Our Story

Tim Early, CPP, MBA

President

As the President and Co-Founder of Network Partners, Tim offers a unique perspective on how companies can exceed business and customer goals with smarter staffing and better processes — a principle that serves as the foundation of Network Partners. Tim started his career in packaging engineering and quality assurance engineering at Cordis Corporation, and has spent the last 25 years working in the medical device industry. Tim specializes in operations, quality control, R&D and senior management, and has held leadership roles with Zimmer, Millstone Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation and Dupont Tyvek®. Thanks to his background, Tim helps companies develop and maintain strategies that keep them at the forefront of business opportunity and innovation.

Karen Polkinghorne, MBA

VP Sales & Marketing

Karen leads Network Partners’ sales and marketing efforts, creating critical connections between the company’s community of experts and their clients. Karen started her career as a packaging engineer for Schneider and Smith & Nephew, and has spent more than 25 years growing her experience in the medical device industry. Karen has served in engineering and marketing leadership roles with Dupont Tyvek®, Bemis and Onguard Systems.

Karen has extensive knowledge of industry standards, test methods and best practices related to medical packaging (ISO 11607, ASTM, AAMI, AORN). She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Packaging from Michigan State University and a Master of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Kelli Anderson, RAC

VP Client Solutions | Regulatory Affairs

As Vice President of Client Solutions for Regulatory Affairs, Kelli brings a passion for delivering regulatory strategies in line with business directives. Kelli started her career in the orthopedics industry and has spent the last 15 years in regulatory affairs. She’s had several regulatory affairs and leadership roles with Tech2Med, Zimmer, Inc., Boston Scientific Neuromodulation, OrthoCompliance, Second-Sight and Stryker Navigation.

As an orthopedic industry professional, Kelli has deep knowledge of regulatory strategy, manufacturing product transfers for the US, EU and Canada, and new product development support. Kelli earned a Bachelor of Administration in Political Science from Hope College, and a Masters in Regulatory Science from The University of Southern California. She also has Regulatory Affairs Certification in the US (2006) and in the EU (2007).

Karen Greene, CPP

VP Client Solutions | Medical Device

Thanks to her extensive knowledge and experience in the medical packaging industry, Karen joined Network Partners as the Vice President of Client Solutions for Medical Device. Karen started her career in engineering management and packaging technology and has spent more than 20 years learning the ins and outs of the medical device industry. She’s served in several engineering and leadership roles with Edwards Lifesciences, Selzer Nutritional Technologies and Life Pack Labs.

Karen is an expert in terminally sterilized medical device packaging and ISO 11607, “Packaging for Terminally Sterilized Medical Devices, Part 1 and Part 2” and in temperature controlled packaging design, development and validation. She’s published many packaging publications and papers that have been included in Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging News, Health Care Packaging and Packaging Digest. Karen earned a Bachelor of Administration in Biology from the College of the Holy Cross, a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials and Design Packaging I and II from Rutgers University and a Professional Certificate in Engineering Management from the University of California.

Dr. Jane E. Severin, PhD, MBA, CPP

VP Technical Solutions

As Vice President of Technical Solutions, Jane brings a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to Network Partners. Jane started her distinguished career in consumer healthcare products and has spent more than 20 years as a Certified Packaging Professional. She’s served in several medical device and pharmaceutical roles with Bayer Corporation, Cardinal Health, Schering-Plough (Merck) Corporation, Oliver-Tolas Healthcare Packaging, Dupont Protection Solutions and Tyvek®.

As an IoPP Certified Packaging Professional, Jane holds a BA and a PhD in packaging from Michigan State University and an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management. In addition, Jane is Six-Sigma certified, holds two medical device patents and has been an instructor at Michigan State University’s School of Packaging, where she’s currently an adjunct faculty member.

Jane has published many packaging articles and papers for the likes of The Journal of Testing and Evaluation, Medical Device Manufacturing and Technology, Global Healthcare-Advanced Medical Technologies and the American Journal of Infection Control. In addition, she has delivered seminars at various packaging industry conferences.

Chris Heckert

Director of Client Solutions | Labeling

Chris leads Network Partners Labeling Group helping Medical Device and Pharma companies bridge the gap wherever resources are needed to execute labeling projects. Chris started his medical device packaging career with DuPont, designing packaging and labeling for X-ray films. After the digital tide claimed the X-ray industry, he joined orthopedic giant Zimmer and spent 16 years in Packaging Development, eventually leading the group before joining Network Partners in 2016. In addition to deep hands-on knowledge of ISO 11607, Chris, a graduate of Michigan State University, led Zimmer’s efforts to deploy a Global Labeling System at their sites throughout the U.S and Europe, including a delayed, country specific labeling at their European Distribution Center.

Chris enjoys most craft beers and a good science fiction read. He’s married to the wonderful Shelly, has three adult children and is currently the guardian of two cats and a distinguished tank of freshwater fish.

Sam Cleaveland

Director of Client Solutions | Packaging Engineering

Georgia Mohr

Director of Marketing & Sales | Pharma

As Director of Sales & Marketing – Pharma, Georgia focuses on developing a strong business model and marketing campaign that resonates with pharmaceutical clients.  With over 25 years of wide ranging industry experience, including pharmaceutical packaging and adhesive technology, Georgia brings a unique combination of in-depth market and product knowledge as well as historical perspective on the pharmaceutical packaging industry.   She has held leadership roles for Bemis Healthcare Packaging, Alcoa/Reynolds, Dow Chemical (formerly Morton International) and Henkel (formerly Lord Corporation).  Georgia is a graduate of North Carolina State University where she earned a BS in Materials Engineering and she holds a Master Degree in Project Management from Western Carolina University

Harold Reisman

Principal Packaging Consultant | Packaging Engineering

As Principal Packaging Consultant for Packaging Engineering, Harold helps organizations find the right packaging engineering expertise while contributing to the success of their strategic initiatives. Harold began his career in packaging design and development and has spent more than 20 years in the medical device industry. He’s served in many packaging and leadership roles with Boston Scientific, CR Bard and Bausch & Lomb.

Harold earned a BS in Packaging from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), an MA in Packaging from RIT and a BS in Psychology from Niagara University. Harold is a lifetime Certified Packaging Professional (CPP).

Tim Wech, M.S., PE

Director of Program Management Solutions

Tim Wech has over 17 years of product development leadership experience and has successfully commercialized a wide range of class 2 disposable and class 3 active implantable products in the medical device industry.  A former PMO manager, Tim is a strong advocate for PM process standardization and the use of visualization tools to clearly communicate project information throughout an organization.  As a facilitator and coach, he excels at helping widely distributed teams collaboratively create robust project plans and effective risk management strategies to start strong and stay on the right track throughout the development lifecycle.  Tim holds an MS in Construction Engineering and Management from the University of Michigan, a BS in Marine Engineering from the United States Coast Guard Academy, and is a licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer.