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Management Team

Gordon M. Olsen, Chairman
Olivia Ho Cheng, CEO and President
Steven J. James, Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer
Xiaole Hong, Ph.D., Vice President, Product Development
Ken T. Cheng, Ph.D. , Vice President, Manufacturing
Debbie Thomas, Vice President, Marketing
Elaine H. McCarthy, Vice President of Administration
Steven E. Harms, Medical Director
Michael S. Traister, Vice President/General Counsel

Gordon M. Olsen, Chairman
Mr. Olsen has been a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since April 1999. He was a founder and the President and CEO of the former Pacific Republic Capital, an investment firm that was located in Newport Beach, California that acquired the Company in April 1999. Concurrently, from March 1998 to June 2003, he was a director of Accuray Incorporated, which manufacturers and markets the CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System.  Previously, he was an Executive Vice President of Far East National Bank from 1991 through 1997.  Earlier he was with First Interstate Bank (now Wells Fargo Bank) for 20 years and then served for four years as Chief Financial Officer of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYE:VRX, formerly ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). Mr. Olsen is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a B.S. degree in Business Management.  He is also is a graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School.
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Olivia Ho Cheng, President and CEO
Olivia Ho Cheng is the President and CEO of Aurora Imaging Technology, Inc., a company that is revolutionizing breast cancer detection and diagnosis with the Aurora 1.5 Tesla Dedicated Breast MRI System with Bilateral SpiralRODEO, the only, FDA-cleared, dedicated breast MRI system designed specifically and only for breast imaging.

Cheng, a Taiwan native, earned her master’s degree in economics at UCLA. She started her career as an analyst at Getty Oil Company in Los Angeles and then entered banking in the mid-1980s to pursue a career with more opportunities for women. From 1991 to 1997, she served as a Senior Vice President of Far East National Bank in Southern California. In early 1998, she, with two partners, formed Pacific Republic Capital, a private equity fund specializing with investments in medical technology companies. During this period, she became known to medical companies desiring to expand the market for their products abroad and, particularly in Asia and the Pacific Rim countries, for her international trade acumen and expertise. Her attraction to international trade commenced while in banking as she assisted companies with working capital financing guaranteed by the Export Import Bank. Also, as a result of becoming known for promoting exporting activity for U.S. companies, she was invited to be a White House advisor on export policies.

In addition to her medical technology experience with Aurora, Cheng also has served as a member of the board of directors of two other medical technology companies, Accuray Incorporated (NASDAQ “ARAY” with market capitalization exceeding $1 billion) and The Trylon Corporation. Accuray is a global leader in the field of radiosurgery. Its CyberKnife System is the world’s first and only commercially available intelligent radiosurgery system designed to precisely treat tumors anywhere in the body. In her role as a board member of Accuray, from 1998 through 2002, she actively assisted with its preparation for an initial public offering (IPO). She was also a part of the Trylon Team that commercialized its cervical cancer-detecting procedure, PapSure. Cheng recognized the innovative and groundbreaking technologies that these companies possessed and assisted them in the cultivation of their markets domestically and internationally.

Today, Cheng is actively involved in leading the expansion of Aurora both domestically and internationally. The Company’s unique Aurora® 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System with Bilateral SpiralRODEO has proven to be a valuable tool in the management of breast cancer for breast care specialists in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast disease. Additionally, the Aurora System includes a fully integrated interventional system that is presently being used primarily for MRI guided biopsies and will eventually be used to guide treatment.

Since aggressive commercialization of the Aurora® 1.5T Dedicated Breast MRI System commenced in 2004, it has been installed in more than 20 breast care centers in the United States, Taiwan and Italy. In addition to the growing market in the United States, the Aurora System is experiencing strong interest from global markets and, therefore, the Company plans to systematically expand internationally. With its growing success and the attention being attracted, Cheng anticipates demand for the Aurora System to accelerate. Among its most compelling benefits, the Aurora System allows radiologists to view with impressive image clarity both breasts, the chest wall and the lymph nodes surrounding the breasts in an integrated manner without compromising quality.

