Our Staff
Your trusted team in the medical and life science industries.
Our Team
20 years of experience + leadership +
We are a group of inventors, makers, engineers and design nerds that wake up every day ready to build cool things.
Tara Holz
Co-Founder + Principal Engineer

Tara is Co-Founder and Principal Engineer at Cito Medical. Throughout her career, Tara has led teams to produce creative solutions for groundbreaking products across the medical industry. Specializing in complex, multidisciplinary projects, Tara has extensive experience managing all aspects of bringing products from concept to reality successfully.

Prior to founding Cito Medical, Tara was a Senior Mechanical Engineer at BC Tech where she led teams developing surgical tools for carpal tunnel release and bariatric surgery, as well as point of care diagnostic devices. Tara earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering Systems from Colorado School of Mines. While there, she specialized in Biomedical Engineering and led research projects focused on the mechanical testing of orthopedic devices, hard and soft tissues, biomaterials, and joint replacements.

Tara enjoys spending time outdoors, at the gym, and with her dog, Tug.

Kenny Aptekarev
Co-Founder + Principal Engineer

Kenny is Co-Founder and Principal Engineer at Cito Medical. With over 20 years of Product Development experience, Kenny has driven the design and development of some of the most innovative devices in the medical field. Working with startups to Fortune 500 companies, Kenny has led projects from ideation through manufacturing across a large spectrum of biotech, medical devices, and surgical tools.

Prior to Cito Medical, Kenny was a Mechanical Engineer for Cepheid where he created the tooling program for the GeneXpert product line. Kenny earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah.

Kenny lives in Santa Cruz with his wife, kids, and dog. During his off-hours, he enjoys surfing, mountain biking, and family RV trips.

Interested in joining the Cito team?
Contact us for employment opportunities 
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