Definiens Management Team

Thomas P. Heydler

Chief Executive Officer
Chairman of the Executive Board

Thomas P. Heydler, Chief Executive Officer of Definiens AG, joined Definiens in 2004. He brings more than 20 years of entrepreneurial expertise and in-depth knowledge of global software business to Definiens.

Mr. Heydler was President and CEO at Barcelona Design Inc. based in San Jose, USA. Before joining Barcelona, Mr. Heydler served as President and CEO for InterPro Business Solutions, Inc., USA. He was Vice President and Executive Officer at Documentum Inc., a  leading software and solutions  provider with specific focus on the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry.

He built and drove Documentum’s European operations and assumed worldwide responsibility for Marketing and Documentum’s Application Business subsequently. Prior to this engagement, he served as Vice President and General Manager Europe for Cadence Design Systems and held senior leadership positions at Siemens AG.

Mr. Heydler holds a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in Electric Engineering and Computer Science from the Technical University in Munich.

Dr. Markus Rinecker

Chief Financial Officer
Member of the Executive Board

Dr. Markus Rinecker, Chief Financial Officer, joined Definiens in July 2009. He brings more than 10 years of entrepreneurial and finance experience as well as in-depth clinical expertise to the company.

Prior to joining Definiens, Dr. Rinecker served as Managing Director at one of the leading surgery hospitals in Munich. He managed 350 employees, had full P&L responsibility, established a new department for open heart surgery and streamlined organizational processes to increase the organization’s profitability.

Furthermore, he evaluated potential acquisition targets and participated in share deal transactions for the hospital chain Humaine Kliniken GmbH. He was also actively involved in the start-up venture ProHealth AG which opened Europe’s first full clinical proton radiation centre for cancer therapy in March 2009.

Dr. Rinecker holds a Doctoral Degree in Medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich as well as a Masters Degree in Business Administration of INSEAD, France and Singapore.

Prof. Dr. Gerd Binnig

Founder and Chief Technology Officer

In 1986 Prof. Binnig, along with his colleague Prof. Heinrich Rohrer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in scanning tunneling microscopy. Prof. Binnig and Prof. Rohrer were recognized for developing the powerful microscopy technique, which can form an image of individual atoms on a metal or semiconductor surface by scanning the tip of a needle over the surface at a height of only a few atomic diameters.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Prof. Binnig studied at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1973 and his doctorate degree in 1978.

That year he joined a physics research group at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory. Prof. Binnig was assigned to IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. from 1985 to 1986, and was a visiting professor at Stanford University from 1987 to 1988.

Merrilyn Datta, Ph.D.

Chief Marketing Officer

Merrilyn Datta brings 15 years of commercialization experience within the life sciences and biotechnology industry. Datta joins Definiens from Life Technologies, a 3.7 billion dollar company where she held a variety of roles in marketing leadership, strategy, and mergers/acquisitions. Most recently she was Chief Content Officer, responsible for content and marketing in digital interactive channels. In addition to being an innovative marketing leader, she has also played a leading role in multiple company integrations, commercialization of emerging technologies, and she established the office of innovation management and portfolio strategy for Life Technologies. In her role as Chief Marketing Officer, she is responsible for all aspect of marketing, including, product marketing, corporate brand, and marketing communications.

Datta has a B.S. in Biology from Emory University, Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University and an M.B.A. in Strategy from University of California.

Dr. Martin Baatz

Vice President, Technical Field Operations &
Chief Knowledge Officer

Martin Baatz is managing the worldwide technical field operations at Definiens, including the professional services for tissue diagnostic and life sciences solutions, the technical support, and the technical sales. He also is responsible for the education and certification program provided by the Definiens Academy, for nurturing the Definiens user community and for managing the know-how concerning applications and the practice of Definiens’ technology and products.

Dr. Baatz joined Definiens in 1996 and was holding various positions in R&D, services and business development. For many years he was responsible for the R&D of the image analysis technology at Definiens. He was deeply involved in building up Definiens IP portfolio and directed many deployments of life sciences and tissue diagnostic solutions with a focus on digital pathology. Through his career he acted as vice president marketing and as general manager of the business unit life sciences at Definiens.

Martin Baatz studied biology in Darmstadt and Vienna and did his PhD-research with a Konrad-Lorenz-stipend at the Yale University, CT. He additionally holds a pre-degree in economics & engineering of the Technical University Darmstadt.

Thomas Colarusso

Vice President, Business Development Tissue Diagnostics

Thomas Colarusso joined Definiens in 2006.  He brings more than 14 years of bio-analytical software sales and business development experience in the life sciences industry.  He also has 4 years of experience managing Hematology & Oncology Research Lab.  Mr. Colarusso is responsible for expanding Definiens' Tissue Diagnostics business.  Previously, Mr. Colarusso managed the North American Life Sciences sales and professional services organization and established a large strategic account base, which covered diverse technical and business requirements of the pharmaceutical and medical research industry.

Prior to his work with Definiens, Mr. Colarusso was Director of Strategic Pharmaceutical Accounts for Tripos in St Louis MO, a leading provider of Cheminformatics & Molecular Modeling software solutions used in BioPharma Drug Discovery Research and Development.

Previous positions include Regional Sales Account Manager for Nonlinear Dynamics Inc in Durham, NC, a provider of analytical proteomics and genomics imaging-based software solutions for life sciences research, where he developed the company’s Eastern U.S. business. Mr. Colarusso has co-authored several medical journal articles.

Mr. Colarusso holds a B.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire at Durham.

Oliver Lehner

Vice President, Sales EMEA & APAC

Oliver Lehner joined Definiens in 2009. In his role as Vice President Sales EMEA & APAC, Mr. Lehner is responsible for building and managing the sales organization for EMEA and APAC. Mr. Lehner is recognized as an expert in the global Healthcare IT sector with experience as Marketing Director for the global PACS division of Siemens Healthcare and in marketing with Carestream Health, where he focused on the European market. Prior to joining Definiens, Mr. Lehner worked for more than five years at Visage Imaging as Senior Director of Sales and Business Development, where he implemented growth strategies for the company’s EMEA region and oversaw its key accounts.

Before that, he served for several years as Managing Director of Radin, a subsidiary of Visage Imaging. Mr. Lehner holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences and a post-graduate degree from London Business School’s Senior Executive Program.

Arno Schaepe

Vice President, Product Development

Arno Schaepe joined Definiens in 1998. He now has more than 10 years of experience building software products around Definiens Cognition Network Technology.

Mr. Schaepe built the initial version of the Definiens Product Suite, eCongition 1.0, and from there continuously managed the company’s product and technology development around the Definiens Enterprise Image Intelligence Suite and Definiens XD product lines. He led the Definiens Platform Development Team for more than 9 years before switching to the role of Chief Architect.

Driving the continuous development of Definiens software solutions and the underlying technology, he is author and co-author of several patents regarding the Definiens Cognition Network Technology and CNL language. Mr. Schaepe holds a Diplom degree in Mathematics from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.