2025 Dealmakers of the Year Honorees
Presented By: Venable LLP
Mustafa Al-Adhmi
CEO
Astek Diagnostics
Astek Diagnostics joined MedTech Innovator as part of its MedTech Innovator US 2024 Cohort on May 29, 2024. No equity or funding was exchanged as a result of this program.
Astek Diagnostics is developing the Jiddu system to confirm bacterial infections and assess antibiotic sensitivity across multiple sample types: urine, CSF, effluent, and blood. This innovation will improve diagnostic speed and accuracy, thereby reducing patient complications and pain and lowering healthcare costs.
Astek rapidly advanced from concept to Alpha prototype in just three years with $8M in funding. It secured $30M in LOIs for its first year of commercialization and have strong partners supporting their efforts to tackle the escalating global challenge of antibiotic resistance.
Previously, the company raised $5 million of venture funding in a deal led by Ayana Capital on March 8, 2024. Key Technologies and 10 other investors also participated in the round.
Victor Brick
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman
Lynne Brick
Co-Founder & VP of Fitness
Ohana Growth Partners, LLC
Ohana was founded in 2007 by Lynne and Victor Brick, longtime leaders in Maryland’s fitness industry and founders of Brick Bodies, a regional fitness chain launched in 1985. Their late daughter, Vicki Brick, previously ran Brick Bodies and was a former Division I basketball player for the University of Maryland. While Ohana operates Planet Fitness clubs across five states and D.C., Maryland remains its largest market, with 34 locations and three more in the surrounding area.
In 2015, the Bricks founded the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation in honor of Victor’s late brother. The foundation’s mission is to “change the way the world treats mental health.” Key initiatives include a $1.2 million grant to UCSF for a study on the effects of “positive stress” and the “Move Your Mental Health” Report, which reviewed over 1,400 scientific studies on how movement impacts mental health.
Core leadership includes Glenn Norris, CFO, and Justin Drummond, President. Norris, a Towson and Salisbury University alum, has been with Ohana since 2007. Drummond, a McDonogh graduate and former Division I athlete, joined in 2010.
Ohana is one of Planet Fitness’s top 10 largest franchisees and was the 7th franchisee to join the system.
Jonathan Cohen
President & CEO
20/20 Biolabs, Inc.
Jonathan Cohen led 20/20 BioLabs through a transformative merger with Longevity Health Holdings, creating a combined company poised to redefine the future of diagnostics and healthy aging. The all-stock transaction doubles Longevity’s projected revenue and unlocks powerful synergies. Under Jonathan’s leadership, 20/20 became known for its innovative multi-cancer early detection blood test, OneTest™, which has seen widespread adoption among firefighters and military veterans. With more than ten consecutive quarters of sales growth, the company was positioned as a national leader in accessible, affordable lab testing—often delivered in nontraditional settings. Following the merger, Jonathan was appointed CEO of the combined company, where he will now lead its expanded platform under the shared vision of “Healthy Aging, Inside and Out.”
Nick Culbertson
Co-Founder & CEO
Protenus
Since its founding in 2014, Protenus has grown into a category leader with strong, trusted relationships with hundreds of healthcare organizations across the United States, supporting them as they navigate and overcome significant operational and reputational risks. This combination will bring together Bluesight’s intelligence that powers hospital and pharmacy operations, and Protenus’ expertise in compliance & risk management, offering a unified platform delivering innovative solutions needed to enhance compliance, ensure medication safety, and drive operational efficiency.
Bluesight, a provider of inventory management, procurement, and compliance solutions for health systems and hospital pharmacies acquired Protenus, provider of a healthcare compliance analytics platform. This strategic acquisition further strengthened Bluesight’s drug diversion platform and add critical patient privacy monitoring capabilities to better protect healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.
Tom Lloyd
General Counsel
Campbell & Company
Founded in 1972, Campbell & Company is a multi-strategy hedge fund manager based in Baltimore. The firm prefers quantitative and fundamental based multi-strategy equity and option investments. In 2024, as part of the long-planned transition of majority ownership of Campbell & Company, the firm closed a transaction with its Founder, D. Keith Campbell, transitioning majority ownership to its senior executives and employees.
After the closing of the transaction, senior executives and employees increased their ownership of Campbell & Company from a minority ownership stake to 80%; and its founder D. Keith Campbell and his family decreased their collective ownership to 20%.
Nothing changed in the day-to-day operation of the business. The transaction has put the company in a position to continue its 52-year track record of providing strong, lowly correlated risk-adjusted returns to our investors.
