Steven Bloembergen, Ph.D.
Founder, Chairman and CEO
Dr. Steven Bloembergen founded GreenMark Biomedical in Michigan in 2016, with a vision to deliver health-based benefits to society through biobased targeting technologies. GreenMark’s mission is to “Enable oral healthcare professionals to preserve teeth through early diagnosis and treatment”. Steven has 30 years of leadership experience in the development and commercialization of biomaterials. He started a company called EcoSynthetix (ECO) in Lansing, Michigan in 1996, now a global corporation. He and his team built a manufacturing capacity for starch nanoparticles in excess of 200 million lbs/yr at production sites in the US and Europe. The company held its IPO in August 2011 (TSX: ECO) and was Canada’s largest IPO in the Cleantech sector. Steven received the Ernst and Young “2012 Entrepreneur of the Year Award”. He developed a broad global IP portfolio and established a network of university collaborators, including the use of starch nanoparticles for dental and medical applications, which resulted in the foundational technology for GreenMark. Steven is the inventor of over 25 patent families related to biomaterials. He received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario.
Wendy Bloembergen, MD, MS
Vice President Clinical Affairs
Dr. Wendy Bloembergen is an Internist and Nephrologist who is pursuing her entrepreneurial interests after spending a number of years raising her family. Prior to this Wendy consulted for a venture capital firm as a medical analyst. Before this taste of the business world, she maintained an academic position at the University of Michigan, Department of Internal Medicine (Nephrology), where she treated patients and served as a Principal and Co-Investigator on multiple NIH grants focused on epidemiologic studies of patients with chronic renal disease. She is the author of more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. Wendy received her MD from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, and her Internal Medicine and Nephrology fellowships at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario and University of Western Ontario. She subsequently completed a Research Fellowship at the University of Michigan Medical School and an MS in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Nathan Jones, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Vice President Technology
Dr. Nathan Jones holds an Honors Nanotechnology Engineering, Co-op degree from the University of Waterloo (UW) and Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology (WIN). He has a Master’s and Ph.D. degree in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan (UM), completing his degree requirements in September 2017. His thesis, entitled “Harnessing Functionalized Polysaccharides for Medical and Dental Applications”, focused in part on targeted anti-cancer drug delivery applications involving starch nanoparticles. Nathan and his thesis advisor Prof. Joerg Lahann collaborated closely with Prof. Brian Clarkson, Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics, at the UM School of Dentistry. They are co-inventors of GreenMark’s targeted dental technology based on starch nanoparticles. In October 2017, Nathan managed a 6 month GreenMark-State of Michigan funded Small Company Innovation Program (SCIP) project with Prof. Carlos González Cabezas, an expert in dental diagnostics and remineralization at the UM School of Dentistry. The collaboration with Prof. González continues as part of a 6 month Phase 2 SCIP project. Nathan has been collaborating with Steven Bloembergen since 2009, first at EcoSynthetix, then at UW and at UM. He has been actively involved in the company’s startup activities, strategic planning and execution. Nathan joined GreenMark full time in May 2018.
Jae Young Han, DDS, MBA
Manager, Clinical Engagement & Customer Relations
Dr. Jae Young Han is one of a handful of dentists in the country who is credentialed in both dentistry and business from top-ranking programs. He is the founder of the dual-degree program at the University of Michigan, and he remains the only graduate in the history of the university to earn DDS (School of Dentistry) and MBA (Stephen M. Ross School of Business) concurrently. Prior to joining GreenMark, Jae co-founded a nonprofit that works to shape the next generation of dentists by developing experiential leadership through entrepreneurial projects in dentistry. He also led his own dental device startup team to place in the finals of a national medical entrepreneurship program in 2019, as well as consulted for several healthcare organizations, including Kaiser Permanente and various health tech startups. Jae joined GreenMark in 2020 and continues to practice clinical dentistry. Pairing his passion for patient care with GreenMark’s mission, he aims to help improve people’s quality of life through scalable innovation in the oral health care system.
Craig Barney
National Sales Manager
Craig Barney has spent more than 30 years in the healthcare industry in front-line sales, operational management, executive level business leadership and owner of medical device manufacturing and distribution company. His focus in sales force/business development has led to leadership roles with companies ranging from small startups to Fortune 10 companies. With training that includes GE-Crotonville Leadership Management Training, Six Sigma methodology, Consultative Selling and Strategic Selling, Mr. Barney has successfully developed profitable sales and service delivery organizations in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and multiple countries in the Middle East. He is the founder of a multi-state distribution organization importing new and innovative international technologies and US-manufactured products in the domestic medical, surgical and dental markets. Adopting key philosophies including “The Golden Rule”, “Winning Everyday”, and “People Sell to People” has established a strong foundation for organizational leadership and effective performance management and has contributed greatly to the development of highly successful teams under his leadership.