Euroflex GmbH, a European joint venture where he served as President from 1993 to 2007. In 1996 he represented NDC as founding partner and member of the Board of Admedes GmbH, a producer of medical implants. He is the recipient of several scientific and industrial awards, is author or co-author of more than 175 publications and five books on advanced materials, and is cited as an inventor or co-inventor on more than 50 patents. Dieter holds a MS and PhD in Physical Metallurgy from the University of Stuttgart (Max Planck Institute for Metal Science), Germany.
Christine Trépanier, Engineering Fellow
With over fifteen years of experience working with the process development, corrosion behavior and biocompatibility of Nitinol implants, Christine is recognized by the industry and by the FDA as an expert in the field of surface processing and corrosion of Nitinol. Christine chaired the group that published ASTM F2129, which outlines the procedure of conducting cyclic potentiodynamic polarization corrosion tests on small medical devices, and has published multiple papers and has presented at myriad conferences on surface processing and corrosion behavior of Nitinol. Christine joined NDC/Johnson and Johnson in 1997 to work on the process development and testing of Cordis’s SMART® stent products. Today her responsibilities include process development and biological evaluation of Nitinol medical devices including physicochemical and corrosion characterization. Christine holds a BS in Materials Engineering and a MS in Bioengineering from Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal.