William F. Berens

Mr. Berens’ career includes over 25 years of financial and general management experience. He has held leadership positions as CFO or CEO and been involved in a range of industries including Computer Software, Heavy Manufacturing, Health Care and Service Sector businesses.  

Starting his career as a consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton in San Francisco, Mr. Berens conducted assignments in strategic planning and evaluation and design/implementation of improved financial management systems. As CFO and VP of Finance for American Machinery Inc, a heavy manufacturing company in Cincinnati, he led the design and implementation of new information systems including proprietary shop floor control systems integrated with ERP and proprietary financial systems resulting in reduction of investment in inventory and receivables from $30 million to $15 million and improvement in operating profit from 5% to 11%. As CFO and VP of Finance for Insurance Systems of America Inc, a high-growth insurance software development firm in Atlanta, he recruited and developed financial and IT organizations, implemented new planning and management reporting systems and designed formal expense control approaches contributing to profitable revenue growth averaging 60% annually and return on investment exceeding 30% per year. Bill subsequently negotiated a leveraged buy out of a small financial software division of the company and led the company’s return to profitable operations as its CEO. As CEO and acting CFO of PakStar USA LLC, a start-up media replication & fulfillment company in Atlanta, he acquired and implemented integrated business systems including all financials, budgeting, and inventory management. The visibility and control provided by these systems contributed to the company’s profitable first year of standalone operation.

Mr. Berens earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BBA in Accounting & Finance from Ohio University. He received a direct commission as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army. He and his wife reside in Norcross, Georgia.

Michael Statham

Mr. Statham’s career includes over ten years of sales, marketing and business development. He began with Investment Banking in the Biotech industry and then moved fully into the Life Science industry. For the last eight years, Mr. Statham has held leadership positions ranging from Vice President of Business Development to President within the Life Science industry.

Beginning his career in investment banking at J.P. Turner & CO in Atlanta, Mr. Statham specialized in the Biotech segment. His position afforded him a broad knowledge of the Life Science industry. Through this knowledge, Mr. Statham sought a position within the industry and began in sales at Marsh Bio products in Rochester, NY. MarshBio was a distributor of Life Science consumables. During his first 12 months, Mr. Statham quickly grew his territory from a zero sales number to generating over $1 million in annual revenue. The growth of MarshBio led to an aquisition by ABgene, an Apogent company. This afforded Mr. Statham the ability to specialize and assist in launching a newly formed reagent sales and marketing team.  Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to a Southeastern managerial role. During his tenure at Marsh and ABgene, he effectively negotiated the first major reagent account as well as the single highest grossing account in the company history. During this time of growth under the ABgene name, the Apogent group was aquired by Fisher Scientific. Mr. Statham remained through the merger to fulfill his roles. Once completed, he accepted a position with a new venture. 

Mr. Statham is a visionary and an entrepreneur at heart. This ambition lead to his acceptance of the position as Vice President of SEI, a North Carolina based custom solutions company that was serving the Life Science industry. During his time there, he successfully wrote three patents and oversaw the implementation of custom projects at Merck, Eli Lilly, and GSK. Almost one year after launching, Mr. Statham and his brother, John Statham, approached the current partners about buying the sole rights to the company and effectively negotiated its sale.  

With a niche in customization, the duo renamed the company Scigenix and launched custom projects in both reagent manufacturing and injection molding.  

Mr. Statham resides in Atlanta with his wife and three young children. He is an avid triathalete and enjoys serving the families of www.lighthousefamilyretreat.org.