Hearing Testing Systems Business Plan

At this time, Auris Solutions is composed of 4 key individuals. They are described below.

Chief Scientific Consultant – Sarah Plauger, PhD – Sarah Plauger is the Chief Scientific Consultant. She is currently a researcher at the Waisman Center, as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Plauger has over 20 years of experience within the hearing care industry and has published over 27 peer reviewed articles in numerous industry journals. Dr. Plauger serves as a highly regarded consultant for the Cochlear Corporation, the Department of Otolaryngology at UC-Irvine, and the Laboratory of Physiology at the University of Oxford, UK.

Software Developer – Gongqiang Yu, PhD – Gongqiang Yu is the software developer behind CRISP. He is currently a researcher at the Waisman Center under the supervision of Sarah Plauger. Mr. Yu has post-doctoral training and a Ph.D. from the Department of Physics at the National University of Singapore. His area of research is psychoacoustics of directional hearing, with an emphasis on the precedence effect.

Marketing Manager – Kim-Anh To, MBA – Kim-Anh is the company’s marketing manager and co-founder. Ms. To has an MBA with a focus in Entrepreneurship/Marketing as well as a degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kim-Anh has over 7 years experience as a small business manager and 2 years of business consulting experience.

Business Manager – Jose O. Rivera, MBA, BSCE – Jose is the company’s business manager and co-founder. Mr. Rivera has an MBA with a focus in Entrepreneurship from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a degree in engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. He has extensive experience in managing multimillion-dollar operations and 2 years of consulting experience developing growth and marketing strategies for companies in Wisconsin.

Upon achieving a sustainable growth, Auris Solutions seeks to hire key employees to further advance the company.

6.1 Organizational Structure

Jose Orlando Rivera, Business Manager, is responsible for overall business management. All functional operations and their respective managers or employees report directly to Jose Orlando. Kim-Anh To, Marketing Manager, is responsible for all the marketing and sales efforts. Sales and marketing consultants will report to her. Both Dr Litovsky and Dr. Yu are engaged as the company’s consultants, which means that they will not collect salaries and benefits. Instead, they both will receive professional service compensations when consulting services are incurred.

As co-owners, Jose and Kim-Anh jointly develop business strategy and long-term plans. Jose is strong on creating cost-effective strategies, and management of operations and human/capital resources. Kim-Anh is strong on marketing and micro-management.

6.2 Management Team

Resumes:

José Orlando Rivera

Kim-Anh To

Ruth Y. Litovsky, PhD.

• CRISP Grants to Date

Gongqiang Yu, Ph.D.

[Proprietary and confidential information removed.]

6.3 Management Team Gaps

The one significant management gap remaining is a CEO with extensive business and industry experience. We hope that with the help of external investors, we will be able to fill this key position as soon as possible. In the meantime, Auris Solutions’ management has assembled a highly respected team of hearing industry professionals to serve on its Advisory Board. We believe that these individuals will contribute in closing the technological and business gaps that our company has at the time. They are described below.

Fan-Gang Zeng, Ph.D. – Dr. Zeng is Research Director in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, and Director of the Hearing and Speech Research Laboratory at the University of California, Irvine. He holds a tenure Associate Professorship in four different departments including, Anatomy and Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering, Cognitive Sciences, and Otolaryngology. Dr. Zeng has gained an international reputation for his research in neural prostheses, auditory perception, and speech processing. He has more than 50 publications in these areas including 2 papers in Science magazine and 3 patents in the design of cochlear implants.

Sigfrid D. Soli, Ph.D. – Dr. Soli is currently VP of Technology Transfer and Head of the Department of Human Communication Sciences and Devices, at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, CA. He is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and has been chair to numerous NIDCD review panels. Dr. Soli also still serves as a consultant to the Committee on Disability Determination for Individuals with Hearing Impairment, National Research Council. Dr. Soli has published more than 30 articles relating to speech and hearing, especially with regards to electrical hearing mechanisms such as hearing aids. Additionally, Dr. Soli holds 17 patents, many related to the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) that he developed in 1993.

Jane Reger Madell, Ph.D. – Dr. Madell is the Director of the Hearing and Learning Center and Co-Director of the Cochlear Implant Center of the Beth Israel Medical Center. Dr. Madell is also Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Madell is a licensed audiologist and is certified to practice in 3 states. Dr. Madell is a fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association, and was Chair of a Special Interest Group on Hearing in Childhood. Additionally, she serves on the Editorial Board of Audiology Today, an industry trade journal. Dr. Madell has published over 60 articles and books, primarily focused on hearing in children.

Mark Clear – Mr. Clear co-founded Integrated Media Solutions in 1995, and is the current CEO. Consulting extensively with clients in health care, financial services, media, technology, manufacturing, and retail sectors, Mark has a solid familiarity with current Internet issues and trends, and experience matching new technologies to real-world applications. His specialty is analyzing customer needs, helping them re-think the way they do business, and recommending Internet solutions that create efficiencies in their business processes. Mark has 18 years of experience in technology and customer service. His background includes ten years of experience in technical writing, database development, and system administration. He also serves on the board of the Four Lakes chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, and writes a periodic column on Internet business issues for the Capital Times in Madison.