Management Team

Dr. Sonny Bal has served on the Board of Directors of SINTX Technologies since February 2012, and as Chairman of the Board since August 2014.  In October 2014, he was appointed the CEO & President of SINTX Technologies. 

Dr. Bal previously served as Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Adjunct Professor of Material Sciences at the University of Missouri.  He has >20 years of clinical experience as an orthopaedic surgeon and attorney, and is affiliated with several professional organizations.  In addition to serving on the editorial boards of peer-refereed journals, Dr. Bal has researched and published extensively in ceramic science, and continues that work.

Dr. Bal holds an M.D. from Cornell University, an M.B.A. from Northwestern University, a J.D. from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D in Materials Engineering from the Kyoto Institute of Technology. 

Mr. O’Brien previously served as the Company’s Vice President and General Manager from October 2016 to July 2019 and from March 2014 through September 2016, he held prior roles as its Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Manufacturing. Mr. O’Brien has over 30 years of experience in engineering, manufacturing, and operations leadership in advanced materials and medical device organizations. From 2005 to 2014, he fulfilled several engineering leadership roles for Covidien including Manufacturing Engineering Manager for the Norfolk, Nebraska facility. From 1991 to 2005, he worked for Arnold Magnetic Technologies in the production of ceramic, powder metal and molded magnets in multiple facilities across the U.S. and in England. He has extensive experience with Lean and other Continuous Improvement initiatives. Mr. O’Brien holds an M.S. in Ceramic Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Dr. Bock has more than 20 years of experience in advanced ceramic research and development. Since joining SINTX 2008, he has participated in and led process and material development efforts for SINTX’s silicon nitride and subsequent discoveries of silicon nitride’s antipathogenic and biologic properties. Prior to joining SINTX, Dr. Bock was a researcher at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he developed novel slurry systems for use in colloidal processing of advanced ceramic materials.

Dr. Bock is a co-author of more than 20 peer-reviewed technical papers in subject areas of ceramic science and biomaterials science. He served as a symposium organizer for the Surface Properties of Biomaterials Symposium at the annual Materials Science & Technology technical meeting from 2016 through 2019.

Dr. Bock holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Biomaterials from the Kyoto Institute of Technology.

Mr. Marcroft leads our entire commercial team. With nearly two decades of experience in medical technology business development & marketing, Mr. Marcroft has previously held positions at 3M, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific. He most recently served as Vice President of Marketing at Vision Source, where he led several key initiatives.