Kirk Zeller is a 27 year veteran of the medical device industry and continues to channel his passion to make a difference in healthcare into the start-ups that the Silicon Prairie Center incubates. He spends much of his time building Progressive NEURO, Inc an ischemic stroke company and Assistive Technology Solutions, Inc a mobility solutions company.
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Kirk has a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) from the International School of Management (Paris) and MBA from Imperial College London with a specialization in BioPharma and Health Technology Entrepreneurship. Kirk’s undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nanzan University (Nagoya) (2 years), and Senshu University (Tokyo).
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Kirk spent much of his adult life living and working outside of the United States. He has studied in seven countries and traveled to more than 50 countries. He completed much of his undergraduate studies in Japan and during that time got his first exposure to television and the entertainment industry. Kirk was the first ever Western finalist in Japan's public broadcasting annual adult day speech competition (NHK Seishun Message). Through this experience being on national television he had the opportunity to appear in Japanese commercials, TV shows, and radio. While Kirk cherished those experiences he decided to pursue a career in the medical device industry with the dream of someday being able to do both.
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Kirk's third passion is US-Japan relations and he donates much of his time each year to help ensure continued good relations. He is a Council Leader of the U.S.-Japan Council, on the board of US-Japan MedTech Frontiers, and on the US Japan MedTech Council.
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The Silicon Prairie Center which Kirk founded is where creativity and innovation intersect. The Silicon Prairie Center combines founder Kirk's passions in start-ups and filmmaking to incubate healthcare start-ups and produce independent films. The Silicon Prairie Center and Wonderphil Entertainment produced independent film, #MyCorona, is a great example of the intersection of creativity and innovation. A Wall Away is the world's first feature film to be directed entirely remotely and was filmed on a closed set at the Silicon Prairie Center Studios in 2020.
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