Management Team

Ed Donnelly joined DynaVox Systems as CEO in September 2007. Before joining the organization, Ed was CEO of Scrip Products, Inc., a leading provider of Wellness supplies to healthcare providers. He also served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Patterson Medical, formerly AbilityOne, the global leader in rehabilitation products distribution. During his tenure at Patterson Medical/AbilityOne, Ed grew the business from $35 million to more than $300 million in annual sales. Prior to this, Ed spent 13 years in senior sales and marketing roles, which included Vice Presidential positions in sales, corporate accounts and hospital marketing with Support Systems International and the Hill-Rom Co., both divisions of Hillenbrand Industries. He holds a bachelors degree in nursing (1978) and a Masters Degree in Health Care Administration from Long Island University (1981).

Robert Culhane joined DynaVox Technologies in 2004 as vice president of finance and chief financial officer, bringing with him more than 20 years of domestic and international accounting, financial management and treasury experience. Prior to joining DynaVox, Robert was with Sunrise Medical Inc. Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Michelle Heying joined DynaVox Systems as Chief Operations Officer in December 2007. She brings more than 15 years of leadership in both strategic development and operations working with companies in the healthcare, life science, and industrial/security industries. Prior to joining DynaVox, Michelle served as Vice President/General Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific. In addition, she served in multiple general manager roles at General Electric Healthcare in the Americas X-Ray, Global Nuclear Medicine and Global Mammography divisions. She holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

Lawrence Stephens joined DynaVox Systems as chief information officer in October 2007. Larry brings more than 20 years of information technology experience working with companies in the medical equipment, HVAC, and housewares industries. Before joining DynaVox, he served as corporate chief information officer at Global Home Products. Larry has also served in vice presidential and CIO roles at Emerson – Climate Technologies Group, as well as vice presidential and executive directorial roles at Hill-Rom Company, Inc., a division of Hillenbrand Industries. He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Indiana University.

Bob Cunningham has been with DynaVox Systems since 1993, when he was named director of software development. His first major assignment was to create the software that ran the DynaVox 2c. He went on to lead the engineering team that designed the software for the DynaVox Series 5, M3, DynaVox Series 4, DynaVox 3100, MightyMo and MiniMo product lines, and the Dynamo and DynaWrite. Prior to joining DynaVox, Bob was a senior software engineer at Vertex Software and vice president of research and development for the Guidance Corporation. He began his career as a research programmer at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research and Development Center, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. Bob has worked as an independent computer-programming consultant on long-term projects for Xerox, Inc. and the U.S. Air Force. He also has written articles for a variety of technical publications, including "Interactive Method of Developing Software Interfaces," which was patented in the United States in 1991.

Jim Shea joined DynaVox Technologies as vice president of marketing in July 2006. Jim brings more than 20 years of marketing experience working with companies in the scientific, software, telecom, and defense industries. Before joining DynaVox, he served as vice president of marketing for the Scientific Research Division of Fisher Scientific International, Inc. Jim has also served in vice presidency and business unit management roles at Acterna Corporation, as well as marketing management roles at Synopsys, Inc., and Northrop Grumman (formerly Westinghouse Defense). He holds an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a BSEE from the University of Notre Dame.

Dean Johnson joined DynaVox in 2008 with 18 years of healthcare sales and leadership experience. Before joining the company, Dean led a $426 million division of Apria Healthcare, the nation’s leading homecare provider. Prior to that, he held multiple leadership roles at Hill-Rom including leading the Long Term Care strategic business unit. Dean also served in a variety of sales and sales leadership roles including Regional Vice President at Lumex Inc., a leading medical equipment manufacturer. He has won numerous sales and leadership awards for sales excellence including multiple President’s Club Awards, Salesperson of the Year, multiple Regional Vice President of the Year Awards, Circle of Excellence, and multiple Master’s Club Awards. Dean graduated from the University of Colorado in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Tony Pavlik joined DynaVox Systems in 2004 as vice president of operations and has more than 20 years of operations experience working with companies in the electronics manufacturing industries. Prior to joining DynaVox, Tony was vice president and general manager for the assembly division of The Millennia Group, a western Pennsylvania electronics manufacturing services provider. Prior to that, he was with Laser Drive, Inc., a manufacturer of switch-mode high voltage power supplies for gas laser applications, where he rose to become president. Tony also has served in operations and management roles for Tollgrade Communications, Chloride PLC, Perq Systems, Haskell of Pittsburgh, and EG&G Rotron. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Geneva College.