Management Team
Randall K. Strahan, President and Chief Executive Officer
Randy Strahan brings to Tethys more than 30 years of senior-level general management and broad operations experience from multiple industries. Most recently Randy was CEO at Panasas, Inc., and during his tenure Panasas revenue grew 50 percent annually. Randy’s executive leadership positions over the last 12 years include serving as a Director of Telocity, helping to build and guide the company through its IPO, as well as serving as Chief Operating Officer prior to the IPO. Randy also served as Chief Executive Officer of Telmax Communications Corporation, a privately held company that manufactures and markets telecommunication equipment. Earlier in his career, Randy spent 20 years in management positions of increasing responsibility at Pacific Bell, ultimately serving as President of Pacific Bell’s Service Operations Division. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from California State University and an M.B.A. from Chapman University. He is a graduate of the Sloan Senior Executive Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended the Advanced Management Program in Telecommunications at the University of Southern California.
Mickey S. Urdea, Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer
Mickey Urdea is founder of the Company and has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since inception. In June, Mickey left the CEO position to assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, Mickey was Senior Vice President of Nucleic Acid Diagnostics and Acting Chief Scientific Officer of Bayer Diagnostics. Before joining Bayer, Mickey was one of the first employees at Chiron, Inc., where he directed the nucleic acids chemistry group and began the molecular diagnostics efforts. At Chiron, Mickey led the development of quantitative RNA and DNA assays, including the introduction of the first HIV and HCV viral load tests, and ultimately became the head of the Nucleic Acid Diagnostics business unit. He received a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Washington State University and held an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California with William J. Rutter. Mickey has published more than 200 articles and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 110 issued and pending patents.
Juan P. Frias, M.D., FACE, Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Frias completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida and received his medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. After serving 5 years as a General Medical Officer in the US Navy, he completed his training in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee and his Fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of California San Diego under the mentorship of Dr. Jerold Olefsky. Dr. Frías has held leadership positions in Clinical and Medical Affairs at Eli Lilly, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer, and was most recently Chief Medical Officer and Global Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs for Johnson and Johnson, Diabetes Care. He has held academic positions at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes) and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, where he is currently on the voluntary clinical faculty, active in teaching and patient care in the diabetes clinic. Dr. Frías has been involved in diabetes and metabolism-related research for over a decade and has authored numerous publications in this field.
William J. “Bill” Christy, Vice President, Sales
Bill Christy has more than 20 years of experience in successful startup companies across the medical device industry that he has guided from early stage through commercial launch, global distribution and successful exit, creating exceptional value for all stakeholders. He previously served as President and CEO at Verium Diagnostics, AOI Medical, and Ortheon Medical LLC. Bill is the founder of ESD Medical LLC and Synergistic Medical Technologies Inc., and is one of the founders of Ethicon Endo-Surgery. He received his B.S./B.A. from the University of Central Florida and has an MBA from Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business.
John Hollister, Senior Vice President, Marketing
John has more than 20 years of commercial leadership in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device fields, including GlaxoSmithKline and Amgen. He is experienced in both domestic and international marketing, the direction of multiple product launches and general management. John received his BA in Economics from Stanford University and his MBA from the Drucker Management Center at the Claremont Graduate University.
