Meet the Team

Founder/Chief Executive Officer

Mike joined GemViz in 2022 with over 30 years of development, marketing, business strategy, business development and education experience in the medical device industry. His work experience includes multiple global cross-functional leadership roles at DePuy Synthes, J&J Medical Companies, Wright Medical, and Stryker Orthopaedics. He has been involved in the development and marketing of hip, knee, trauma, foot and ankle, and navigation systems. He has driven multiple successful new product introductions and education strategies. Mike is highly customer focused and drives deep stakeholder engagement to understand needs and bring solutions to market. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Marist College. 

Founder/Chief Operating Officer

Jody Claypool joined GemViz in 2022 with over 20 years of operations and development experience in the medical device industry. His experience includes working with companies such as Zimmer Biomet, Depuy, Wright Medical, Ulrich Medical, among others. He has been involved in the development of products and processes related to soft tissue balancing instrumentation, robotic surgical systems, sensor-based instrumentation, and VR/AR content creation. He was most recently the President and Founder of J.C. Innovations LLC, where he effectively employed a streamlined operational strategy and led teams that developed a variety of medical devices, including the creation of key XR Space intellectual property. Jody compliments the Chief Executive Officer, Michael Cusick, by bringing a focus on processes that enable efficient turnkey solutions for disruptive technology development, while building a highly engaged and passionate team. Jody has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toledo and an MBA from Indiana Institute of Technology. Jody holds over 20 patents.

Founder/Chief Technology Officer

Vinay Tikka joined GemViz in 2022 with over 20+ years of experience in software development and management in different domains, including Digital Health regulated solutions such as Software as Medical Device (SaMD), Connected Health, Smart OR(Operation Room), Patient-Specific products, Robotics, etc. His experience includes working in companies like BrightInsight, and Zimmer Biomet, among others.  At BrightInsight, the leading platform for IoT and regulated solutions, he advised and architected digital health and SaMD solutions for leading BioPharma and MedTech customers leveraging AI/ML, IoT, Cloud, and other technologies. At Zimmer Biomet, he held different roles with increasing responsibilities, including leading teams that built orthopedic-related SaMDs and Digital Health ​ products leveraging AI, Computer Vision, AR/VR, IoT, wearables, Cloud, and other latest technologies that helped physicians, patients, and other internal stakeholders across the globe. 

Prior to working in the MedTech space, he worked in civil engineering and manufacturing domains, building software solutions on top of GPS systems, Robotics systems that are used by engineers, and surveyors all over the globe. He has also worked in research in the areas of autonomous vehicles, smart helmets for welding, and other cutting-edge technologies. Vinay has a Master of Science in Information and Automation Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering.