About Us

David Tilles, President, Chief Executive Officer and Cofounder of ASELL, has over 35 years of experience leading both small and large organizations in the development, integration, and sustainment of complex systems in industries ranging from industrial automation to medical devices. Prior to founding ASELL, Mr. Tilles spent over 30 years at Northrop Grumman, rising to the level of Vice President of CBRNE Defense Systems. In that role, he led an organization that grew to one of the largest CBRNE defense businesses in the industry, with a broad range of technologies and US Government customers. After retiring from Northrop Grumman and prior to founding ASELL, he spent several years as an independent consultant helping small businesses win and execute government programs. Mr. Tilles has a BES in Materials Science and an MS in Technical Management, both from the Johns Hopkins University, and has taken management courses at the University of Chicago and Harvard Business School.

Ken Damer is the Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder of ASELL. Mr. Damer has over 20 years of experience in various engineering and program management roles serving a broad range of customers. He has led the development of a variety of medical device and CBRNE technologies over his career, including radiological biodosimetry, biological threat agent detection/identification (PCR, immunoassay, UV-LIF, etc.), aerosol particle collection and concentration, and microfluidics. Prior to ASELL, Mr. Damer was a Program and Engineering Manager at Northrop Grumman, where he managed complex technical efforts spanning the entire program lifecycle, from early concept development all the way through to post-production operations and maintenance. He holds degrees in engineering and technical management from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Johns Hopkins University.

Matt Snyder, PMP, is Chief Operating Officer and Cofounder of ASELL, plus has 20 years of experience in engineering and program management. Prior to ASELL, Mr. Snyder was a Program Manager at Northrop Grumman where he led a variety of medical device and CBRNE defense programs that involved complex technology integration and required a deep understanding of customer needs and requirements. Mr. Snyder began his career in engineering and has worked in product development, large scale production, deployment, and sustainment programs. Mr. Snyder graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, and has completed a certificate in Program Management from the University of California Irvine.

Richard Kowalski, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientist and Principal Investigator at ASELL. Dr. Kowalski has over 30 years of experience developing and supporting in vitro diagnostic devices including confirmatory assays for HIV, HTLV-I/II, and Lyme disease along with IDE experience using mesenchymal stem cells for bone repair, cancer treatment, and gene therapy and platelet-rich plasma support for wound care. Prior to joining ASELL, Dr. Kowalski led Medical and Clinical Affairs teams and early Product Development at Cylex Inc. As lead of Product Development at Cylex, Dr. Kowalski brought the Cylex Immune Cell Function Assay (ImmuKnow®) from bench to bedside by leading the clinical and analytical validation studies to support clearance of ImmuKnow for marketing in the US. Dr. Kowalski provides ASELL the experience required to validate the safety and efficacy of high-complexity assays and detection systems. Dr. Kowalski received his doctorate in Molecular Biology at Vanderbilt University.

Joshua D. Levin, Ph.D., RAC(US) is the Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at ASELL. Prior to joining ASELL, Dr. Levin was responsible for overseeing quality assurance aspects of the design control and risk management processes at Personal Genome Diagnostics (PGDx), and for achieving ISO 13485:2016 certification for the company’s quality management system. Dr. Levin was previously a reviewer and post market team lead in the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health (OIR), CDRH, FDA where he was responsible for quality system reviews and compliance activities for IVD products, with a focus on immunology, hematology, and molecular diagnostic devices. Prior to his 8 years at FDA, Dr. Levin worked for 15 years in R&D and process development in various IVD and research products firms. Dr. Levin received his B.A. from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Michael Ehret, Director of Business Development, has nearly 30 years of leadership, operations management, and business development experience across all aspects of science and technology operations with a focus in Global Health and National Security. Prior to joining ASELL, Mr. Ehret held executive positions leading and growing technical research and development operations in contract research organizations. As Senior Vice President and Director of Research Operations at MRIGlobal, Mr. Ehret directed the technical and financial performance of the technical enterprise, overseeing a ~$90M portfolio of technology development and deployment programs supporting federal and commercial clients. As Chief of Staff at ICON Government and Public Health Solutions, he provided leadership to Quality and Compliance, HR, and IT functions as the organization transitioned following an acquisition. Mr. Ehret earned a B.S. in Marine Science – Biology from Long Island University prior to doctoral studies of biomarkers of environmental exposure at Old Dominion University.

Michael Zdanis is the Director of Clinical Research and Operations at ASELL. Mr. Zdanis has over 25 years of experience in various roles related to Phase I-III clinical trials, post-marketing surveillance studies and health economics and outcomes studies. He has led the development of protocols, legal and ethical submissions, development of statistical plans and the submission of regulatory filings. He founded a contract research organization, Cetus Group, focused on the use of real-world data from both retrospective and observational studies. Previously he worked at Pharmakinetics Laboratories where he contributed to the filing of numerous successful ANDA applications for bioequivalent therapeutics. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Haverford College and a Master’s degree in Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Tom Hynes, Director of Business Management at ASELL, has over 35 years of experience in Finance, Contracts, Subcontracts, Business Strategy and Program Management at Grumman Aerospace, Norden Systems and Northrop Grumman Corporations. Prior to supporting ASELL, Mr. Hynes was the Contracts and Subcontracts manager during the establishment of CBRNE Defense Systems at Northrop Grumman and later became the Business Director (finance, contracts & subcontracts) for the division. Mr. Hynes has managed a multitude of large and small business areas, as well as several joint ventures. He also was Business Director for Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems Sector’s annual internal research & development funds and International Strategy. He holds degrees in Business Administration, Economics and an MBA in Finance.

Michael Porter has over 17 years of experience leading product development, regulatory submissions, and product launches within the infectious disease, companion diagnostics/oncology, and defense industries. He has led programs to developing a wide range of technologies, including fully automated PCR assays, next-generation sequencing, flow cytometry and cellular pathology diagnostics. Prior to joining ASELL Mr. Porter held technical and leadership roles in research and development at Becton Dickinson where he drove the advancement of fully automated nucleic acid detection assays including multiple FDA 510(k) submissions and CE-mark filings. As a Senior Portfolio Program Manager at GuardantHealth, Mr. Porter developed and managed the international product portfolio including world-wide regulatory submissions/filings and technology transfer programs with partners in the EU and China. Mr. Porter holds dual B.S. degrees from the University of Maryland in Biochemistry and Mathematics as well as a M.S. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University.

Kevin Jaeger, Director of Product Development at ASELL, has nearly 30 years of experience building and leading multi-disciplinary organizations in the medical device, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to joining ASELL, Mr. Jaeger was Director of Project Management and Director of New Product Introduction & Transfer at Emergent BioSolutions, where he was responsible for building design, manufacturing, and tech transfer capabilities for a new drug/device-focused business unit, and where he led the successful development of a family of novel emergency-use autoinjectors under contract with the DoD Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND). Prior to his time at Emergent, Mr. Jaeger held program and engineering management roles of increasing responsibility at Boston Scientific, Mallinckrodt, Spectranetics, C.R. Bard, and Canon, and he has led the successful commercialization of product lines across the full spectrum of the healthcare landscape – including in vitro diagnostics, minimally-invasive surgical devices, implants, critical-care monitors, drug/device combination products, and biomaterials. Mr. Jaeger received his B.S. from Purdue University and his M.S from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, both in Materials Science and Engineering.