Al W. Kraus

Mr. Kraus joined the company in August 2003 as Chief Executive Officer and Director. Mr. Kraus stepped down as CEO at the end of 2008 and was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors in January 2009. He brings along more than 25 years of leadership experience in the dialysis and medical device industries. Prior to this, Mr. Kraus was President and CEO of medical startup NOvoVascular Inc. At NOvoVascular, he played a leadership role in the development of drug-coated stents for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and facilitated the licensing of the company’s core intellectual property. Prior to NOvoVascular, Mr. Kraus was President and CEO of Althin Healthcare and Althin Medical, manufacturers of a complete line of hemodialysis products with revenues exceeding $100 million. In 1995 Althin Medical became a public company, and later was sold to Baxter International for $130 million. Mr. Kraus had previously been U.S. Manager and COO of Gambro, Inc., a leading medical technology and healthcare company that makes dialysis products, operates dialysis clinics, and supplies blood bank technology worldwide. He directed the Initial Public Offering of Gambro in the United States in 1983 and grew sales volume four-fold. Gambro is now the second largest vertically integrated supplier of dialysis products and services worldwide, with revenues exceeding $2.7 billion.

Mr. Kraus earned a B.S. in Business Administration from St. Joseph‘s University and has participated in the Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Medical Education Institute and MedaSorb Technologies Corporation and is a former Director of Victor Technologies, NOvoVascular, Althin BioPharm, and Gambro.