Florida Governor Scott Names Private Equity Exec to Workforce Florida Board

Florida Governor Rick Scott has named Mike Tomas to serve a four-year term on Workforce Florida‘s board of directors. Tomas is CEO of Bioheart, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to treating heart disease. He is also president of the ASTRI Group, an early-stage private equity investment company that focuses on emerging private companies. Workforce Florida oversees the state’s workforce system while also developing strategies that will improve its economy.

PRESS RELEASE

SUNRISE, FL–(Marketwired – Aug 14, 2013) – Bioheart, Inc. (OTCQB: BHRT) announced today that Mike Tomas, the company’s President/CEO, has been appointed to serve on Workforce Florida’s Board of Directors for a four year term by Florida Governor Rick Scott. Tomas is one of 15 Floridians appointed to the Board of Directors. Workforce Florida is charged with overseeing the state’s workforce system and developing strategies that will improve the state’s business environment while supporting its economy (www.EmployFlorida.com).
“Governor Scott’s appointments to our Board of Directors are reflective of Florida’s strategic focus on growing talent and jobs in dynamic industries targeted for their current and future economic impact,” said Chris Hart, IV, President and CEO of Workforce Florida. “We look forward to the contributions of these leaders to our collaborative efforts with workforce, education and economic development partners in supporting and strengthening Florida’s businesses and families.”
Mike Tomas is CEO of Bioheart, Inc. and President of the ASTRI Group, an early-stage private equity investment company providing capital, business development and strategic marketing support to emerging private companies. He is considered an experienced marketer and operating executive for IT/Communications and Biotech/Life Sciences private equity and venture groups/portfolio companies. Tomas has spent nearly 25 years driving the evolution of pioneering technologies in the U.S. and Mexico in leadership roles. Tomas is the current chairman of Florida International University’s Global Entrepreneurship Center, an inductee into the Miami-Dade College and WACE Halls of Fame for business, an FIU Torch Award winner plus other entrepreneurial awards.
About Bioheart, Inc.
Bioheart is committed to maintaining its leading position within the cardiovascular sector of the cell technology industry delivering cell therapies and biologics that help address congestive heart failure, lower limb ischemia, chronic heart ischemia, acute myocardial infarctions and other issues. Bioheart’s goals are to cause damaged tissue to be regenerated, when possible, and to improve a patient’s quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations.
Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage and peripheral vascular disease. Its leading product, MyoCell, is a clinical muscle-derived cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient’s heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. For more information on Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com, or visit us on Facebook: Bioheart and Twitter @BioheartInc.