Executive Team
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SONIC innovations
We
design, develop, manufacture and market advanced digital hearing
aids that are intended to provide the highest levels of satis-faction
for hearing impaired customers. Capitalizing on our advanced
understanding of human hearing, we have developed patented
digital signal processing (“DSP”) technologies and embedded
them in the smallest single-chip DSP platform ever installed
in a hearing
aid. In the U.S., we sell finished hearing aids principally
to hearing care professionals. Outside the U.S., we sell finished
hearing aids
and hearing aid kits principally to distributors, except in
Australia where we sell hearing aids on a retail basis to
the hearing impaired
consumer. We occasionally sell hearing aid components to other
hearing aid manufacturers. We first began shipping product
in the fourth quarter of 1998. We completed our initial public offering in May 2000.
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Samuel L. Westover
Chariman and CEO
Samuel L. Westover was appointed Chairman and CEO in May 2008. He had been President and CEO of the Company since October 2005. He has been a director since January 2002 and served as Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation and Governance and Nominating Committees until his appointment as Chairman in May 2008. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Westover was President and CEO of CIGNA Dental and President of CIGNA HealthCare's Small Business Segment. Mr. Westover was CEO of two public companies and was the founding Chief Financial Officer of WellPoint, the largest health insurer in the U.S. In connection with the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics, Mr. Westover was Special Assistant to the Governor of Utah and established an independent economic development task force. He also received a gubernatorial appointment to serve as Chairman of the Public Education Job Enhancement Committee, providing scholarships and financial assistance to facilitate advanced education of high school teachers in math and science. Mr. Westover earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Brigham Young University.
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Paul R. Wennerholm
President and COO
Paul R. Wennerholm was selected as Sonic Innovations' president and COO in August 2008. Prior to joining Sonic Innovations, he spent 14 years with Patterson Companies, Inc., a $3+ billion dental and rehabilitative health supply company with operations around the world. During his years with Patterson, Wennerholm earned the distinction of becoming the youngest-ever executive/division manager in the company's 130-year history. At Patterson, he held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility beginning as a technology specialist and sales and marketing executive (from 1994 to 1996) followed by promotions to equipment manager (from 1996 to 1999), division manager in Salt Lake City (from 1999 to 2004) and most recently led one of Patterson's most successful divisions in New England (from 2004 to 2008). From 1992 to 1994, he was the Western regional sales manager for PPI Group, a $3.8 million provider of software for medical and dental practices nationwide. Wennerholm received a B.A. degree in political science with minors in economics and Spanish from Brigham Young University in 1992.
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Michael Halloran
Vice President and CFO
Michael M. Halloran joined Sonic Innovations in April 1999 as Corporate Controller and was promoted to Vice President in 2002. He was named Vice President and CFO in July 2006. Mr. Halloran began his career at Ernst and Young, where he worked for eight years. From 1994 to 1999, he held various senior positions at C.R. Bard, a large medical device company, based in New Jersey. Mr. Halloran is a CPA and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with a concentration in Accounting, from State University of New York at Oswego.
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Brent H. Shimada
Vice President Administration and General Counsel
Brent H. Shimada joined Sonic Innovations in October
2004 as Vice President, Human Resources and Administration
and became Vice President Administration and General
Counsel in December 2005. From May 1999 to October
2004,
he was Human Resources
Director for American Express’ Global Travelers
Cheque Operations Group. Mr. Shimada served as Senior
Corporate Counsel for grocery and drug retail conglomerate
American Stores Company from 1996 to 1999. He was
Legal Counsel for Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (formerly
Hercules Incorporated), a government contractor,
from 1985 to 1996. Mr. Shimada earned Bachelor’s
(Finance), MBA and Juris Doctor degrees from the
University of Utah. |
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Jerry DaBell
Vice President, Research and Development
Jerry L. DaBell joined Sonic Innovations, Inc. in July 2000 as Vice
President, Business Development and became Vice President, Research
and Development in July 2005. He was Senior Vice President of
Product Development at IMP, Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer, where
he was employed from 1988 to 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical
engineering from Brigham Young University.
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Christie R. Mitchell
Vice President, Manufacturing Operations
Christie R. Mitchell joined Sonic Innovations in 2000 as Materials
Manager, was promoted to Director of Material Logistics in 2003
and became Vice President Manufacturing Operations in December
2005. Ms. Mitchell has been critical in reducing material, supply,
manufacturing and product costs and improving inventory efficiencies
throughout Sonic’s worldwide operations. From 1981 to 2000, she
was with the procurement and materials management organization
of the Baker Hughes Company, a provider of drilling products and
services to the worldwide oil and gas industry. As Worldwide Materials
Director for Baker Hughes, Ms. Mitchell significantly improved
quality, cost and shipment efficiencies by developing worldwide
alliance agreements with suppliers, implementing quality programs
and utilizing enterprise resource planning systems.
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Michael Nilsson
Vice President, Auditory Research, and Director, Center for Amplification and Hearing Research
Michael Nilsson joined Sonic Innovations, Inc. in May of 1998 as a Researcher and became Director of the Center for Amplification and Hearing Research in January, 2006, and then Vice President, Audiology in July, 2008. He was a Researcher at the Hearing Aid Research lab at the House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, where he was employed from 1990 to 1998. He earned a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the University of California. He has also worked while pursuing these degrees in Retail at Disneyland, and as coordinator for the Brain Donor Program for the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Irvine.
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David R. Whittle
Vice President of Worldwide Quality
David R. Whittle joined Sonic Innovations in October 2007 as Vice President of Worldwide Quality. Prior to joining Sonic, Mr. Whittle was Vice President, General Manager of DEI Systems, Inc., a Fiberglass, Odor Control Manufacturing Company, supplying products and systems to municipal and industrial markets. From 1982 to 2000 he held numerous senior management positions including Director of Worldwide Quality, and Director of Operations for Baker Hughes Company, a provider of oil and gas drilling products. Mr. Whittle earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Weber State University and is an ASQC Certified Quality Auditor.
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