Our team

Built by people who have stood on the other side of the drape.

ACTS did not start in a lab. It started with fifteen years of operating around equipment that had not meaningfully changed in decades.

The Bezalel Innovations team together

Leadership & advisors

Pieter Lagaay, D.P.M., J.D.

Pieter Lagaay, D.P.M., J.D.

Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Board Chairman

A foot and ankle surgeon with fifteen years of operative experience and a law degree, Pieter founded Bezalel Innovations after years of working around the limitations of legacy pneumatic tourniquet systems. He leads product vision, clinical design, and regulatory strategy for ACTS.

Dustin Thornton

Dustin Thornton

Engineering Advisor & Board Member

Vice President of Engineering at Harper Engineering with more than two decades of engineering leadership across aerospace manufacturing, medical device development, and quality systems. Dustin served as lead engineer on ACTS v1.0, authoring the full ISO 14971:2019 risk management file and driving design reviews that eliminated unacceptable residual risk across all sixteen identified failure modes. He has led engineering organizations with budgets from $10M to $400M at HAECO and B/E Aerospace, and began his career in FDA-regulated medical device document control and regulatory coordination.

David Pudwill, M.E.

David Pudwill, M.E.

Regulatory Advisor

A regulatory leader who has worked both sides of the FDA process. David spent nine years at the FDA as a lead medical device reviewer, Congressional Affairs Specialist, and ultimately Chief of the Implantable Electrophysiology Devices Branch, overseeing approvals of complex electromechanical devices including novel Class III leadless pacemakers. He later served as Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality at ConvaTec and SVP of Regulatory Affairs at AscentX Medical, and now runs FDA Blueprint and Mr. Regulatory. He holds a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve and an M.E. from Johns Hopkins.

Nathan Ehmer, D.O.

Nathan Ehmer, D.O.

Medical Advisor

A practicing physician serving on the Bezalel Innovations advisory board, Dr. Ehmer brings frontline clinical judgment to the design and deployment of ACTS. He helps pressure-test the system against real perioperative workflow, pushing for a device that fits how surgical teams actually work rather than how equipment vendors assume they do.

Steve Backlund

Steve Backlund

Vision & Culture Advisor & Board Member

Founder of Igniting Hope Ministries and a longtime leadership developer. As a board member, Steve helps shape the culture of Bezalel Innovations — bringing decades of experience building healthy teams, developing leaders, and coaching founders through growth. His focus is on the people side of the company: character, mindset, and a culture where the team is built as intentionally as the technology.

Local Redding team

Engineering, design, regulatory, commercial, and investor relations — working out of Northern California.

Kristina Zunino

Kristina Zunino

Engineering

Electromechanical engineer with a B.S. from Wentworth Institute of Technology and a minor in manufacturing. Kristina works across electrical and mechanical design, taking multidisciplinary systems from concept through production, and brings Altium-certified electronics design skill to the ACTS cuff and pump platform.

Zoltan Hercik

Zoltan Hercik

Graphic Design & Branding

Twenty years of visual design, brand strategy, and print production leadership, including creative work for Google, Apple, HH Global, and the San Francisco 49ers. Zoltan owns the Bezalel and ACTS visual identity — brand guides, product imagery, packaging, and every asset that carries the mark.

Forrest

Forrest

Logistics & Regulatory

Forrest brings a wealth of experience from over 16 years in the public sector as Bezalel Innovations' Government Affairs Specialist. His extensive background in logistics management within city and county organizations gives him unique insight into the needs and challenges of public operations, and his expertise in governmental regulatory compliance and resource management ensures that Bezalel's medical technology solutions align with government stakeholders, public sector standards, and policy. A leader driven by integrity and community service, Forrest is dedicated to fostering partnerships that enhance healthcare delivery. His commitment to serving people, paired with his background in public service, aligns with Bezalel's mission to make a lasting impact on healthcare through innovative, compliant, and community-centered solutions.

Isaac Miles

Isaac Miles

Sales

Marketing graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic University and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Isaac has built pipelines from scratch as a business development representative — outreach planning, market research, and campaign strategy — and now carries ACTS into surgery centers and hospitals.

Rainer Kendrick

Rainer Kendrick

Business Development

Fifteen years in medical device sales, including a decade at NuVasive as the initial Alabama hire — averaging 105% to quota and growing two territories past $3M — followed by spine sales for Stryker across Northern California. A three-time NCAA champion at the University of Texas, Rainer now opens new markets for ACTS.

Kaitlyn Pena

Kaitlyn Pena

Social Media & Investor Relations

Kaitlyn leads digital engagement for Bezalel Innovations and supports investor relations. She tells the Bezalel story across our channels — the surgeons we serve, the technology we are building, and the conviction behind it — and helps connect Kingdom investors, family offices, and medtech operators with our team and Sandbox Fund partners. A graduate of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry with prior studies at Colorado State University, she believes business is ministry and capital is a tool for Kingdom impact. She does not discuss terms or projections, or give investment advice.

LaDonna Baker

LaDonna Baker

Investor Relations

LaDonna has spent her career building revenue where nothing existed yet. She was the first salesperson hired at Expedia Corporate Travel and the first at Virgin America, where she signed 75+ major corporate accounts — Google, Facebook, VMware, The Gap — worth more than $50M in annual revenue, and was promoted to Director of National Sales with responsibility for $300M+. She went on to lead sales for Etihad Airways and head Americas sales at Embed. Startups are her native language: she knows what it takes to build from zero.

Find a local rep

Representation where you operate.

Our field team covers these territories today. If your region is not listed, tell us where you are and we will connect you with our team directly.

Los Angeles

Greater Los Angeles County

San Diego

San Diego County and Imperial Valley

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties

Hawaii

All Hawaiian Islands

Redding

Far Northern California

Northern Virginia

NoVA, DC and Maryland suburbs

Find a rep in your area

Want to talk to us directly?

Whether you are evaluating ACTS for your facility, looking for a representative, or exploring the investment round, we answer every message.

Contact us