Chris Kiple
Chair
Chris Kiple is Chair of the Board of Directors at Lungpacer Medical and was formerly the Chief Executive Officer at Ventec Life Systems. During nearly six years at Ventec, Chris led the company’s transformation from R&D to more than $800M in global sales and 1,000+ team members.
Chris was part of the original team that developed VOCSN, the world’s first Multi-Function Ventilator that combines six medical devices into a single, portable system. VOCSN was awarded “Hardware of the Year” by GeekWire, “Best New Technology Solution” by Medtech Breakthrough, and the “Design Award” by Red Dot.
In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Chris developed a first-of-its-kind partnership with General Motors to rapidly scale production of critical care ventilators by 80x in less than six months by bringing the best of American medical device innovation with the best of American automobile mass production capability. The partnership with General Motors was recognized by Fast Company as one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Joint Ventures” in 2021 and by the Project Management Institute as one of “2020’s Most Influential Projects.”
Prior to Ventec, Chris worked in finance at J.P. Morgan, in law at Sidley Austin, LLP, and in government affairs at Husch Blackwell, LLP.
Chris was born in Lincoln, NE. He graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs and later received a law degree from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. In 2020, Chris was honored as a “40 under 40” award winner by the Puget Sound Business Journal for his leadership.
