A Certified Athletic Trainer of 35 years, Jeff acquired a wealth of experience working with athletes experiencing concussions and burners/stingers preventing them from playing at their peak performance. After not finding any gear to help prevent these injuries, he created Kato Collar and spent 10 years researching, developing, and testing versions of the company’s flagship product. He leads the company through innovation of new safety products.

Ben has decades of experience leading companies through all stages of growth and renewal. He also serves as an industry advisor to the University of Minnesota technology transfer office. In his previous venture, General Blood, Ben created a national market for donated human blood through the use of a dynamic and novel online exchange. Ben has assisted dozens of emerging companies on establishment, launch and scale.

With 20+ years of management and process experience, plus decades of sales experience, Dave is the leader of the vision and future of Kato Collar. His responsibilities are broad, with a specific focus on processes and mechanisms that are put into place from our starting point to managing our product development, technology capabilities, financial responsibilities and investor relations, and fulfillment process for our sales channels.

Rich is a former American football quarterback who played eighteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is a sports commentator with CBS Sports and Sirius XM NFL Radio. He has been a huge supporter of Kato Collar. His testimonial for the collar can be found at: https://youtu.be/6HqyQkyUo-E

Les Pico is Executive Director of Player Development and Legal for the Minnesota Vikings. He is entering his 6th season with the Vikings and his 13th with the National Football League (NFL). He is directly involved with the personal welfare and legal issues that arise concerning players, coaches, and staff. Les strongly believes that Kato Collar can help prevent injuries and extend the career of players while keeping them safe while they play.

Accomplished Research Director and Orthopaedic Surgeon with more than ten years of clinical, basic science and translational research experience. Through direct research, Dr. Ledonio has demonstrated Kato Collar can increase safety and help protect players from injury.