Richard Besserman, M.D., Founder and CSO

Dr. Besserman serves as Zxerex’s Chief Science Officer. Prior to launching Zxerex, Dr. Besserman founded two technology companies. His business career includes medical electronics, occupational health surveillance software, bioinformatics, workplace safety, and risk management. 

Besserman developed medical instruments used by Fortune 100 companies. Thereafter, he formed Infogen Corporation and developed a comprehensive computerized occupational-health surveillance software system focused on mitigating occupational health risk and cost containment.  After Infogen was acquired by Optimalcare and Quantum Health Resources, Besserman joined Arizona State University. With the ASU support, he and his partner, Rick Dale, co-founded Zxerex Corporation to refine impairment detection intellectual property developed with help from two neuroscientists at Barrow Neurological Institute.

Dr. Besserman holds a Master of Science in Technology from Arizona State University (ASU) and a Doctorate in Medicine (MD) from New York Medical College.

Gregory R. Schwimer, COO/CTO

Greg Schwimer brings over 20 years of technology experience to his role as CTO at Zxerex. He has wielded his craft at a multitude of companies including GoDaddy.com, Charles Schwab, GE Capital, Farenheit 451, Merck, The Prudential, Freeport-McMoran, 7e7, Netigy, and others. Greg is a proven technology leader and entrepreneur capable of playing "across the field" and down into the weeds with any technology or business vertical. He has built and operated global MPLS service provider networks, content delivery networks, massive DDoS mitigation systems and infrastructure, hosting platforms, cloud infrastructure, storage systems, data centers, security infrastructure, and more. He is a hands-on technologist and insists on being directly involved in all projects, lending his experience, insight, and leadership. 

In 2003 Greg joined GoDaddy.com where he held a variety of positions during his 11-year tenure with the company. His most prominent role was that of Chief Architect. He and his team took the lead on innovation and green-field product development, with many patents awarded to the members of his team. Greg is sole inventor on 4 awarded patents. Most of the products conceived during his tenure are still in production at GoDaddy today. 

In August 2014, Greg successfully launched his own company, 7e7, which he grew from nothing to over $2M in annual revenue in 18 months with no external investments taken. In Fall of 2016, Greg was recruited by the founder and CEO of Console Connect, located in Silicon Valley. There he took on the executive role of Chief Network Officer, helping the company gain much-needed leadership over the core of their business and technology operation. In fall of 2017, he assisted in the successful sale of the company and helped land a majority of his co-workers with jobs at the acquiring companies.

Todd Ostrander, Strategic Advisor

Over the past 30 years, Todd Ostrander has developed an ability to extract value from otherwise uninteresting technology. Mr. Ostrander is a visionary with the ability to simplify complex problems and turn them into significant market opportunities. While he has a broad range of skills from finance to procurement, strategic marketing and product strategy, his core functional expertise is in bringing new products to existing markets as well as identifying and creating new market opportunities with specific focus on go-to-market, intellectual property, and capitalization strategies. With this background, he joins Merit Harbor Capital with the ability to sit side-by-side with the CEO of the companies he serves and clearly understand and articulate the path forward to mutual success. Collectively, Todd has raised nearly $100mm for his own companies and created in excess of $1bn in market value throughout his career. Technologies that Todd has been responsible for bringing to market are core to the software and infrastructure used to run today’s biggest companies.

Todd has taken four (4) companies from the company creation stage through Institutional/VC investment.  His experience gives him the ability to focus his efforts on (1) Technology, Media and Communications; (2) Electronics / Audio; (3) E-Commerce/SaaS related technologies and Digital Infrastructure; and (4) Tech-Enabled Healthcare services.

Todd is a Registered Securities Principal, and holds the series 82 and 63 licenses and is a Managing Director with JD Merit & Company and is responsible for sourcing and managing deal flow in the middle market for companies between $20mm and $200mm in enterprise value. Todd is the Lead for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice for the firm and is also Co-Lead for the TMT Practice for CDI Global, a Global investment bank that JDM is affiliated with over 130 bankers in 30 countries.

Todd is a committed husband and father of two grown men and a college aged young woman. He loves to spend time with his wife of over 30 years and family boating, golfing, hiking, and following the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Seattle Mariners, Washington Huskies and Seattle Seahawks. Mr. Ostrander currently sits on the Board of Directors of Lockr.io and Sterile Edge, Inc.