Connor Ekelund Email & Phone Number

Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States

Develop pilot programs for both internal and external healthcare technology products to evaluate health and economic outcomes. In parallel, utilize early pilot feedback to inform product development process and update key features prior to scaling. Manage cross-functional communication between engineering, data science, product, legal, and senior management.

Fridley, Minnesota, United States

Served as technical lead and project manager of a new product development project (neuromodulation device) through concept and development phases. Managed the external relationship to collaborate on customer requirements, align on design and testing strategies, and provide monthly updates to leadership.

Plymouth, Mn

Served as technical lead and project manager of a new product development project (life-saving autoinjector device) through concept, development, and verification/validation phases. Managed the external relationship to collaborate on customer requirements, align on design and testing strategies, and provide monthly updates to leadership.

Maple Grove, Mn

Owned portions of the Stellarex Drug Coated Balloons original PMA and line extension PMA-S (V&V, product stability, product specifications, PMA sections, FDA deficiency responses).Evaluated venous thrombectomy technology gained via acquisition. Iterated on the product in a hybrid concept/development phase before providing final go/no go recommendation to leadership. [Continuation of position at Spectranetics via acquisition]

Maple Grove, Mn

Owned portions of the Stellarex Drug Coated Balloons original PMA and line extension PMA-S (V&V, product stability, product specifications, PMA sections, FDA deficiency responses).

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Individual contributor for CE mark approval of the Stellarex Drug Coated balloon. Assisted in Verification/Validation phase tasks and oversaw development builds to implement process improvements/diagnose product failures using DoE.[Continuation of position at Covidien due to divestment (via Medtronic acquisition of Covidien)]

Plymouth, Mn

Individual contributor for CE mark approval of the Stellarex Drug Coated balloon. Assisted in Verification/Validation phase tasks and oversaw development builds to implement process improvements/diagnose product failures using DoE.

Champaign, Il

Served as teaching assistant for the Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab. In this role, I created and gave presentations about relevant lab material, demonstrated proper lab techniques, administered and graded quizzes/lab reports, and maintained healthy cell cultures for use in lab.

Plymouth, Mn

Completed development phase tasks related to the Stellarex Drug Coated balloon project. Assisted in development builds, suggested process improvements, designed fixturing, took detailed surface images utilizing SEM, and further developed process documentation.

Capstone Project:Collaborated with the Mills Breast Cancer Research Center to develop a device to perform label-free sorting of cancer stem cells from adult cancer cells for research and clinical applications. Responsibilities included generating AutoCAD models for mask designs and fabricating masters/devices via photolithography. Experience includes surface preparation (piranha etching techniques, plasma coating, silanization, HMDS vapor treatment), spincoating SU-8 photoresist to specific thicknesses, careful heating/cooling procedures, UV exposure and alignment, development, PDMS preparation and baking, and device testing using fluorescent microbeads.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Assisted in design of new eCommerce website. Developed method of streamlining and standardizing product information into usable website database. Accompanied sales engineers on calls to inspect installed product.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Project management intern•Developed processes to streamline transition from raw site audit to useable bulk data•Utilized Excel programming to speed up process•Relayed project updates from EMC to customer with site-specific information•Developed AutoCAD drawings to assist in site audits

Master Of Business Administration (Mba), Medical Industry Leadership

Master Of Science (M.S.), Bioengineering

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Bioengineering

Activities and Societies: Biomedical Engineering Society, Acacia Fraternity, Illini Wakeboard Club