OpGen Appoints Industry Veterans Dr. Kevin Krenitsky as President and Timothy Dec as Interim Chief Financial Officer

GAITHERSBURG, Md., April 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OpGen, Inc., a molecular testing and bioinformatics company, today announced the expansion of its executive management team with the appointments of former Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ: FMI) executive Kevin Krenitsky, M.D. as president, and Timothy C. Dec as interim chief financial officer.

With more than 15 years of experience leading and managing global diagnostic and biotechnology operations, including senior commercial and operational responsibilities at Foundation Medicine, Dr. Krenitsky will oversee the rollout of OpGen's Acuitas™ MDRO (Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms) family of Gene Tests and Acuitas Lighthouse™ MDRO Management System in development.

"We are thrilled Kevin has agreed to join OpGen in the position of president," said Evan Jones, OpGen Chairman and CEO. "While serving as a director of Foundation Medicine, I have worked closely with Kevin and know firsthand that his scientific, commercial and leadership strengths, along with his enthusiasm, will be assets to OpGen. We look forward to his contributions as we transform OpGen into a vital resource to support the global medical community in addressing the surveillance, diagnosis and treatment of antibiotic-resistant organisms. Kevin will work closely with Robert Lilley, our chief commercial officer, to expand our pilot programs and to continue the commercial rollout of our Acuitas™ MDRO Gene Test products and Acuitas Lighthouse™ MDRO Management System into leading U.S. hospital systems."

"I am excited to be joining OpGen at this important time in the company's evolution," said Dr. Krenitsky. "OpGen recognized the severity of the problem with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) several years ago, and as a consequence is at the forefront of genetic microbiology diagnostics, well ahead of the competition in providing hospitals and other institutions with the tools to diagnose and track potentially fatal problems. As a result of my direct experience with the country's leading medical institutions, I have a particular understanding of their needs and operations and I look forward to helping to grow OpGen into a formidable presence in the field."

Through December 2014, Dr. Krenitsky was chief commercial officer and previously chief operating officer of Foundation Medicine. He joined Foundation in June 2011 and was instrumental in taking the company from a start-up organization to a successful IPO in 2013. Prior to Foundation Medicine, Dr. Krenitsky served as president of Enzo Clinical Labs, where he instituted a comprehensive strategic and operational plan that led to the introduction and launch of numerous FDA-approved esoteric tests, as well as several new laboratory developed tests. He served as chief executive officer at both BioServe Biotechnologies, a global biotechnology company specializing in processing genetic diagnostic tests, and Parkway Clinical Laboratories, a clinical diagnostic lab providing comprehensive routine and esoteric testing. Dr. Krenitsky also held various senior-level positions within Genomics Collaborative, Inc. (a SeraCare Life Sciences Company), a full-scale clinical and genomics research company.

Dr. Krenitsky received a B.S. in business management from the University of Scranton and an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College (now the Sidney Kimmel Medical College) in Philadelphia.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Clinical Lab Association and of BioServe Biotechnologies, and serves on the Board of Scientific Directors of GuideDx.

Mr. Dec has more than 20 years of public company financial leadership experience in technology and healthcare, and will be charged with ensuring a smooth transition for OpGen from private to public company status and with public company reporting responsibilities.

"We're delighted to welcome Tim to the OpGen team as interim CFO," Mr. Jones added. "He brings extensive experience leading the public company finance function, including overseeing strategic financial planning, financial compliance, M&A and capital raises. His experience will serve us well as we evolve into a commercial public company. Tim is ideally suited to pick up the reigns from Eric Winzer, who is leaving OpGen for personal reasons.  We thank Eric for his nearly six years of service and appreciate his many contributions that have led OpGen to this exciting position."

Mr. Dec has served in Chief Financial Officer or other senior financial executive roles at companies in a number of industries, including three publicly traded companies listed on NASDAQ or AMEX, such as Corvis Corporation, and at private equity-backed companies. Prior to joining OpGen, Mr. Dec served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Clubwidesports, LLC, a start-up sports management software company, from January 2014 to April 2015. From August 2007 to December 2012, Mr. Dec was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Fortress International Group, Inc., a publicly traded company. Mr. Dec also has public accounting firm experience.  He is an adjunct professor at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he teaches M.B.A. courses in Finance.

Mr. Dec holds a B.S. in accounting from Mount Saint Mary's University, and an M.B.A. from American University in Washington, DC.          

About OpGen
OpGen, Inc. is an early commercial stage company using molecular testing and bioinformatics to assist healthcare providers to combat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. The company's products and services are designed to enable the rapid identification of hospital patients who are colonized or infected with life-threatening, multi-drug resistant organisms, or MDROs. The company's lead product is the Acuitas™ MDRO Gene Test. Products in development include the Acuitas Lighthouse™ MDRO Management System and the Acuitas™ Resistome Test. In addition, the company has more than 10 years of experience mapping microbial, plant and human genomes.

SOURCE OpGen, Inc.