Chief Executive Officer
- Founder and Managing Partner, Carbona Capital, LLC
- Independent Director, Compass Bank Young Executive Board
- Independent Director, American Heart Association
- Independent Director, Humanetics II
- Independent Director, Waller Creek Communications
- Independent Director, Miles for Monte
- Member, PETA, American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT), Families of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (FSMA)
Appointed as BioLife’s Chief Executive Officer in April 2012, John Carbona played an integral role in the formation of the company’s recent collaboration with Intrexon Corporation—negotiating strategic alliances that uniquely paired start-up and established corporate entities with researchers and their respective universities.
John Carbona is the Managing Partner of Carbona Capital, LLC (CCLLC), founded in 1998 and focused on “angel stage” investments in privately-owned entities. The mission as an early-stage venture capital firm has been to identify, invest in, mentor and develop companies that will redefine success in their own niche. CCLLC has invested in a wide variety of companies and real estate projects, targeting no specific geographic area or market segment.
Mr. Carbona began his career as a sales executive with Mead Johnson, a division of Bristol Myers, working at Yale New Haven Hospital and Stryker Corporation. His aptitude and merit in the medical industry propelled him from being the only sales representative of a struggling two-product company to President and CEO of an 80-million-dollar international company .
In 1984, Mr. Carbona joined Cardio Systems as a sales representative and after only 8 years, had added 20 more products to the line, created a sales and service force of 500, and had opened 71 domestic and 25 European offices (in Germany, England, Ireland, UK and France). He increased annual revenues from $2 million to $80 million.
Known for his innovative marketing and sales approaches, Mr. Carbona originated the use of cross-marketing alliances, shared revenue agreements and direct advertising within the health care industry—now common-place practices.
Mr. Carbona held or co-held 6 patents and 30 trademarks in his name which were sold in an industry roll-up sponsored by Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co in 1998. He graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.
A native of Long Beach Long Island, New York, Mr. Carbona was inducted into the American Powerboat Association Hall of Fame in 1991. He splits his time between Ft. Myers, Florida and Dallas, Texas.
