D. Clark Turner: a visionary entrepreneur.

• Author: King, Heather L.
• Position: Spotlight

Starting a medical device company was somewhat a daunting, intimidating experience for Dr. D. Clark Turner, CEO and president of Aribex, a company that manufactures portable, battery-powered handheld X-ray devices for the dental and veterinary industries. But he says he overcame it by hiring very experienced people. "So, for a long time, I was the youngest member of my management team," he says.

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But at age 48, Turner has quite a list of accomplishments himself. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a Ph. D in analytical chemistry from Brigham Young University. He led a development team that made part of the optics for one of the European Space Agency's X-ray telescopes, developed the first X-ray windows for the Mars Pathfinder Rover and built its X-ray spectrometer. He holds seven patents, three of which cover Aribex's NOMAD and digital NOMAD products. And this spring, Turner was awarded the Utah Technology Council's Emerging Executive of the Year award.

He's also taken time to complete several century road bike races with one of his sons and grows apple, peach, pear, cherry and apricot trees on five acres of property. "My wife thinks I'm crazy because I have 48 fruit trees," Turner laughs. "I love to get out in the yard."

Perhaps Turner's greatest accomplishments, though, is still a work in progress. He founded Aribex in 2003 as he developed and patented the NOMAD portable X-ray device after his dentist mentioned the need for a portable X-ray system. "I happened to mention to my dentist that I was doing these miniature X-ray tubes and he said that he...