Allan Katz
Chief Executive Officer
Allan Katz founded VTS Medical Systems over 25 years ago. Since founding the company, Allan has been called upon to be a featured speaker as well as editorial contributor to healthcare industry forums and trade publications.
As a holder of several patents for technology innovations in the healthcare industry, Allan’s reputation is known worldwide. His patent related to rotating contacts for light systems is still in use today and is considered the “gold standard” even though the patent for the technology has long since expired. Allan also holds patents for technology, as well as procedures, related to Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS), Cardiac Surgery and High Definition (widescreen) endoscopes.
Allan is frequently called upon by hospitals to provide guidance and direction in planning technology infrastructure for Operating Rooms, Surgical Centers and facility integration allowing healthcare institutions to take advantage of emerging technology that provides cost effective solutions to improve patient care and healthcare professionals’ productivity.
Allan’s reputation and clients are worldwide having assisted hospitals in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Among Allan’s many accomplishments, was the first High Definition (HD) broadcast of an operation originating from NYU Medical Center.
Frank Trivigno
Vice President Operations
Frank joined VTS in 1993, following graduation from SUNY Farmingdale with a BS in Electrical Engineering. Frank's initial assignments with VTS involved development of VTS’ first Headlight Camera as well as VTS’ patented rotating contact system for surgical light cameras. While the patent for this technology has since expired, the underlying design originally developed by VTS is still in use today as the “gold standard” for surgical light imaging.
Frank advanced within VTS and assumed responsibility for field installations associated with Operating Room integration, surgical lights and booms. In his current role he has total responsibility for all aspects of VTS’ business related to new orders, installations and day-to-day contact with customers, suppliers and product support.
Frank was directly involved in the historic first telecast of a procedure in High Definition from NYU Medical Center. This one event has led to VTS’ leadership role in Operating Room Integration and video imaging and routing.
Russ Hardy
Vice President & General Manager
Russ Hardy brings more than 13 years of leadership in technology development and business management to VTS. After earning an Electrical & Computer Engineering degree, he worked as a computer design engineer and then a marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard. He received an MBA from Brigham Young University where he earned numerous honors including the prestigious Hawes Scholar Award.
Russ brings a wealth of knowledge from many different disciplines and companies. He learned to love the medical technology business from Hill-Rom, Hillenbrand Industries, STERIS Corporation, and now VTS Medical Systems. Experience in Concept Development, R&D, Project Management, Product Marketing, Corporate Strategy, Market Research, Manufacturing, and Operations have given him a rich and well-rounded business background.
Immediately prior to joining VTS, Russ worked as Director of Marketing for STERIS where he built their surgical video integration business from zero to a market leading position in just three years.
Russ brings strong leadership, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a positive, “will-succeed” attitude, to the management team.
Sandra Ortiz
Executive Assistant
Sandra Ortiz has over twenty years experience in the healthcare industry having been employed by New York University School of Medicine prior to joining VTS in 2008.
Sandra reported directly to world renowned heart surgeon, Dr. Stephen B. Colvin, the Founding Chairman of The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery as his Office Manager and Executive Assistant.
Sandra managed Dr. Colvin’s extensive practice which consisted of many thousands of new and returning patients. She managed the support staff and the OR schedules for the entire Cardiothoracic Department. She obtained pre-certification and verified eligibility for admissions, and provided clinical information to physicians and nurse practitioners prior to admissions and/or transfers. Sandra coordinated patients’ pre and post operative appointments as well as the necessary diagnostic testing. Sandra arranged travel and hotel accommodations for both out-of-state and local patients.
Sandra also diligently managed Dr. Colvin’s non-surgical calendar which included the coordination for his worldwide training of surgeons and scheduling and travel arrangements for his professional society conferences. She assisted with his non-profit organization Project Kids Worldwide in a financial management capacity.
David Smilowitz
Director, Product Development
David Smilowitz joined VTS in April 2003 as a Technical Writer and Manager of Quality Assurance. Since then, David has assumed responsibility for Software Development associated with all VTS Operating Room integration. In addition, David is responsible for new product development for VTS' successful line of VividImage® Surgical Grade LCD monitors. In this capacity, David helps develop the hardware, software and firmware engineering requirements for the next generation of monitors used in VTS' integrated Operating Rooms.
David holds a BS in Computer Science as well as a MS in Computer Science from Columbia University. He is currently working towards his MBA from Hofstra University.
Holland Bennett
Senior Vice President Strategic Development
As Sr. Vice President for Strategic Development, Holland is responsible for overall Strategy, Project Management and Systems Design of VTS’ complete portfolio of products. Holland manages a staff of engineers who plan, design, fabricate, program, and test all newly developed products for VTS.
With over 41 years of experience as an Electrical Engineer, Holland joined VTS in 2002. He has served as Chief Engineer, Vice President for Special Projects, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors for Radyne Corporation and GlobalNet Inc.
Earlier in his career, Holland worked for Technical Research Group (TRG) and CES Industries and was an independent consultant for Business Development for Broadata Communications Corporation.
Holland holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and Electro-Physics.Chris Villez
Senior Director, Integration Systems Design
Chris Villez joined VTS in May of 2007, as the Senior Director of Integration Systems Design. Chris has over 21 years of healthcare industry experience with a strong focus on the design of highly technical and specialized Operating Rooms. Chris has an extensive background in information technology for the medical/surgical environment.
Earlier in his career Chris had worked as a biomedical engineer for International Shared Services. In addition he was the General Manager of R-WAVE Medical, a nationally recognized medical service and supply organization. Prior to joining VTS, Chris was employed with Olympus Medical Systems and Symbol Technologies/Motorola serving in several engineering and management positions.
Chris holds a degree in Biomedical Engineering from SUNY Farmingdale and a BS in Business Management from SUNY Old Westbury.
Stacey I. Persky
Project Director
Stacey Persky has over 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry with a strong focus on the design of high technology Operating Rooms as well as a strong OR background.
She was a featured speaker at the CIMIT Symposium and spoke about "Developing a Plug-and-Play Open Networking Standard" for the OR of the Future. She also gave a presentation at SAGES on the latest technologies in flexible laparoscopes and ultrasonic technologies for minimally invasive surgery.
Earlier in her career, Stacey was an OR Materials Manager at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she gained her solid OR background for all Perioperative Services. She also held Marketing and Project Management positions for Olympus Surgical where she was employed for eight years. Stacey joined VTS in February of 2005.
Stacey received her MS in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester and her MBA from New York University.
David Lieberman
Director of Marketing
David Lieberman has over 30 years of experience in state-of-the-art marketing, consulting and design of technology-based solutions for some of the world's largest corporations.
He has been a featured speaker at the National Communications Forum (NCF) where he chaired a session on Network Management in a Convergent Telecommunications Environment. He has presented to the Society for Cable Television Engineers (SCTE) where he spoke on the topic of Information Technology Trends and Directions in the Telecommunications Industry.
Earlier in his career, David held marketing positions for AT&T Global Information Solutions, Siemens Information Communications Networks, and Nortel Networks. David spent the first thirteen years of his career with Honeywell/Bull where he advanced from Technical Advisor to Director of Marketing for the Telecommunications Industry vertical.
David joined VTS Medical in August of 2007 after having served as Product Manager for Olympus Medical and Business Service Manager for Symbol Technologies.