Timothy Askew is one very busy bee.
President and chief executive officer of CSA Medical Inc., a Baltimore-based medical company, Askew describes himself as always “buzzing around” and “pollinating different flowers” to create an extensive network of businesses and doctors that help his business grow.
That network he created has helped to move his company to the front of the line of innovative ideas in the war against cancer.
“We have an attitude that we can do anything and we don?t know everything,” Askew said.
Creating CSA Medical in 2003, Askew has grown the company from an overgrown science experiment to a real, hands-on device that has been used to combat dangerous lesions, or growths on the human body ? including malignant and nonmalignant tumors. Known as CryoSpray Ablation, the process takes place when a patented catheter is threaded into a person?s body. It officially went on sale for hospitals and cancer centers this month.
Moving to Charm City in 1997 with his family, Askew worked for a large chemical manufacturing company. He was happy there for a time, but a trial going on with a cryogenic device to fight dangerous body growths that he found out about intrigued him. Becoming more immersed in learning about the process and the device being developed, he decided to put himself out on a ledge in 2003 after receiving a call from a patient.
Patient 11, as an anonymous 54-year old is known, was the first cancer patient that the device was tested on. Upon having cancerous growths eradicated from his body, he called to thank the men who worked on the project. That was all Tim needed to hear. Running with the idea in 2003, he has developed a nest of 30 investors since to help the project grow.
To people associated with Askew, he is known just as much for his give and take with doctors as he is patients, whom he continually works with every day to foster a developing partnership of specialized care.
“If you don?t have the people to build the bridges and make that execution, it?s not going to happen,” said Dr. Bruce Greenwald, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of medicine. “A large part of what has made this move forward is Tim and the team he has put together.”
When he finally gets a chance to stop “buzzing,” the most important thing to Askew is to take time with his other “bees” back at the “hive.” This could mean relaxing with his wife of 14 years, Amy, or spending time coaching his children Jodi, Henry and Sally in soccer or hockey.
“She?s blessed with a lot of patience that most people don?t have,” he said.
TIMOTHY ASKEW
» First job: Shoveled snow for neighbors
» Education/credentials: Bachelor of Science from Michigan and an MBA from Boston University
» Daily e-mails received: 100 to 200
» Daily voice mails received: 20 to 30
» Career objective: For my company to become a global, multibillion-dollar company fighting cancer all over the world.
» Favorite gadget: Palm
» Hometown: Gross Point, Mich.
» Birth date: Jan. 21, 1965
» Original aspiration: To be a doctor
» Sports/hobbies: Fishing, sailing and being with wife and family
