ABOUT CRL

Senior Management

Tim Sotos
Chairman of the Board/CEO

Mr. Sotos is Chairman of the Board and CEO at Clinical Reference Laboratory.  He has been CEO since 1995 and has been with CRL for over twenty-five years.

He holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A., both from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.

Robert Stout, Ph.D.
President 

Dr. Stout has been with CRL since 1983.

Dr. Stout holds more than ten U.S. Patents in science, including one for immunoassay method and apparatus development (U.S. Patent #4,414,324) and one for methods of determining chronic Hepatitis C infection (U.S. Patent #10,051,253).  He is the author of numerous research and review articles and is a regular presenter at scientific meetings and conferences.

Dr. Stout holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from U.C.L.A. School of Medicine.

Lisa Menninger, M.D., FCAP, FASCP

Laboratory Director

Dr. Menninger is board certified by the American Board of Pathology in Clinical Pathology and is responsible for day to day directorship of CRL’s General and Clinical Trial Laboratories.

Prior to joining CRL in 2010, Dr. Menninger served as a staff pathologist at St. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City. During her time with Saint Luke’s, she provided Medical Laboratory directorship for Saint Luke’s South and Wright Memorial Hospital and served as the Clinical Laboratory Director for the Cell Processing Laboratory at Saint Luke’s Cancer Institute.

Dr. Menninger received her M.D. from Saba University School of Medicine and completed her residency in Clinical Pathology at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System.  She holds active medical licenses in Kansas and Missouri and is a fellow of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).

Cynthia Hicks
Vice President/Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Hicks is responsible for overseeing and managing the accounting and finance functions at CRL.  She has been with CRL since 1988 and has worked in healthcare for over twenty-five years.

Ms. Hicks holds a B.S in Business Administration, Accounting from the University of Missouri, Columbia and has her CPA certificate.

Barry Feingold
Senior Vice President Toxicology and Analytical Services

Mr. Feingold has been with CRL since 2000 and has over thirty years experience in sales & marketing, operations, customer service, and human resource management.  He has developed substance abuse testing policies and management training programs at leading companies nationwide.

Prior to joining CRL, he was Senior Vice President of Administration at Employment Screening Partners.  He also served as President of Executive Resources, a company specializing in the development of substance abuse policies, management training, and employee relations.

Mr. Feingold has lectured at numerous seminars and meetings.  He was a participant and speaker with the "White House Conference for a Drug Free America" and the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Brian Coens
Vice President of Insurance Sales & Marketing

Mr. Coens has been with CRL since 1988 and has more than twenty years experience in the life insurance industry.  He directs the sales and marketing activities for the Insurance Division.

Mr. Coens holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Wichita State University.

Mark Magee
Vice President of Lab Operations

Mr. Magee has been with CRL since 1983 and has served as Vice President of Laboratory Operations since 1988.  He oversees CRL’s general laboratory operations, including the areas of chemistry, hematology, serology and urinalysis.  Prior to joining CRL, he served as an Assistant Director at Enzyme Technology.

Mr. Magee holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Physiology from the University of Kansas.  He has a B.S. in Cellular Biology from the University of Kansas.

Rajani Prasad, Ph.D.
Vice President of Clinical Trials Sales & Marketing

Dr. Prasad established the clinical trial division in 1991 with previous experience in clinical trial management and analytical laboratory set-up.  She has been published in numerous scientific publications over the years.

Dr. Prasad received her Master’s in Organic Chemistry from S.U.N.Y., New York, followed by her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas Medical Center.

John Byerley
Vice President of Clinical Trials Operations

Mr. Byerley is responsible for overseeing Study Management, Data Management, and all Clinical Trials laboratory functions.  He joined CRL in 1988 to build an IS department to support the company’s Strategic Business Units. 

Prior to joining CRL, he worked at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).  He also worked at Allied Signal, developing systems and software involved in the manufacturing of non-nuclear parts for nuclear devices, and Boeing Computer Services as a Software Analyst, developing on-board software for B1B and B52 bombers.

Mr. Byerley holds a B.S. from the University of Kansas.

Susan Meyer
Vice President of Human Resources

Ms. Meyer has been with CRL since 1994 and has over twenty-five years of Human Resource experience.  She is responsible for the Human Resource operation which includes corporate staffing, employee relations, compensation, benefits, and the company administrative function.  

Ms. Meyer holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Kansas.

