Leadership

Meet our Founders and Board of Directors

Leadership Team

Sonex Health brings together a well-respected and experienced team of individuals who know how to create, develop and market medical technologies that can change the lives of millions of patients. Now, working as one, we’re tapping into the power of ultrasound guidance and innovation to transform the patient experience and improve healthcare.

Founders

Dr. Darryl Barnes

CEO and Founder

Dr. Barnes is the CEO and co-founder of Sonex Health and a co-inventor of the SX-One MicroKnife^®. In 2018, Dr. Barnes was honored as the Medical Devices CEO of the Year – Upper Midwest USA and the Most Outstanding Health Tech Innovator – Upper Midwest USA by CEO Monthly. He has a long and fruitful history of innovation in the medical device industry, having been awarded numerous patents for technology currently used nationwide. Some of his inventions have been licensed to Tenex Health, another company dedicated to providing minimally invasive treatment options.

Dr. Barnes served as Medical Director and President of the Medical Staff at Mayo Clinic Health System Albert Lea-Austin, Minnesota, and has served as a member of the Medical Advisory Board and held the position of Associate Medical Director of Education at Tenex Health. He formerly practiced non-operative orthopedics and sports medicine.

Dr. Barnes received his residency training at the Mayo Clinic and completed his fellowship training as a Clinical Mayo Scholar at the Cleveland Clinic. He holds a certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University.

Dr. Jay Smith

CMO and Founder

Dr. Smith is one of the co-founders of Sonex Health and a co-inventor of the SX-One MicroKnife^®. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Sonex Health.

Dr. Smith is a world-renowned expert in ultrasound-guided procedures and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles related to musculoskeletal ultrasound. Drs. Smith and Barnes previously collaborated to develop the TX1 device (Tenex Health), which is used for minimally invasive treatment of tendon and other soft tissue disorders.

Prior to becoming the CMO for Sonex Health, Dr. Smith was the Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he had joint appointments in the departments of radiology and anatomy. He is board certified in both physical medicine & rehabilitation and sports medicine.

Aaron Keenan

Vice President of Operations and Founder

Mr. Keenan is the Vice President of Operations and a co-founder of Sonex Health. He brings a wide range of beneficial skills and experiences to the company. His diverse and impressive resume includes eight years in nuclear engineering operations in the U.S. Navy, six years in lean manufacturing, and more than a decade in healthcare as a medical practice administrator at Mayo Clinic. In these roles, he has worked with numerous physician specialties and understands financial and business operations in both a healthcare and manufacturing setting.

Mr. Keenan received his undergraduate degree from Excelsior College and his executive MBA from New York Institute of Technology.

Board of Directors

Dr. Darryl Barnes

CEO and Founder

Greg Garfield

Sr. Managing Director, KCK Medical Technologies

Mr. Garfield is the Senior Managing Director of KCK Medical Technologies and serves as a Board Director for numerous private and public healthcare companies. His experience spans more than 25 years in the medical technologies industry in a variety of key operational, business strategy, and investing roles.

Originally an attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop, Mr. Garfield began his medical technology career at Guidant Corporation, where he held a number of executive-level legal and business development positions in different Guidant operating companies. Following Guidant's acquisition by Boston Scientific in 2006, he joined Acclarent, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Corporate Development and subsequently as Chief Operating Officer through the acquisition and integration of Acclarent by Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Garfield has a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University and a Juris Doctorate from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.

Karen Long

Managing Director, KCK Medical Technologies

Ms. Long is a Managing Director at KCK Medical Technologies, which focuses capital investment on commercial and growth-stage medical device companies. She serves as a Board Director on multiple KCK portfolio companies. Additionally, she holds several independent Board Director positions.

Ms. Long has spent more than 20 years in medical devices and diagnostics, developing and marketing novel, market-leading products focused on improving quality of life. Prior to KCK, Ms. Long was President and CEO of Nuelle, a women’s consumer health company. She has held a series of key roles in consumer diagnostic companies, including ChemTrak, Inverness Medical, and LifeScan. In 2007, she joined Acclarent, Inc. as World Wide Vice President of Marketing, where she helped spearhead rapid growth leading to the company’s 2010 acquisition by Johnson & Johnson.

Ms. Long began her career as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker after receiving her undergraduate and graduate degrees from San Diego State University.

Kim Rodriguez

Board of Directors

Kim Rodriguez has over 20 years of commercial and operational leadership roles building standard of care medical technology portfolios, exceptional management teams, demonstrated execution and world-class company cultures.

Most recently Kim served as the President, CEO & co-founder of Acessa Health, that was acquired by Hologic in August of 2020. Previously, she served as Halt Medical’s President & CEO, where she led the transition to sell its assets to Acessa Health. Prior to Acessa and Halt, she was Senior Vice President of the Vascular Intervention business unit at Spectranetics, a publicly-traded cardiovascular company acquired by Royal Philips for $2.2B. Prior to Spectranetics, Kim served in a series of global senior leadership roles across sales, marketing, therapy development and general business management at Johnson & Johnson, Blockade Medical acquired by Balt International, Concentric Medical acquired by Stryker Neurovascular, Guidant Corporation acquired by Abbott Vascular and Microvena acquired by ev3. Over the course of her career in cardiology, radiology, vascular surgery, neurology and women’s health, Kim has been involved in the commercialization of dozens of innovative medtech technologies and M&A transactions. Kim has held the position of Advisor or Independent Board Director at several companies.

Kim received her Executive MBA at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and BS in Management from Pepperdine University.

Mark Wagner

Board of Directors

Mr. Wagner has more than 30 years of global executive leadership experience in the medical device industry. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of Minnesota-based Celleration, a company commercializing a therapeutic ultrasound platform for wound treatment. In 2015, Celleration was acquired by Alliqua Biomedical, whereupon Mr. Wagner joined the company’s board of directors.

Prior to Celleration, Mr. Wagner co-founded and served as Board Chairman for Orasi Medical. He has served as President and CEO for both Reshape Medical and ProVation Medical and as Chairman and CEO of Survivalink. His experience also includes a number of executive leadership positions at Nellcor Puritan Bennett. Mr. Wagner began his career at GE Healthcare, where he worked in marketing, business development, and finance.

In addition to completing executive leadership and corporate training programs, Mr. Wagner earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.