Who's who

3 Houston innovators to know this week

This week's Houston innovators to know include Megan Eddings and Amanda Cotler of Accel Lifestyle and Brad Burke of Rice Alliance. Photos courtesy

It seems like 2020 is the year of the pivot and taking what the world has thrown at you —from pandemics to oil gluts — and making something out of what you have.

This week's innovators to know include a Houston startup flipping the switch on production to make face masks to the Rice Alliance re-envisioning an annual event that usually takes place at a global conference.

Megan Eddings and Amanda Cotler of Accel Lifestyle

Photos courtesy

When Megan Eddings and Amanda Cotler saw the CDC was recommending medical professionals wear bandanas or strips of cloth when surgical face masks weren't available, they had an idea.

The duo behind Accel Lifestyle, a Houston-based athletic wear startup that has a bacteria-resistent fabric, hopped on a call to see how they could rework their supply chain to quickly pivot to making face masks.

When setting up the company, Eddings, Accel's founder, made it a priority to avoid sweatshops, and she set up her supply chain to be completely within the United States — something that's been beneficial to the company's COVID pivot.

"If we did not have a 100 percent domestic supply chain, there's no way we could have done this," Eddings says.

Eddings and Cotler joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to share the story of how Accel went from deciding to make the masks to selling them by the thousands to Houston Methodist.

"When you think of face masks, you wouldn't think about activewear or thinking of Accel being a part of the fight against coronavirus," Cotler says. However, that might no longer be the case for the company now. Click here to learn more and to stream the podcast episode.

Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship

Photo via alliance.rice.edu

Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship typically hosts their Energy Tech Venture Day from the one of the halls within NRG Arena at the annual Offshore Technology Conference. However, the conference that attracts thousands of people from around the world, much like so many events, was canceled due to coronavirus.

But Brad Burke and his team at the Rice Alliance turned to tech to introduce the first virtual event, which then took place on Thursday, May 7. Burke introduced the event that had 39 startups that represented 11 different states and six different countries, 13 call Houston their HQ.

"We had many startups and corporations reach out to us and ask us if we could go ahead with the event in a virtual format, so that's how we ended up where we are today," says Burke. Click here to read more.

Trending News

Building Houston

 
 

now at the helm

Houston medical device startup names new CEO

Houston-based Saranas has tapped a new leader amidst push to commercialize bleed detection technology. Photo via LinkedIn

Houston-based medical device company Saranas has tapped a veteran of the healthcare industry as its new CEO.

Mike MacKinnon most recently was president and partner at Madison Ventures +, a private equity firm based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The firm invests in companies in healthcare, real estate, finance, and other sectors.

Before joining Madison Ventures +, MacKinnon was CEO of Zidan Medical, a startup focused on treatment of airway lesions in patients with early stage lung cancer. He served in that role from 2019 to 2023.

Earlier, he was CEO of ROX Medical, a medical device company specializing in minimally invasive vascular therapy for patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure. He held that role from 2018 to 2019. He previously worked at Philips North America, Volcano, AtheroMed, Hansen Medical, Access Closure, and FoxHollow Technologies.

In a news release, Dan Wolterman, chairman of Saranas’ board and former president and CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System, calls MacKinnon “an accomplished executive with an impressive record of bringing disruptive technology to market, guiding strategy, and driving significant growth.”

Now president and CEO of Nashua, New Hampshire-based medical device company Conformal Medical, James Reinstein was president and CEO of Saranas from 2020 to 2022. Prior to Reinstein, Zaffer Syed held that position from 2017 to 2020. He's still an adviser for the company and recently announced his role as entrepreneur in residence at the Texas Medical Center.

Saranas is working on commercializing its Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System, touted as the first and only system FDA-approved bleeding detection system for procedures involving blood vessels. It is designed to detect bleeds early, enabling physicians to reduce medical risks and potentially avoid costly medical problems.

“Bleeding remains a common issue during and after endovascular procedures and can result in life-threatening complications,” says MacKinnon.

Since being founded in 2013, Saranas has treated over 1,200 patients with its device and has received $29.2 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. This includes a $12.8 million Series B round that Saranas got in 2021 from Chicago-based Baird Capital and Austin-based S3 Ventures.

The Early Bird device was developed at Houston’s Texas Heart Institute. The FDA approved the device in 2019.

Trending News