Our Team

Katherine Davis joined the Board of Directors in May 2007. Ms. Davis is presently the owner of Davis Design Group LLC., a company that provides analytical and visual tools for public policy design. Previously, she was CEO of Global Access Point, a company with products for data transport, data processing, and data storage network and hub facilities. Ms. Davis held a number of government positions, including Lieutenant Governor of the State of Indiana and Controller of the City of Indianapolis. Ms. Davis serves on the not-for-profit boards of Noble of Indiana, Lumina Foundation for Education, Indianapolis Foundation, Central Indiana Community Foundation, Western Governors University Indiana, and Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Potthoff joined the Board of Directors in May 2018. He has 25 years of experience in the clinical research services industry, with deep ties to diagnostics and pharmaceutical companies. He is currently the CEO of Elligo Health Research, a clinical research company aimed at being the preeminent provider of clinical research infrastructure services and technologies. Prior to Elligo, Dr. Potthoff was the CEO of Theorem Clinical Research, where he led the company through a period of significant growth and its acquisition by Chiltern International. Previously, Dr. Potthoff was the CEO and founder of Tanistry, Inc., a contract research organization focused on the central nervous system. Dr. Potthoff also currently sits on the boards of Advarra and SynteractHCR and was previously a director at Chiltern until its acquisition by LabCorp in 2017. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Texas-Austin, where he also received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, also in Psychology.

Dr. Acheson joined the Board of Directors in December 2020. He has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Acheson Group since founding the global food safety consulting group in 2013. Previously he served as a Partner and Managing Director of Leavitt Partners, where he founded and managed the firm’s food safety services business. Prior to his industry roles, Dr. Acheson served at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for eight years, progressing from Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to Associate Commissioner for Foods. Dr. Acheson began his career practicing medicine in the United Kingdom and later at the New England Medical Center, where he also served as an Associate Professor for Tufts University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and the Infectious Disease Society of America. Dr. Acheson received his Medical Doctor degree from the University of London Medical School.

Mr. Bespalko joined the Board of Directors in March 2021, bringing over 35 years of leadership experience in the global in vitro diagnostics market. Most recently he was Group Vice President, Global Commercial Operations Specialty Diagnostics Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, which he joined in 2011 as President of Fisher Healthcare. During his tenure there, Mr. Bespalko held additional roles such as President of the Global Anatomical Pathology Division. Previously, Mr. Bespalko was Corporate Vice President, North America Commercial Operations at Beckman Coulter. His diagnostics career began in Canada with commercial and general management roles at Baxter Healthcare and Dade Behring. Mr. Bespalko now manages his own consulting firm, BMC, helping early-stage companies and providing executive mentorship. David earned a BSc from the University of Alberta in Canada.

Richard Eberly joined Chembio in March, 2020. Most recently, he was the Managing Director at Solid Rock Principled Capital, a healthcare focused private equity firm. He was instrumental in developing strategy and optimizing operations for the firm. Prior to Solid Rock, Richard held various roles of increasing responsibility with over 23 years at Meridian Bioscience Inc., ultimately serving as the company’s President and Chief Commercial Officer. Meridian Bioscience is a life science company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic products. Under his leadership the company successfully grew sales, improved operations and profitability, launched significant new product lines and completed several acquisitions. He began his career at Abbott Diagnostics. Richard received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Juniata College and an M.B.A. from Xavier University.

Ms. Teso-Lichtman serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CereVasc, Inc., where she is responsible for the accounting, finance, and treasury functions, including forecasting and capital planning. Previously, Ms. Teso-Lichtman served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer for Roche Diagnostics Hematology from 2011 to 2014, following Roche’s acquisition of her former employer Constitutional Medical Investors, Inc. Ms. Teso-Lichtman worked on the integration plan for the new company and to achieve milestones in connection with the acquisition. Prior to her time at Constitutional Medical, Ms. Teso-Lichtman held the role of Vice President and Controller at Cytyc Corporation, which was acquired by Hologic, Inc. in 2007, where she was responsible for all finance and accounting activities, including completing three acquisitions.

Richard Eberly joined Chembio in March, 2020. Most recently, he was the Managing Director at Solid Rock Principled Capital, a healthcare focused private equity firm. He was instrumental in developing strategy and optimizing operations for the firm. Prior to Solid Rock, Richard held various roles of increasing responsibility with over 23 years at Meridian Bioscience Inc., ultimately serving as the company’s President and Chief Commercial Officer. Meridian Bioscience is a life science company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic products. Under his leadership the company successfully grew sales, improved operations and profitability, launched significant new product lines and completed several acquisitions. He began his career at Abbott Diagnostics. Richard received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Juniata College and an M.B.A. from Xavier University.

Larry Steenvoorden joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in January 2022, and serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining the company, he worked at Siemens holding roles of increasing responsibility, ultimately as Global Controller & Vice President, Business Planning & Controlling for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. In this role he was responsible for financial planning, accounting and controlling functions, operations, and regional reporting, mergers and acquisitions, integrations, and external reporting. His responsibilities also included commercial strategy, business operations management, and cost reduction initiatives across the entire healthcare medical device, point-of-care manufacturing business. Most recently, he served as a Senior Director at Accordion Partners, providing CFO advisory services to private equity backed companies for the past four years and as the Chief Accounting and Financial Officer for Onyx Renewable Partners for the two years before. Larry is a CPA and received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Delaware, and his Master of Business Administration from Rider University.

Javan Esfandiari joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in February 2000, and serves as Chief Science and Technology Officer. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Esfandiari co-founded Sinovus Biotech AB, a Swedish biotech company where he served as Director of R&D until Chembio acquired Sinovus. He previously served as Director of R&D for On-Site Biotech. Mr. Esfandiari is the inventor of Chembio’s patented Dual Path Platform (DPP®) technology and developed more than 30 rapid point-of-care diagnostic products in the human and veterinary fields. Mr. Esfandiari received a B.S. in Clinical Chemistry and studied to M. Sc. Level in Molecular Biology from Lund University, Sweden.

Paul J. Angelico joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in October of 2019, and serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. Mr. Angelico has proven business leadership, startup experience and turnaround experience in previous roles as Executive Vice President of Global Operations at US Nonwovens Inc., a consumer goods manufacturer of cleaning products and detergents and as President of Twin Rivers Technologies, a manufacturer/distributor of personal care products and food and chemical ingredients, which he cofounded. He was also CEO of Aurora Algae, a nutriceutical and pharmaceuticals supplements producer and of Cyclica, a big data predictive analytics developer for the pharmaceutical industry. He has led four successful turnarounds in the healthcare, transportation and specialty chemicals sectors. Mr. Angelico received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and completed MBA courses at Babson College.

Tom Ippolito joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in June 2005, and serves as Vice President, Quality and Regulatory Affairs. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Ippolito served as Vice President, Regulatory and Quality at Biospecifics Technologies. He previously held a number of positions with United Biomedical, Biospecifics, Merck, Rhone Merieux, Organon Teknika, Analytab Products Inc., and Olympus. Mr. Ippolito holds the position of Course Director of the Fundamentals of Bioscience Program at the State University of Stony Brook and is the instructor for clinical development and regulatory affairs.

Charles Caso joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in June 2020, and serves as Sr. VP of Global Commercial Operations. Charles has over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing and a proven track record within diagnostics, life science and reference laboratory markets. Prior to joining Chembio, Charles was Vice President of Global Sales and Customer Success at ArcherDx. Prior to that, Charles served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations, Global Diagnostics at Meridian Bioscience. He also worked at Beckman Coulter Genomics (Danaher Inc), Quest Diagnostics, and Abbott Diagnostics. Charles received a B.S. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a M.B.A. from University of Pittsburgh.

Atif Rizvi Joined Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc. in June 2019, and serves as Vice President of Finance. Prior to joining the company, he worked at L3-Harris Technologies, an aerospace and defense manufacturer/contractor, where he served as Assistant Segment Controller for its Communication & Networked Systems segment. Atif worked at L3 for nearly twelve years and progressed through a range of positions in accounting & finance areas, including Manager-Corporate Controller’s Group, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Manager-Aircraft Sector, and Senior Auditor-Internal Audit. Throughout these roles, he addressed a diverse range of GAAP, internal control (including Sarbanes Oxley testing), and reporting issues. He has also developed revenue forecasts, annual operating budgets, and managed costs in partnership with engineering and R&D teams on long-term contracts. Atif is a licensed CPA in New York State and received his B.S-Accounting degree from the City University of New York.

Stella Rivera joined Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. in April 2018, and serves as Vice President of Human Resources.  Stella has over 25 years of experience in Human Resources and a proven track record within the pharma (brand & generics) and biotechnology industries. Prior to joining Chembio, Stella was Director of Human Resources at Pall Life Sciences (division of Danaher Inc).  Her prior experiences also include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Pfizer) and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. Stella has a BA from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico and a MBA from Turabo University – Puerto Rico.