Jack O’Keeffe
Co-founder and CTO
Vienna
At Syntropic, he contributes specialized expertise in product development and design control, backed by extensive industry experience.
“As a creative person, I often had no idea what the final result would look like, or the exact path to get there. Engineering provided a perfect balance — it allowed me to be creative while still having a framework and structure around that creativity. It gave me a sense of freedom within a defined pathway.”
Jack O’Keeffe, CTO and co-founder at Syntropic, has always valued structure and organisation, but he also possesses a creative mind. He found his sweet spot at the intersection of creativity and structure in Biomedical Engineering, pursuing a Bachelor and a Master at the University College Dublin.
During his Master’s program, Jack discovered a module on medical device design that opened his eyes to a new aspect of engineering. “I didn’t realise that this was a whole subsection of engineering on its own,” he recalls. “So I decided to steer myself in that direction”. Driven by a desire to be more involved in design, he joined Baxter International, a multinational healthcare company.
At Baxter, Jack focused on the R&D process, encompassing innovation, new product development, and sustaining existing products on the market. Although his role provided a broad scope, he always gravitated toward the creative and concept development side of the process.
“Even when I was working on the back-end, I was involved in projects at the very beginning of the development cycle. I wanted to see a product through from start to finish”.
Jack always knew he wanted to carve out a niche where he could specialize, particularly in owning the entire product lifecycle—from concept through to commercialization. This aspiration led him to the Biomedical Design program of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Fellowship in Copenhagen, where he focused on identifying needs in neurosurgery. During the program, he first encountered Mark Caffrey, CEO of Syntropic, who was already working on neuro-related technologies. As the fellowship came to an end, it was the perfect time for Jack to join Syntropic as Founder and CTO.
How do you blend creativity with structure in your everyday role as a founder?
I believe that true creativity requires flexibility—both in time and budget. As a founder, I always keep this in mind when scoping out projects. It’s important to hire people who have the autonomy to manage their own work, and my role is to create an environment that nurtures that creativity. At the same time, there needs to be a structured framework guiding the company’s development.
While I set high-level milestones, I avoid micromanaging the steps to achieve them. This approach gives the team the freedom to innovate within defined goals. A key part of fostering this creativity is ensuring a balanced team—pairing people who may lean more towards creativity with those who are more technical. This mix allows for a healthy collaboration where different strengths complement each other.
Syntropic CTO also has a clear vision for the timeline. In a larger corporate setting, the focus is often on quality and regulatory standards first, with creativity seen as secondary-if there’s room for it. He wants to flip that approach, encouraging creativity as a starting point and ensuring it fits within the regulatory framework.
“I see the regulations not as barriers to entry, but as checkpoints to pass once we’ve developed something truly innovative”.
Want to connect with Jack? Reach out at info@syntropicmedical.com