Management Team
A team of professionals leads Salvona Technologies Inc. with strong expertise in management, research and product development of controlled release delivery systems. The company has experts in product formulation, development, manufacture and marketing of technologies, including nano- and micro-spheres, nanotechnology engineered patches and biodegradable devices. The company is led by:
Dr. Adi Shefer, President and CTO
Adi is the President of Salvona holding company and its chief technical officer. She directly manages and oversees the technical and intellectual properties of Salvona companies.
Adi Shefer gained extensive experience from over 7 years in the development and commercialization of delivery systems with International Flavors and Fragrances, Inc. She has managed multidisciplinary groups of scientists, engineers, and marketing professionals to successfully bring products to market. Adi is also experienced with global product development at the corporate level.
Dr. A. Shefer has patented over 90 controlled release technologies and published more than 40 papers in the related fields. Dr. A. Shefer holds a BSc in chemistry from Tel Aviv University as well as MSc and Ph.D. degrees with excellence in chemical engineering from Ben-Gurion University, Israel. She successfully completed her postgraduate work at MIT and Harvard University in the polymer science and electrical engineering field developing cutting edge polymeric systems for medical applications.
Dr. Sam Shefer, CEO
Sam is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Salvona companies. He manages the commercial aspects of Salvona companies.
Dr. Sam Shefer co-founded Salvona in 1998, with over 10 years of experience in commercial product development in the fields of consumer care products with IFF and pharmaceutical and medical devices with WR Grace and MIT.
Sam earned a BSc in biological sciences, MSc in biochemistry, and Ph.D. in chemical engineering and bio-chemical engineering from Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Following his degree acquisition, Sam established a career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology along with Professor Robert Langer, where he developed advanced drug delivery systems, medical implantable bioreactors and artificial organs in collaboration with industrial scientists and engineers.
Sam has issued more than 90 patents and authored over 50 scientific papers on controlled release delivery systems as well as delivered multiple presentations on technology based products at trade and scientific conferences.
Steven Sewald, CFO
Mr. Sewald is the chief financial officer and certified public accountant for Salvona companies. He has worked as a public accounting with various New York City Certified Public Accounting firms since 1981 and a founder of his own CPA firm.
Mr. Sewald worked for Salvona from its establishment in 1998. For Salvona, he prepares financial statements and tax returns while at the same time performs managerial advisory and chief financial officer services.
Having received a B.S. degree in accounting from Brooklyn College in 1981, Mr. Sewald is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in New York and New Jersey, a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Society of Public Accountants, as well as a member of both the New York and New Jersey State Societies of Certified Public Accountants.
Yoav Millet, Board Member
Yoav Millet is Managing Partner of IP Royalty Partners Corp. Yoav has over 20 years of professional experience and over 12 years of direct private equity experience with a focus on identifying and monetizing value from intellectual property assets in broad spectrum of industry sectors. Prior to IP Royalty Partners, Yoav served as a CEO at M·CAM Inc. and a Senior Managing Director of alseT-IP Structured Finance LLC, a private equity firm focused on IP royalty interests’ finance.
Prior to alseT-IP, Yoav served as a Managing Director for Juno Investments LLC, a private equity buyout fund focused on special situations investments in the homeland security and healthcare sectors. Prior to Juno, Yoav served as Managing Partner of an international VC fund where he is credited with repositioning this fund into one of the leading early-stage life science funds in Israel.
Over the course of his career, Yoav has personally initiated and negotiated more than 20 private equity investments, and held board seats and executive management positions in a variety of early-stage life science and technology portfolio companies. Yoav has also raised more than $200 million in direct and follow-on investments for portfolio companies from leading international venture firms and corporate partners.
Prior to heading the AG-Tech Fund, Yoav co-headed the investment banking activities of Clali & Associates Financial Management Investment Group. Yoav also managed two institutional investment companies and led a broad range of transactions for emerging growth companies including mergers and acquisitions, corporate partner agreements, public offerings, and private placements of equity and debt. Prior to joining the Zannex Group in 1992, Yoav was an internal bank auditor with Israel General Bank, (LCF Edmond De Rothschild), and a manager at two public accounting firms.
Yoav is a CPA and holds two Bachelor degrees in Accounting and Economics earned at Tel Aviv University.
Jeff Gohar, Sales and Business Development Manager
Jeff is the manager of sales and business operations for Salvona, servicing mostly the domestic accounts.
Jeff has been with Salvona for over four years with previous experience in sales and marketing for the consumer care and wellness industries, 24 Hour Fitness Corporation, based in San Francisco. He was also engaged with a media/advertising company that places national, regional, and local ad buys into magazines for agencies and corporate accounts.
Jeff earned two bachelor’s degrees, in business/marketing and computer arts.
Bryan Grossman, International Sales Manager
Bryan is the international sales manager for Salvona, servicing Salvona's international dealers, international and domestic customers.
He holds over 6 years experience with Salvona's products, and previous commercial experience with manufacturing processes of pharmaceutical and consumer care products elsewhere.
Bryan holds a degree in biology from Rutgers University, with a Henry Rutgers scholar award.
Stephen Najemian, Pilot and Production Manager
Steve is managing the pilot production, where new products are being developed. He is also supervising the large scale production lines at numerous locations.
Steve has been a part of Salvona for over 2 years now and has gained much experience in product formulation, process design and production.
Steve earned a BSc degree in chemistry from Rutgers University, NJ.
Saso Efremovski, Technology and Product Development Manager
Saso is managing Salvona laboratories for product development, testing and product qualification including QA/QC.
Saso joined Salvona 3 years ago with 20 years of experience in QA/QC analytical analysis and method development, including HPLC, GC Mass Spectroscopy, as well as experience in the formulation of cosmetic and OTC products. Prior to joining the Salvona team Saso worked for Victoria Secret Beauty.
Saso earned a BSc. degree in chemical engineering and speaks multiple languages.
Richard Satterthwaite, Supply Chain Manager
Rich is in charge of managing materials from the supply receiving side to product shipping to domestic and international customers.
Rich joined Salvona over 2 years ago with 20 years of experience in supply management in commercial environments such as Johnson and Johnson. Rich manages and monitors sensitive ingredients to meet storage conditions followed by FDA guide lines.
Rich earned an Associate’s degree in chemistry.
Laura Fine, Financial Manager
Laura is managing the multiple aspects of financial execution, including purchasing, billing, and overall accounting for Salvona companies. In addition, Laura is oversees human resource administration.
Laura joined Salvona over 2 years ago with over 35 years experience in accounting, office administration and human resource management. She previously worked for a major retail store operation along the northeast as a regional accounting and human resource supervisor for approximately 15 years before joining an international pharmaceutical contract packager as the accounting/human resource manager for another 7 years. Her most recent position before joining Salvona was with a commercial refrigeration/HVAC company for over 6 years as the administration/accounting/human resource manager.
Laura holds certification in accounting and human resource management from both Mercer County and Burlington County Colleges.
Joan McCormack, Chief Administration Scientist
Joan manages the administrative scientific affairs for Salvona companies, which also include legal affairs such as confidentiality agreements, business agreements, FDA regulations, and safety and technical issues associated with sales of products.
Joan has 25 years experience in chemical research and analytical instrumentation environments with major companies. For 8 years, Joan was managing a laboratory sales support department. Joan was the training coordinator, a trainer herself, and quality control manager for ICP at Instruments SA and later moved on to the laboratory apparatus division where she became the sales & marketing manager for 4 years before taking over the production and R&D division for another 8 years.
Joan earned a BSc. in chemistry and successfully underwent multiple training courses in technology and personal management.
