Ed McKenna, PhD., Managing Director, has over 20 years of experience in starting companies, creating and leading strategic plans, making acquisitions, and advising senior management teams. At The Courtney Group, Dr. McKenna works with healthcare and technology businesses.

Dr. McKenna is also Advising President and COO of JRG Ventures, a retained firm with expertise in corporate development, product growth strategy, licensing and partnering within the life sciences, health technology, and novel disruptive technologies. JRG’s clients are global and range from start-up ventures to multinational corporations. JRG has a focus on identifying, targeting, optimizing and conquering growth opportunities. In addition, Dr. McKenna is Managing Director of Triple Ring Innovation Labs, the new business incubation program at Triple Ring Technologies, an innovative contract research and medical product development company, which partners with clients to complete complex technical projects from conceptual design through development and product launch.

Previously, Dr. McKenna was Chief Scientist and Engineer at Covidien. He is an inventor on over 100 filed patents and received five innovation awards during his time at Covidien including two time Inventor of the Year and Filed Patent of the Year. Dr. McKenna worked on many acquisitions at Covidien including Cardio Digital, Aspect Medical, Somanetics and Oridion. As a researcher he performed research in non-invasive technologies for the measurement of various physiologic parameters such as tissue hydration, non-invasive blood pressure, total hemoglobin, oximetry, tissue oxygenation, cardiac output and glucose.

Prior to Covidien, Dr. McKenna founded two technology companies while he was getting his PhD, both sold very successfully. Before that, Dr. McKenna was Chief Optical Hardware Engineer at Next Level Communications. He was the chief designer of the optical interfaces and controllers for a system that allowed telephone companies to compete with cable providers. Motorola acquired Next Level in 2002.

Dr. McKenna has BS and MS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder.

He is married with 3 children and enjoys running, cycling, classical music, surfing and playing with his kids in his spare time.

Experience: Telecom, Healthcare, Management, Business Development, Growth Strategy, Innovation, Medical Device, Technology Strategy, Technology Assessment, Technology Development, Agile Software Development, SaaS, Mobile, Cloud, Pre-clinical, Clinical Trials, Design Control, 510(k), Startups, Venture Capital, Research & Development.

Areas of Interest: Medtech, HealthCare, Technology, Energy, Technology, Cybersecurity