About Us

Kathy is a clinical research executive and leader with more than 25 years’ experience in large and small CROs, as well as pharmaceutical and government research companies. She started her career as a pharmaceutical sales rep in 1989 and entered the CRO industry in 1997. Kathy has served in a variety of leadership roles throughout her career, including President of Trio Clinical Research; Co-Founder and Managing Partner of INNO Clinical Outcomes; Executive Director of Source at Chiltern International; Executive Director of Business Operations at Triangle Biostatistics (now part of Catalyst); as well as Vice President of Growth Strategy and Senior Vice President of Resourcing Operations at Catalyst Clinical Research. Kathy holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in management from North Carolina State University.  She enjoys traveling, live music, and spending time with family and friends including the newest family member Banks the beloved Bernese Mountain Dog.

Betsy has dedicated her entire career to clinical research and serves today as an industry leader, resourcing expert, and business entrepreneur. She joined the industry in 1985 working with FHI 360 in Women’s Health and HIV research. In 1987, she joined ClinTrials Research, a commercial spin-off of FHI 360 and one of the earliest international Clinical Research Organizations. As Associate Director, she managed a staff of CRA Managers and more than 100 CRAs. In 1995, Betsy co-founded and led The Woolf Group, one of the earliest and most recognized clinical research staffing firms in the country. She helped develop the company into a premier service organization, highly sought-after by its clientele and candidates alike. The company was sold to an international staffing firm in 1999, and in 2002 she co-founded Trio Clinical Research. As the company’s Chief Operating Officer and then President, Betsy led the operations and business development team, ensuring the company’s growth and development, and drove a successful merger with Aptiv Solutions in 2008. In 2013, Betsy returned to her entrepreneurial roots and co-founded Catalyst Clinical Research, a niche clinical operations service provider. Outside of work, Betsy enjoys spending time with her two boys, Hunter and Sam. They love to ski, snowboard, and travel with extended family and cousins. Sam’s buddy and labradoodle, Bella, enjoys hanging out at the office.

Ryan has over 25 years of pharmaceutical development experience. Ryan brings a unique background as he has hands on experience in every category of the drug development lifecycle which spans from laboratory discovery through commercial launch.  He has also worked within almost every major drug development category including reference laboratories, biotechnology companies, CROs, regulatory consulting firms and an international patient recruitment company.  Ryan began his career for a brief time as a lead microbiologist at Focus Technologies (now Eurofins). For almost a decade, he lead the drug discovery, regulatory and clinical operations at CytImmune Sciences which led to FDA allowance for first in human studies for one of the industries’ first true nanotechnology compounds. After CytImmune, Ryan consulted with an international nonprofit to develop the clinical development and operations plans for the largest IUD trial in US history which ultimately lead to product approval. For the past 15 years, Ryan worked at Clinical Site Services (CSSi) where he held various leadership and growth strategy roles that helped build the company into an international brand. In his most recent role, he grew the client base and client retention rates which ultimately led to a private equity acquisition. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and is certified by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP). Ryan lives in southern Maryland with his wife Janell and 2 kids, Diamonique and Ryan Jr., and his grandson Liam aka Baby Champ. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys his pursuit of running a half marathon in all 50 states plus DC, training and pacing other runners and is a self-proclaimed grill master.

Sylvia brings 40 years of financial expertise to Spark having started her career as an Accountant where she worked in public accounting performing financial audits on a variety of for and non-profit businesses. It was when she relocated to the Research Triangle Park area in 1989 that Sylvia began working with healthcare staffing companies serving as Finance Manager and Controller roles, responsible for preparation of financial statements, budgets, accounts payable, payroll, accounts receivable, and cash flow as well as staff management for a $60M business. In 1999 she joined the woolf group, a $15M clinical staffing organization providing clinical talent to the biopharma, CRO and device companies testing and developing new products. In this role she was instrumental in supporting executive management with forecasting and budgeting, as well as the design and implementation of general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable systems using new system software. After the woolf group she moved over to Trio Clinical Research as Chief Financial Officer. Here she was instrumental in creating a robust financial department and supporting Executive Management and Clinical Operations with financial forecasting, project actual to budget reporting, and monthly financial analysis for this $15M business. At Trio, Sylvia played an integral role in expanding the Resourcing services to include a CRO division as well as a Functional Outsourcing division. Sylvia then moved to Catalyst Clinical Research as Catalyst’s Chief Financial Officer, Sylvia Putnam was responsible for overseeing and implementing the company’s financial systems and processes to achieve Catalyst’s financial goals. Sylvia holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Executive MBA Program from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. Sylvia is active anytime she can be keeping up with her family at the lake and enjoying the serenity at the lake as well.