OpGen adds Thomas Pyle and James Ogle to board of directors

MADISON — OpGen, Inc. has added two new members to its board of directors: James Ogle and Thomas Pyle. The company is looking to bring in seasoned executives to help take OpGen's products to the next level, according to Dan Broderick, managing director of Mason Wells, an investor in OpGen.

“They bring lots of experience with company operations and product positioning,” Broderick said. “They have long, successful careers in business and the experience that comes with it in high-tech companies.”

Madison-based OpGen developed its Optical Mapping technology to produce information across whole genomes in a single manipulation, with no requirement for prior sequence information, PCR, synthesis, cloning or probes. This information can be used for DNA sequence validation, comparative genomics, biodefense and molecular diagnostics.

Pyle is currently chairman of the Pyle Group, a financial services and investment company. Prior to founding the Pyle Group, Pyle was chairman, CEO, president and principal owner of Rayovac Corporation. Additionally, he has held management positions at Bristol Myers and Procter & Gamble and serves on the board of directors for the University of Wisconsin Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the University Research Park and is a member of the Smithsonian Institution National Board.

"I believe OpGen's technology will have a profound impact on molecular diagnostics and also as a discovery tool for the development of new drug treatments, especially in such critical areas as oncology and fungal pathogens," said Pyle, who was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1989 by the American Institute of Entrepreneurs. He also received the Distinguished Business Alumnus Award in 1989 and the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000 from UW-Madison. Ogle is currently the chief executive officer of INC Research, a global contract research organization (CRO) specializing in central nervous system and oncology clinical trials. Ogle's previous positions include president, Quintiles Americas; president and CEO of BRI International and president of ERC BioServices. He has also held several board positions within the pharmaceutical industry. Before beginning his professional life in the CRO industry, Ogle achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the United States Army in a distinguished, fast track 20-year military career.

"OpGen's Optical Mapping system truly supports the life sciences community, improving clinical research's ability to discover genomic insertions, deletions, duplications, inversions and translocations, which are not readily detected by other genome analysis methods," Ogle said.