LifeScience Alley names two new board directors

Minnesota’s LifeScience Alley, a medical device and life sciences industry trade group and lobbying organization, named two new officers to its board of directors Wednesday.

They areJoe Galatowitsch, founder and CEO of Dymedex Consulting LLC, and Robert Kieval, founder and chief technology officer of CVRx Inc.

Galatowitschhas more than 25 years of experience in medical and medical device marketing, market development, strategic planning and business management. He spent seven years at Medtronic, most recently in the post of strategic marketing leader. Before his stint at Medtronic, Galatowitsch held various positions ’ in project marketing and strategic planning ’ at 3M over a 19-year period. Now he runs Dymedex Consulting, a privately held consulting practice in medical technology market development.

Kieval has more than 19 years of medical device industry experience. His previous positions include business development director at ProtoStar Inc. and, like Galatowitsch, Kieval also worked at Medtronic — he served asdivisional medical director at the world’s largest medical device company. Later, during his tenure as CVRx’s CEO from 2001 to 2006, the company raised more than $60 million in private equity financing.

The two additions to the board follow the departure of two other board members since the beginning of 2011, but are not meant as replacements, clarified Ryan Barid, a LifeScience Alley spokesman. The directors who left are Terry Kerby, vice president, strategy and Lean Six Sigmaat3M Health Care; and Andy LaFrence, CFO at CNS Therapeutics.