A Baltimore City resident since 1997, Tim Askew, an entrepreneur formerly with USALCO, was between jobs in 2003 when he invested in a budding, cancer-fighting treatment called cryospray ablation — the use of liquid nitrogen to safely destroy cancerous and pre-cancerous cells in the esophagus.

Forming CSA Medical Inc. from his partnership with process owners Frank Majerowciz and Lloyd Shue, Askew quickly raised $12 million in venture capital and took the company’s product through clinical, regulatory and business development steps.