About Us

President & CEO

Jason Judd serves as President of DDC. Jason is a strategic business leader in Sales and Operations and eCommerce. Jason leverages data driven insights to deliver superior results, profitable growth strategies and high-performance teams. He has significant experience in creating value through diverse selling channels, sales force effectiveness, and commercial support services. Jason has a deep background and passion for excellence in delivering quality products to the marketplace in a cost effective and predictable way. Jason has successfully led the company through transformations of performance via systems and culture and employs efficient, compliant, business solutions to ensure the successful development of management teams and broad ranging infrastructure systems. Prior to joining DDC in 2007, Jason owned and operated a private counseling practice and Jason managed the Crisis Counseling unit at the Mental Health & Recovery Services of Warren County, Ohio.

Chief Science Officer

Michael Baird, Ph.D., serves as Chief Science Officer at DDC and has over 30 years of senior leadership experience in DNA Diagnostics and Genetic testing and is recognized as a pioneer in the DNA relationship testing world. His expertise is a unique blend of regulatory, compliance, quality, clinical and technical allowing him to better understand the operational needs of the company. He has built technical teams focused on product innovation and who are committed to work diligently and cooperatively to achieve focused results and corporate success.

Prior to joining DDC, Michael held the positions of Senior Scientist, Laboratory Director, and Vice President of Laboratory Operations with LifeCodes. Michael has published over 50 articles in peer reviewed journals and additional publications on the use of DNA for identification. Michael was the first to testify in a criminal trial involving DNA as forensic evidence and has since testified in over 350 criminal cases.

Michael is a past chair of the Relationship Testing Standards Committee of the AABB, is a fellow at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and also a member of the AABB, American Society of Human Genetics, the American Genetics Society, the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, the International Society of Forensic Genetics, and the American Society of Hematology.

Michael holds his doctorate in genetics from the University of Chicago.

Vice President of Operations

Kathy Leis is the Vice President of Operations for DDC. In this role, Kathy is responsible for the coordination and oversight of daily operations across multiple departments including the laboratory, accessioning, case management and government contracts. Kathy joined DDC in 2012 where she served as the Director of Operations for the government contracts division, prior to being appointed to VP of Operations in 2014.

Kathy has over 30 years of laboratory management and operations experience. Prior to joining DDC, Kathy held various positions of increasing responsibility, with the most recent being Director of Operations for Orchid Cellmark at the Dayton facility. Kathy holds a BS degree in Medical Technology from the University of Dayton and is certified as Medical Technologist by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).

Vice President of Information Technology

Troy Berning serves as the Vice President of Information Technology at DDC. Troy has extensive experience in enterprise architecture, systems integration, and leading application development teams. Prior to joining DDC, Troy owned a private consulting company for 18 years where he helped large multinational enterprises design, build, and deploy complex business systems.

Vice President of Marketing

Christy Kaupinen has 20 years of marketing, sales, and business development experience across a range of life sciences companies, including diagnostics, medical devices, and biotech. Prior to joining DDC, Christy was founder and President of CK Insights, a marketing and corporate strategy advisory firm serving over 30 public and venture/PE-backed healthcare companies, including digital marketing, strategy, positioning, and investor communications. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Marketing for Aspire Bariatrics, a venture-backed medical device company, where she played an integral role in successfully bringing a novel implantable device from concept through FDA approval and global commercialization. Previous roles include sales and business development at Synthes, a global orthopedics company acquired by Johnson & Johnson for $21B, and product marketing at Medtronic. Christy received her MBA from The Wharton School (U of Penn), and her BA in Economics from Princeton University.

Vice President of Business Development and Strategy

David Silver is the Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at DDC. He has over 20 years’ experience in marketing, strategy, and new-product development in Consumer Products, Consumer Services, and Healthcare. David provides leadership and direction for DDC’s product and technology licensing, new-product development, contract services, mergers and acquisition support, and new-partnership establishment.

Prior to joining DDC, he worked in brand management for SunnyD Delight Beverages Company, a private-equity beverage business acquired from Procter & Gamble. David has also held management positions at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Intelliseek (acquired by Nielsen), and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He received his BSBA from Boston University and an MBA from Indiana University.