Management Team

Dario Eklund: Vice President Oral Regeneration and Bio-surgery

Dario Eklund has more than 15 years of senior management experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. He joined Organogenesis from Aventis where he was Country Manager for Switzerland. Under his leadership, Aventis became the fastest growing major pharmaceutical company in the Swiss market. Mr. Eklund has also held senior management positions at Novartis Pharma as Director of Operations in South-East Europe and Israel, Commercial Director Biotech and later Head of Marketing and Sales in Tissue Engineering for markets outside the United States.

Mr. Eklund is a Finnish and Austrian national and holds a B.Sc. in Economics and a M.Sc. in Business Administration from the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration in Helsinki, Finland.

Damien Bates: Chief Medical Officer

Damien Bates is a practicing board certified plastic & reconstructive surgeon with over 12 years of clinical experience in both the US and Australia. Prior to joining Organogenesis, Dr. Bates held a position as Global Medical Director for Baxter BioSurgery in the areas of soft and hard tissue repair.

Dr. Bates holds an MD from the University of Sydney and a PhD in developmental biology from the University of Melbourne.

Thomas B. Goga: Vice President, U.S. Commercial Operations

Tom Goga serves in a multi-faceted role, leading Organogenesis’ U.S. commercial operations, including the company’s 100% in-house sales force. Prior to joining Organogenesis, Tom held a variety of positions at Merck & Co., Inc., including most recently as executive director for commercial operations, where he led sales and account management teams. Throughout his career in healthcare he has held positions in field sales, sales and marketing analytics, training, marketing and executive leadership. Prior to Merck, Tom was director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at University of South Carolina. He earned his Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of South Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.

Phillip Nolan: Vice President of Manufacturing Operations

Phillip Nolan's career in manufacturing spans over 25 years with diverse industry experience including biomedical, medical device, custom injection molding and electronic products manufacturing in both large and small companies. At Organogenesis, Mr. Nolan is responsible for manufacturing operations and processes for all products.

Prior to joining Organogenesis, Mr. Nolan held senior leadership positions including Johnson and Johnson Medical, Inc. as Director of Operations for the manufacturing, engineering and distribution of a high volume medical device product line. Mr. Nolan is experienced in implementing lean manufacturing processes resulting in sustained improvements in cumulative lead times, delivery, costs, quality systems, and in building high performance teams.

Mr. Nolan has a B.S. in Design Engineering from Bradley University and a PMD from the Harvard School of Business.

Zorina Pitkin: Vice President, Quality Systems

Zorina Pitkin has over 18 years of experience in the field of biotechnology. Her range of expertise includes the development of Quality System programs and regulatory strategies for cellular therapies, biologic/device combination products, biologics, and xenotransplantation. Prior to joining Organogenesis in 2008, Zorina held senior management positions at RenaMed Biologics and Circe Biomedical, and before then, a variety of positions of increased responsibility at Cellcor, Inc.

Zorina holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the Research Institute of Influenza, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and an M.S. from the Academy of Chemistry and Pharmacy in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Patrick Bilbo: Vice President of Regulatory

Patrick Bilbo has over 19 years experience in the medical products industry, with a broad range of expertise in the commercialization of new products including responsibility for clinical research, regulatory affairs and product development.  Previously he held management and research positions at Cytyc Corporation, Biofield and Stryker Corporation.  Prior to his career in industry, Mr. Bilbo gained four years of research experience in the Cell Biology Department at Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Bilbo has an MBA degree from the Boston University Graduate School of Management, Masters degrees in Cell Biology and Technology Strategy/Policy from the Boston University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and a B.S. degree in Biology from Syracuse University.

Erik Ostrowski: Vice President of Finance

Erik has over 15 years experience in investment banking, finance and public accounting, with a focus on the life sciences sector. Most recently, Erik served as a Director in Leerink Swann's healthcare investment banking group. Over the course of his 10 year investment banking career, Erik raised over $4 billion in capital for clients and advised on a variety of strategic transactions. Erik began his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers where he worked in the firm's audit and financial advisory services practices. Erik earned his Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and has a Bachelors of Science in accounting and economics from Babson College, where he graduated summa cum laude. Erik is a certified public accountant in Massachusetts.

Houda E. Samaha: Human Resources Director

Houda Samaha joined Organogenesis as Director of Human Resources in 2005. Before joining Organogenesis, she served as a consultant to the organization on strategy, leadership and management development and organization change issues. Houda is on the Board of InteriorTrade.com, a business to business vertical market portal for the contract interior and architectural design trades. In addition, she is adjunct faculty at Harvard Business School, a guest lecturer at both Lesley University School of Management and Simmons Graduate Management School. Formerly Vice President, Board member, and Business Team Leader for organizational change/transition programs at Synectics, Inc., her professional career has spanned the private, public and academic sectors. Ms. Samaha holds a Baccalaureate and Master's degree from Boston University in Psychology and Sociology.