Cheng became CEO of the North Andover, Massachusetts based Aurora in July 2003. She moved from California to Massachusetts so that she could devote her full energy and attention to the growth of the Company. She and her husband, Dr. Ken Cheng, have been married for 26 years. Together they have two grown children, Joshua and Catherine.
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Steven J. James, Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer
Mr. James has served as Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer since January 2003 having joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer in April 1999. From February 1997 to April 1999, Mr. James was Chief Financial and Accounting Officer of Caprius, Inc.  From December 1993 to February 1997, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Medical Diagnostics, Inc. ("MDI"). Mr. James joined MDI in 1988 as Controller, later serving as Vice President of Finance from September 1992 to December 1993, before becoming Chief Financial Officer. Mr. James is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the AICPA and the Massachusetts Society of CPA’s. He is a graduate of Bentley College with a B.S. in Accounting.
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Xiaole Hong, Ph.D., Vice President, Product Development
Dr. Hong joined the company in June 2004 to drive future product advances to the Aurora System. From 1998 until May 2004. Dr. Hong was at ONI Medical Systems, a developer of a dedicated orthopedic MRI system, where he managed product design, software development and clinical installation. Dr. Hong has an extensive background in MR technology and clinical applications, including gradient coils, RF coils, data acquisition, image reconstruction, pulse sequences, magnet design, engineering management, manufacturing management, and quality systems. He received a Masters of Science in Chemical Physics from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (China), a PhD. in Biophysics from Washington University and GSU in Atlanta.
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Ken T. Cheng, Ph.D., Vice President, Manufacturing
Dr. Cheng joined the Company in March 2004. Dr. Cheng has over 20 years extensive experience in product development and manufacturing in surgical, imaging systems and devices.  From 1983 to 2003, Dr. Cheng worked for Cooper Vision Surgical Systems, American Hospital Supply Corporation, Baxter Edward Labs and Microptices Development Lab in divisions that developed and manufactured systems and devices used in ophthalmic, dental, heart and spine surgical operations. He has M.S. degrees from UCLA and Cal State Polyteck University and Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Engineering from UCLA.
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Debbie Thomas, Vice President, Marketing
Ms. Thomas joined the Aurora Imaging Technology in March 2005. Ms. Thomas brings over 18 years extensive experience in the medical device, pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Ms. Thomas has a successful and established track record in strategic brand development and successful campaign execution, global product launch, sales management and sales training. Through prior employment at companies such as Wyeth, SAP and WebMD, Ms. Thomas has developed and executed physician and consumer marketing campaigns for companies such as Boston Scientific, Pfizer, Serono, Phillips Medical Systems, Biogen and Millennium.

Elaine H. McCarthy, Vice President of Administration
Ms. McCarthy has served as Vice President of Administration for Aurora since April of 2004 having joined the company as Director of Human Resources and Administration overseeing the Company’s owned clinic at Faulkner Hospital in 1999. From February 1997 to April 1999 Ms. McCarthy was Vice President of Administration and Human Resources for Caprius Inc. From January 1987 to February 1997 Ms. McCarthy was Vice President of Human Resources and Administration for Medical Diagnostics Inc. Ms. McCarthy is a graduate of Simmons College with a B.A. in Management and has an M.B.A from Suffolk University.
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Steven E. Harms, MD, FACR
Steven E. Harms, MD, FACR is a radiologist at the Breast Center of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR, Clinical Professor of Radiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR and Medical Director of Aurora Imaging Technology in North Andover, MA. His MRI research dates to work in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Lauterbur, the originator of MR and winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2005. Dr. Harms’ numerous awards include the Annual William Beaumont Award by the American Medical Association given annually to the outstanding physician under the age of 50. In 1996, he was recognized as one of the top 100 physicians in the United States and also that same year was named by D Magazine as one of the top 10 physicians in the DFW Metroplex. In 1998, he was awarded the Annual Scientist of the Year by the Komen Foundation. That same year, he was made fellow in the American College of Radiology. He is past-president of the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Physician colleagues voted him for the past six years to the “Best Doctors in America”. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Breast Disease and is Program Chairman for 2007. He has authored over 100 scientific papers, 42 book chapters, and 9 patents.
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Michael S. Traister, Vice President/General Counsel
Mr. Traister has served as Vice President/General Counsel since March 2008. Mr. Traister joined the Company from Polaroid/Petters Consumer Electronics where he served for five years as its Associate General Counsel handling supply chain, IT and corporate matters and commercial and intellectual property disputes and litigation. Prior to Polaroid, Mr. Traister served as the General Counsel of three Nasdaq-listed technology companies, managing the initial public offerings of two of them. Mr. Traister is a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He attended the London School of Economics and graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College with degrees in History and Economics and graduated from Boston University School of Law.
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