Jonathan Oberg
Vice President of Information Services

Mr. Oberg has been with CRL since 1989, serving in a variety of IS positions supporting CRL's clients and partners.  His experience includes leading the development and expansion of CRL's information services and providing customized solutions for CRL's clients. 

Mr. Oberg holds an M.B.A. from the University of Kansas.

David Porter

Chief Compliance Officer/Corporate Secretary

Mr. Porter has been with CRL since 2010 and is responsible for CRL’s Corporate Compliance program, legal issues, and CRL’s corporate quality management function.  He also serves as CRL’s Corporate Secretary. 

He has over twenty years of experience working with businesses as a lawyer and business consultant.  Prior to joining CRL, he spent nine years serving as Assistant General Counsel for a Kansas City healthcare system.

Mr. Porter holds a law degree from Notre Dame Law School. 

David Kuntz, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Analytical Toxicology

Dr. Kuntz has been with CRL since 2006 and is a Board Certified Toxicologist.   He is a national expert in urine adulteration and drug detection in urine, oral fluid, hair, and sweat using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS and LC/MS/MS.  He has worked in workplace drug testing for over twenty years.  He has testified extensively for employment hearings, child endangerment proceedings, military court-martial courts, Federal merit system protection boards, the FAA, and Department of Energy regarding drug use, interpretation, and adulteration of urine samples.  In addition to workplace testing, Dr. Kuntz has been involved for many years in developing drugs of abuse testing panels for medical professionals. 

Dr. Kuntz is an inspector for the SAMHSA and CAP forensic drug testing programs.  He currently serves on the editorial board for Clinical & Forensic Toxicology News and as a consultant to the MRO Examination Development Committee for the Medical Review Officer Certification Council (MROCC).

Dr. Kuntz received his B.S. in Pharmacy from North Dakota State University and practiced five years as a retail and hospital pharmacist.  He went on to receive his Master’s of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Oklahoma and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from North Dakota State University.  He further completed a post-doctoral program in biochemical toxicology at Washington State University and the University of Utah.

John Irving
Executive Director of Toxicology

Mr. Irving has been with CRL since 2005.  He has a strong background in substance abuse testing.  While serving twenty-one years in the U.S. Navy, he established the Navy's Drug Testing Laboratory program.  He was also assigned to the National Institute on Drug Abuse where he served as the Technical Head of the Federal Testing Program during the writing and implementation of the Federal Program.  He oversaw the writing of the laboratory inspection checklist, the Inspector's Guide and was an instructor for training inspectors for the Federal Program.

Since leaving the Navy, he has served as the Responsible Person for several large laboratories and served as the Director for a laboratory specializing in the use of hair for drug detection.  He is the author of numerous publications and has made presentations at national toxicology conferences.

Mr. Irving holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Parsons College and a Master’s of Science in Chemistry from Bucknell University. 

Heather Fehling, Ph.D., HCLD

Executive Director of Molecular Diagnostics

Dr. Fehling has been with CRL since 2008.  Her responsibilities are to support our new business development initiatives which include companion diagnostics, pharmacogenetics and custom molecular testing.  Dr. Fehling brings extensive experience in both laboratory management and new assay development.  Her most recent experience was Executive Director of the Genomics Laboratory at Children's Mercy Hospital.  In addition to managing the laboratory, she conducted research centered on genomics technologies for diagnosis of patients with chromosomal abnormalities. Prior to that, she managed the molecular biology and microarray facilities at Stowers Institute.

Dr. Fehling earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Texas A & M.

Arnold Verbeek, Ph.D.
General Manager of Clinical Reference Laboratory-Europe Limited

Dr. Verbeek joined CRL-EU in 2008 and is responsible for the day to day operation of CRL’s European operation based outside of Cambridge, United Kingdom.  Dr. Verbeek’s professional career spans twenty-five years, beginning in global research, development and marketing of oncology drugs from Chiron/RPR in the Netherlands and Novartis and Roche in Switzerland.  Dr. Verbeek has spent the second half of his career supporting the pharmaceutical industry in global clinical trials as Eurofins Medinet’s CEO and CRL.Medinet’s President.  While President of CRL.Medinet, Dr. Verbeek partnered with CRL for a decade before officially joining the company.  Dr. Verbeek has contributed to or authored numerous publications, abstracts and book chapters.

Dr. Verbeek has a Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the University Quebec, Montreal, Canada.