Jeff Ostenso
CEO
Ironmark
Jeff Ostenso is the second-generation CEO of Ironmark, operator of a marketing company intended to serve retail, education, healthcare and hospitality. The company specializes in providing a fully integrated suite of services, including commercial printing, digital marketing and web development, creative agency, promotional products management, and a range of logistics services including procurement, warehousing, kitting, mailing, and e-commerce fulfillment, thereby enabling customers to realize the benefits of spend and vendor management consolidation with a single, omnichannel provider.
Ostenso has re-shaped Ironmark and acquired several other companies in recent times as part of his growth vision.
Katherine Pinkard
Co-Founder
Pinkard Properties
MCB Real Estate, a privately held institutional investment management firm with a nationwide portfolio of operating assets totaling approximately 15 million sq.-ft., has acquired Pinkard Properties and its 14-person professional team. Katherine Pinkard, co-founder of the company which provides asset and property management services for approximately two million sq.-ft. of commercial office, flex/office, warehouse/industrial, and retail space in the Maryland region, has been named Senior Managing Director, Property Management for MCB Real Estate. MCB’s current Property Management division leader.
The move underscores MCB Real Estate’s commitment to scaling its internal team to enhance operational efficiencies across its assets, implementing best-in-class asset management strategies. In the past five months, MCB has acquired assets in California, Illinois, and New Jersey, bringing its total acquisitions over the past two years to more than $600 million. The firm remains committed to growth, actively pursuing additional industrial, mixed-use, multifamily, retail, and science and health-focused properties.
Philip Tulkoff
Former President & CEO
Tulkoff Food Products, Inc.
Graham Partners, a private investment firm targeting advanced manufacturing companies, acquired Tulkoff Food Products, a manufacturer of custom sauces, dips, and dressings. Headquartered in Baltimore. Tulkoff was founded by the Tulkoff family in 1926. The company established itself as a leader in the horseradish and cocktail sauce categories and has since expanded into ethnic and other specialty sauces. Tulkoff primarily serves the foodservice and consumer-packaged goods channels, partnering with several foodservice operators and CPG brands across North America to develop new and innovative products. Former CEO and third-generation owner-operator Phil Tulkoff continues to participate in Tulkoff’s via an advisory role.
Social Impact Investing Award Winners
Marco V. Avila, P.E.
President/CEO & Chairman of the Board WSP: Vice President/Civil Engineers\Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce / WSP
The mission of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is to promote the establishment, growth, prosperity and retention of Hispanic businesses, and those entities, and persons that support them in the State of Maryland. It exists to serve the Hispanic business community by promoting business opportunities, workforce development, providing resources, and making connections through awareness and mentorship. MDHCC will empower the Hispanic business community in the State of Maryland through legislative support, B2G connections, and partnerships. It has grown from 89 members in 2019 to more than 1100 today and the goal by 2028 to reach 5000 members.
Eric Brockman
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Focus on Communities United for Success
Eric Brockman, the visionary Founder and Chairman of FOCUS, possesses an impressive track record of over 30 years in the dynamic domains of Information Technology and Cybersecurity. His extensive expertise, acquired through relentless dedication and personal growth, places him in an unparalleled position to guide and equip aspiring individuals who yearn for a rewarding career in the ever-evolving realms of information technology and cybersecurity.
Brockman’s zeal for technology is matched only by his unwavering commitment to uplifting his community. Driven by a deep-rooted desire to empower others, he is resolute in imparting his wealth of knowledge and experiences, ensuring that individuals from all walks of life can seize opportunities to transform their own destinies.
Since its inception in 1994, FOCUS has tirelessly worked to address the personal and educational needs of young adults residing in underprivileged communities across the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Its unwavering mission is to empower as many young minds as possible by providing comprehensive training and guidance, enabling them to embrace a brighter future. By equipping these individuals with valuable business and job skills, specifically tailored to the thriving IT and cybersecurity sectors, it strives to pave their path towards social and economic stability. In addition, Eric’s personal life story has been placed in the Library of Congress.
Lillian Sparks Robinson
Owner and CEO
Wopila Consulting, LLC
Wopila Consulting, LLC is founded on the principles of strengthening communities and sharing gratitude by delivering meaningful and impactful expert services resulting in positive outcomes for the clients and communities it serves. Its guiding principles are reflective of the four Lakota virtues- Wisdom, Bravery, Generosity, and Fortitude. Wopila Consulting, LLC is an American Indian and woman owned small business that provides a wide range of specialized consulting and strategic development services to federal, state, and tribal government clients. Its expert services include training and technical assistance, program management, research and evaluation, leadership and organizational development, strategic planning and facilitation, and event planning. Wopila’s code of “Quality Services, Community Success, Client Satisfaction” guides how it approaches each task, project, and endeavor. The mission of Wopila Consulting, LLC is to provide high quality expert services that improve outcomes, build capacity, and empower the communities it serves. It is driven by a desire to provide innovative and meaningful strategies and solutions that result in client and community success.