Management Team
- Dustin Heldman, PhD – President and COO
- Robert N. Schmidt, JD – Chairman of the Board and CEO
- Brian Kolkowski, PhD, JD – Executive Vice President, General Counsel
- Robert Schroeter – Financial Controller
- Philip Pastor – Director, Software Engineering
Dustin Heldman, PhD
President and COO
Dustin Heldman received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University in 2002 and completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. He has a broad background in neural engineering and neurophysiology, with extensive experience in developing algorithms for quantifying movement disorder motor symptoms. He joined the company in 2007 as a senior biomedical engineering researcher and is now the President and Chief Operating Officer.
Dr. Heldman is an inventor of 46 awarded US patents and has served as principal investigator on eight Phase I and four Phase II SBIR grants funded by the National Institutes of Health totaling nearly $9 million. He has served as principal investigator on multi-site clinical trials and has been responsible for the preparation of IRB protocols, collection of clinical data, training clinicians, algorithm development, and statistical analysis. Dr. Heldman is currently leading a team of researchers and engineers in the development, clinical evaluation, and commercialization of the next generation of movement analysis systems. A list of Dr. Heldman’s publications can be found on PubMed.
Robert Schmidt, JD
Chairman of the Board and CEO
Robert “Bob” Schmidt is the founder and chairman of Cleveland Medical Devices, Orbital Research, NeuroWave Systems, and Flocel Inc., and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies. He received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and his MS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; his MBA from the University of Utah, and his Juris Doctor (1981) from Cleveland State University. He is a licensed professional engineer (Ohio, 1976) and an attorney (Ohio, 1981) and registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office (1982).
Bob supervised programs for the U.S. military, NIH, NASA, DoEd, DoT, NSF, Exxon, Arco, and Shell. He has 64 U.S. patents and has led two companies onto the Inc. 500. In October 2013, Bob received the Gold Electrode Award from Neurotech Reports, recognizing him as America’s “Most Valuable Financial Professional” in neurotechnology. In 2015, he was recognized as SBIR Insider’s “SBIR Person of the Year” for his contributions to innovation and commercialization. He is also an inductee into the National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor. Bob is the only person to have been recognized by Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School and Inc. Magazine with the Inc. Inner City 100 Award for the fastest-growing companies seven times during the first seven years of the award.
Rabie Fadil, PhD
Senior Biomedical Engineering Researcher
Rabie Fadil received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of North Dakota in 2022. With a strong background in mathematical modeling, signal processing, and human physiology, Dr. Fadil has developed algorithms to study physiological systems and motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. He joined the company in 2022 as a senior biomedical engineering researcher.
Dr. Fadil was awarded his first NIH-funded grant as principal investigator in 2023. He has experience conducting clinical studies, including preparing IRB protocols, collecting clinical data, developing signal and image processing algorithms, and performing statistical analysis. Dr. Fadil’s previous work includes studying blood pressure and postural control mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease, preventing pressure ulcers, and detecting hemorrhage at an early stage. Dr. Fadil is currently working on analyzing motion data from individuals with movement disorders and developing algorithms to identify candidates for advanced therapies.
Brian Kolkowski, PhD, JD
Executive Vice President, General Counsel
Brian Kolkowski has 30 years of legal and engineering experience. Brian has served in his current position at Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies since its founding. Brian is responsible for intellectual property and along with Bob Schmidt business development. Brian holds a Ph.D. in engineering from Case Western Reserve University and is a licensed patent attorney. Prior to 2002, Brian held a variety of legal roles with The BF Goodrich Company, ICI Glidden, Avery Dennison, & Spencer, Frank and Schneider which subsequently merged with Venable LLP in Washington.
Robert Schroeter
Financial Controller
Robert “Bob” Schroeter received his B.S. in Business Administration, with a major in Accounting, from Bowling Green State University in 1985. Bob’s background focuses on all facets of corporate accounting, financial reporting and cash management functions in a manufacturing environment. He has recently earned his certification in Grants Management-Recipient Track from Managements Concepts. Mr. Schroeter is currently the Controller at Great Lakes Neurotechnologies.
Philip Pastor
Director of Software Engineering
Philip “Phil” Pastor has over 25 years of experience in software development and architecture. Prior to joining Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies as the Software Engineering Manager in 2017, Phil spent most of his tech career at SapientRazorfish (Rosetta) leading teams in the development of custom software solutions across various industries. Phil spent the early part of his professional career performing a variety of management and technical roles in the computerized embroidery industry.