Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement™ (LIVE™)

President and Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

William R. Abbott has served as our Chief Financial Officer since July 2019. Mr. Abbott has more than thirty years of experience in multi-industry international companies. Prior to joining us, Mr. Abbott was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary of Hancock Jaffe Laboratories, Inc. from 2016 to 2018; where he successfully took the company through an IPO and listing on NASDAQ.  Mr. Abbott was also the Interim President from July 2016 to September 2017. Mr. Abbott served as Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller and later as Interim Chief Financial Officer of Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. From 2011 to 2014, he was an independent consultant providing accounting and advisory services. From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Abbott served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer for Cardiogenesis Corporation; where he led a successful sale of the company to CryoLife. From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Abbott served in financial management positions at Newport Corporation, including as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer from 2001 to 2005 and Vice President and Corporate Controller from 1997 to 2001; where he was responsible for 8 aggregate acquisitions for $700M. Prior to that, Mr. Abbott served as Vice President and Corporate Controller of Amcor Sunclipse North America, Director of Financial Planning at Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. and Controller of McKesson Water Products Company. Mr. Abbott also spent six years in management positions at PepsiCo, Inc. after beginning his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.

Mr. Abbott has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Fairfield University and a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University. 

Vice President of Medical Affairs

Dr. Annest is a co-founder of BioVentrix, where he helped to design, create and develop the company’s innovative devices, surgical applications and related patents. As Vice President of Medical Affairs, Dr. Annest assembled a medical advisory board with world-renowned experts in the field of surgery for congestive heart failure. He is also focused on current and future generations of product design and development at BioVentrix, where he works closely with surgeons to perfect surgical techniques necessary to perform Less Invasive Ventricular Enhancement™ (LIVE™) procedures. He has personally participated in all human cases of the BioVentrix first-generation surgical product in Europe, now having transferred the skills to numerous other surgeons. Having become a pioneer in cardiovascular surgical improvements, Dr. Annest was a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon in Tacoma, Washington, for 20 years, but has recently become fully engaged in the development of medical device technology.

Dr. Annest received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and his MBA, with an emphasis on Medical Devices and Disruptive Technologies, from the University of Washington. He has been Board Certified in both General and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and he has numerous peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Annest holds 25 issued or published patents.

Vice President of U.S. Sales

Mr. Wolff brings over 20 years of experience in sales, strategy, clinical training, and business development in medical device companies specializing in cardiac devices. Most recently, he served as the Senior National Director of Sales for the Medtronic Inc. (MDT) Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS) business, where he successfully led commercialization efforts for the HeartWare™ HVAD™ System in the U.S. Prior to Medtronic’s $1.1 billion acquisition of the company in 2016, he served in senior sales positions for HeartWare International, Inc. (HTWR) for four years, where he achieved significant revenue growth that was instrumental to the deal.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports management from Colorado State University.

Vice President of EMEA

Mr. Marques joined BioVentrix in September 2019 as the vice president of sales in Europe, bringing over 20 years of experience in the cardiovascular device marketplace. Mr. Marques’ experience focusing on clinician relationships and global patient access to cardiology devices will provide vital support to continuing to develop the European market. Prior to joining BioVentrix, Mr. Marques was the vice president of international sales for HeartWare Inc. and led the field organization to develop overall business strategies focused on revenue growth and financial performance, which ultimately led to a $1.1 billion acquisition by Medtronic in 2016. As vice president for Medtronic’s mechanical circulatory support (MCS) system, he delivered the overall sales and marketing strategies to accelerate and expand adoption in the marketplace.

Vice President of Quality, Regulatory Affairs, and Clinical Affairs

Mr. Messenger joined BioVentrix in 2012 from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Guided Delivery Systems. He has served as Vice President for Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance for the percutaneous heart valve repair company since 2007. Prior to Guided Delivery Systems, Mr. Messenger was Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance at TriVascular from 2003 to 2007. The aortic and thoracic aneurysm repair company was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2005. Mr. Messenger’s experience includes obtaining approvals to initiate CE-mark clinical trials in Europe, Canada, and South America for unique heart valve technology. In addition, Mr. Messenger has managed a pilot clinical study in Germany and managed the successful completion of two FDA 510(k)’s for clearance of diagnostic catheters, and gained approval for the first endovascular aneurysm repair system in the United States.

He received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.