Understanding your mission, creating solutions,
and enabling your vision.
As leaders in a broad range of commercial disciplines, the first priority of the seasoned NuGEN management team is to help you achieve your scientific vision. We strive to understand your mission, define a roadmap for solving your challenges, build enabling solutions, and create an environment for collaboration and partnership.
Elizabeth A. Hutt, M.S.
Ms. Elizabeth Hutt brings years of leadership experience in diversified sales, marketing, business development, technical support, and a strong track record of achieving significant sales and market share growth. Her forward looking vision enables NuGEN to build global market share for our expanding Ovation® System product line, and enhances the Company's commitment to providing world-class customer care. Ms. Hutt joined NuGEN in 2004 as VP of Commercial Operations to establish NuGEN in the marketplace. In 2005, she became CEO. Prior to joining NuGEN, she was VP of Sales and Service, North America and Pacific Rim for Tripos, Inc.. She has also held U.S. and European management positions with Affymetrix Inc., and spent nearly a decade in sales, marketing and channel management at Life Technologies, Inc. (now Invitrogen). Prior to the transition to her commercial career, she was a research associate at the University of Michigan. Ms. Hutt received her M.S. in Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a B.A. in Chemistry from Michigan State University.
Nurith Kurn, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, Co-founder
Dr. Kurn is the primary inventor of the NuGEN portfolio of technologies. She was formerly Research Director for Dade-Behring Diagnostics as well as The Syva Company where she directed research in nucleic acid technologies, novel disease markers, assay detection technologies, and novel instrumentation systems. Dr. Kurn has extensive experience in nucleic acid amplification technologies and immunodiagnostics, along with numerous scientific publications and issued patents in the field of nucleic acid amplification and detection.
Douglas A. Amorese, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and Development
Overseeing NuGEN research and development activities, Dr. Amorese is an accomplished leader in the development and commercialization of complex systems for nucleic acid analysis. His experience in genomics and microarray technologies has placed him at the forefront of new product development, including array content and design, fabrication and processing, automation, image acquisition, data analysis, and QC. Prior to NuGEN, Amorese led the R&D organization for Agilent’s Genomics business, responsible for strategic planning to define microarray-based product opportunities, setting direction to meet customer needs, and championing Agilent’s probe validation projects. He has also held positions of increasing responsibility with DuPont and Life Technologies. Amorese earned a PhD in biochemistry at Colorado State University, and served post-doctoral fellowships at the Salk Institute and at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
Garry Miyada, Ph.D.
Vice President, Product Development
Dr. Miyada's experience in the gene expression arena spans more than 19 years of product and assay development. Prior to joining NuGEN he spent 14 years with Affymetrix, Inc., where he held several positions of increasing responsibility. He most recently served as Senior Director, Expression Product Development, and led the development and launch of all commercial expression arrays and reagents between 2003 and 2006. Prior to Affymetrix, Dr. Miyada spent five years as a Research Scientist at the Syva Company. Dr. Miyada was a post-doctoral fellow at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Sue D. Pandey, Ph.D., MBA
Vice President, Commercial Operations
Dr. Pandey leads NuGEN’s customer-facing activities, including marketing, sales, support and service. She has led sales and service teams in the Life Sciences for the past 20 years. Most recently, Dr. Pandey was the Global Head of Sales for the CodeLink™ business unit of GE Healthcare where she built and staffed the worldwide sales organization from its inception at Motorola. Prior to CodeLink, Dr. Pandey spent 12 years in field management at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent Technologies in the Chemical Analysis and Life Sciences group. Her first position in sales was at Zymark, following a position with Exploratory Research at Chevron, where she wrote several patents for novel, high-yield reforming catalysts. Dr. Pandey earned her Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from U.C. Irvine, and holds an MBA degree from Pepperdine University.
Yan Zhang, Ph.D.
Vice President, Marketing
Dr. Zhang brings to NuGEN years of commercial experience and a strong technical background in the life science industry. Most recently, she served as Director of Product Marketing at Affymetrix, responsible for product management and marketing activities of gene expression microarrays and reagents. During Dr. Zhang’s tenure at Affymetrix, her in-depth understanding of genomics, dedication to addressing customer needs, and her strong technology background helped her contribute significantly to furthering scientist’s quests to understand complex diseases. Prior to Affymetrix, Dr. Zhang held product management and applications positions at Molecular Devices and as a scientist at Hyseq, Inc. Dr. Zhang received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Beijing University, her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Medical College of Wisconsin followed by postdoctoral fellowships at UC Berkeley and the University of Southern California.
Dan Benetz
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Benetz oversees all financial aspects of the company, as well as, gives guidance to senior leadership. He brings years of diverse business experience as a senior finance professional in life sciences and other high tech industries. Prior to joining NuGEN, Benetz had finance positions with Affymetrix including, Sr. Director of Business Finance and European Finance director. He has also held various positions with Intel including Software Group controller, Photonics Group controller, Microprocessor Marketing & Business planning and Corporate financial planning and analysis, and with Wells Fargo Bank. Benetz received his BS in Mathematics from University of California, Los Angeles.