Bill Athenson

Chief Executive Officer

Bill leads Third Pole, bringing over 25 years of experience creating profitable organizations within the pharma, life sciences, medical device, molecular diagnostics and healthcare software markets on a global basis. Most recently, Athenson served as CEO of Three Lakes Partners, conducting impact funding of pioneering drug discovery, diagnostics and medical device-based technologies and collaborations focused on accelerating therapies and improving care for patients living with Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Bill has served on the Board of the Open Source Imaging Consortium, with the goal of leveraging AI to create an imaging biomarker that accurately detects fibrotic disease progression in the lungs. He has extensive experience in building and leading high performing cross functional device development, operations, and commercial groups from product concept through commercial execution across U.S., Europe, and Asia, with American Hospital Supply, Baxter Healthcare, Allegiance Healthcare and Cardinal Health. Bill received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University in New York.

Elizabeth Holmberg

Chief Financial Officer

Elizabeth oversees the planning and execution of strategies to meet financial and organizational objectives for Third Pole. Previously, Elizabeth served as Vice President of Finance at MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company whose lead product, Afrezza®, an inhaled prandial insulin, was approved in 2014, where she was responsible for financial operations and strategic partnering. Prior to MannKind, Elizabeth was the Chief Financial Officer for Ikaria after spending many years in finance and strategic planning roles of increasing responsibility with Ohmeda, Becton Dickinson and INO Therapeutics. INO Therapeutics was the first company to gain FDA approval for inhaled nitric oxide therapy, prior to being acquired by Ikaria. Elizabeth joined INO Therapeutics prior to the approval of INOmax® and had direct responsibility for the accounting, finance and planning functions for the company through their transition from a clinical start-up to a fully integrated, commercial pharmaceutical company. Elizabeth received an MBA from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from The William Paterson University of New Jersey.

Ziad Elghazzawi

Chief Technology Officer

Ziad leads the engineering division, including Systems, Software, Electrical, Mechanical and V&V departments, leveraging 28+ years of experience in the research, design, development and commercialization of high volume electromechanical medical device platforms, accessories and disposables. Prior to joining Third Pole, served as VP of Engineering at Respiratory Motion and Mycronic and held advancing leadership positions at companies including Siemens, Zoll, and Medtronics. Currently has 48+ issued patents. Ziad holds an MBA from University of Massachusetts, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and a B.S. in Physics from Lebanese University.

Philip Silkoff, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Philip is an experienced senior pharmaceutical physician who leads our clinical and regulatory efforts. Phil previously held the positions of Senior Medical Director at Janssen R&D and Medical Director at AstraZeneca. Phil has overseen multiple clinical studies in asthma, COPD, interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis. Prior to industry, Phil was Associate Professor at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado. Phil is a renowned expert in exhaled nitric oxide measurement and holds several patents in the field. Dr. Silkoff holds an MBBS in Respiratory Medicine from University College London and an MBBS in Medicine from the University of London.