Management Team

Our leadership team has dedicated their careers to improving surgical outcomes through minimally invasive device innovations. As a company we are young, yet we benefit from years of experience and bring an entrepreneurial spirit to an industry that is ready for the innovation and inspiration our technologies offer.

Kurt Azarbarzin, Chief Executive Officer & Founder
kazarbarzin@surgiquest.com
Kurt Azarbarzin founded SurgiQuest, Inc. in spring of 2005 and started operations in April of 2006. He is a senior medical device executive with an accomplished research and development career in the surgical, cardiovascular, interventional, orthopedic and urological markets. Kurt has a proven track record of leading development of over 80 new products, resulting in annual sales of over $910 million. Mr. Azarbarzin has diversified experience in all facets of product design/enhancement, encompassing process/manufacturing engineering, team building, finance, vendor relations, regulatory requirements and quality assurance. Kurt has over 22 years experience in Marketing, Research & Development, Manufacturing and Quality Assurance from U.S. Surgical/Tyco Healthcare, Spine Wave and Respimetrix.

Carlos Babini, Executive V.P. of Sales & Marketing
cbabini@surgiquest.com
Carlos Babini is an accomplished senior executive with over 20 years of key leadership experience in sales, marketing and distribution initiatives along with strategic business development skills in very competitive sectors of the capital and non-capital medical device industry. Prior to joining SurgiQuest, Mr. Babini was the Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for both Vision Sciences, a public medical device company and Curon Medical, a start-up public medical device company. Carlos also held many achievements during his 20 year career at U.S. Surgical, now Covidien and is recognized for excellence in building global high performance, world class disciplined customer focused teams and for his hands on approach for driving revenue growth and R&D objectives.

Dan Donovan, Sr. Director, Operations
ddonovan@surgiquest.com
Dan Donovan brings 23 years of professional experience in medical device R&D and high-volume manufacturing to SurgiQuest, Inc. Since 1983, he has held management positions in medical devices, aviation and industrial products. In 1991, he joined U.S. Surgical’s Suture Division and was instrumental in bringing Continuous Improvement methodologies to bear on manufacturing operations and the supply chain. In 1995, he co-founded the Continuous Improvement Department at U.S. Surgical and it was in this role that he became an ardent student and practitioner of Lean Manufacturing. In 1996 he was recruited into the organization’s Research and Development group and three years later was promoted to Director of Technology Development for U. S. Surgical/Tyco Healthcare. In this role, he integrated acquired products and technologies as a member of the Tyco Healthcare M&A due diligence team. Prior to joining SurgiQuest, Inc., Dan consulted in Operations and R&D and guided transformation efforts for dozens of mid to large cap organizations.

Dan received his Bachelor of Arts, Liberal Arts degree from the University of Connecticut and his Master of Science degree in Technology Management from the School of Science and Engineering, University of Bridgeport. He has been published in the area of manufacturing and quality.

David Hildenbrand, V.P. Finance & Controller
dhildenbrand@surgiquest.com
David joined SurgiQuest, Inc. in December 2008. He brings 19 years of professional and financial experience to the leadership team. Previously in his career, David was the Chief Financial Officer of Accel, Inc., a $500MM retail sales producing contract packaging and manufacturing company and Controller of Financial Operations of SubmitOrder.com, an e-commerce fulfillment and technology company that was funded by $400MM of venture capital investment. He has a proven record of accomplishment in financial and operational management, including debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, accounting and finance, human resources and information technology. David graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Accounting and Finance.

Jane Ann Zavalishin, Business Operations Manager
jzavalishin@surgiquest.com
Jane Ann Zavalishin is a founding member of the Leadership Team and brings 15 years of experience in business operations expertise to SurgiQuest. Prior to joining, Jane worked for Fort James, formerly James River Corporation, and more recently at U.S. Surgical, now Covidien, where she led administrative teams in both the Engineering and Marketing departments. Jane brings to bear her knowledge and expertise in human resources and business processes that include budget planning, purchasing, facilities management, office services, and information technology. Her cross-functional supervisory experience in the medical device industry has prepared her well for her role as the organization’s Business Operations Manager. Jane is trained in Six Sigma methodologies and holds an AS degree from Katharine Gibbs School.