Personnel Moves Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Vaccine patch maker Vaxess names former Sanofi exec as chief strategy officer

[Image from Vaxess]Vaxess Technologies, developer of a shelf-stable vaccine patch, announced today that it named Steve Bende as its new chief strategy officer.

Bende previously served as global head of new products at Sanofi Pasteur. He led international, multifunctional teams at the pharmaceutical giant. That included assessing the commercial viability of potential new products.

Prior to Sanofi, Bende held the role of senior policy advisor for the HHS National Vaccine Program Office. Before that, his roles included president and CEO of Bacilligen, consultant for Science & Policy Strategies and The Livingston Group. He also served as VP of scientific affairs for Generic Pharmaceutical Association and as a researcher and administrator at NIAID.

Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.

Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s leader is AdvaMed’s new chair

Johnson & Johnson MedTech EVP and Worldwide Chair Ashley McEvoy [Photo courtesy of Johnson & Johnson]AdvaMed announced today that it has named Ashley McEvoy, EVP of MedTech at Johnson & Johnson, as its new chair.

The group’s board of directors unanimously elected McEvoy as its chair during its quarterly meeting yesterday. She is the first woman to serve as chair at the major U.S. medical technology trade association, which was founded in 1974. (Pam Bailey, who is board chair at medtech contract manufacturing giant Integer, was AdvaMed’s CEO from 1999 to 2005.)

McEvoy succeeds Abiomed’s former CEO Michael Minogue. She starts a two-year term as board chair at the same time that major medtech companies such as Johnson & Johnson face a host of challenges. Health provider customers in the U.S. and elsewhere are grappling with staffing shortages and operational challenges. There are macroeconomic headwinds, and the Chinese government is seeki…

iRhythm COO resigns amid business transformation

iRhythm Technologies (Nasdaq:IRTC) announced that chief operating officer (COO) Douglas Devine resigned from his position.

In an SEC filing, iRhythm attributed Devine’s resignation to its ongoing “business transformation.” His resignation is dated March 10, 2023. In connection with his resignation, Devine entered into a consulting agreement with the company. Under this agreement, he will assist with the transition of his role and consult as an executive advisor through July 3, 2024.

Devine and iRhythm also entered into a resignation and release of claims agreement. Pursuant to these terms, he shall receive his base salary and continued standard benefits through the separation date. Devine also received cash severance payments equivalent to his base salary on the separation date for 12 months following that date. He also receives premium payments for continued healthcare coverage for 12 months following separation. iRhythm said it intends to ma…

Surgical robot maker CMR Surgical appoints Supratim Bose as CEO

[Image from CMR Surgical]Surgical robot technology developer CMR Surgical announced today that it appointed Supratim Bose as its new CEO.

Bose takes over from Per Vegard Nerseth with immediate effect. He joined the company last month as a senior advisor to the CEO. Bose also took over leadership of the Asia, Middle East and Africa regions, leading commercial operations in those geographies.

With more than 40 years in the medtech industry, Bose held multiple leadership positions at global organizations. Those include Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific and ConvaTec, according to a news release. His appointment comes as CMR Surgical aims to continue commercializing its business. It already has more than 100 Versius surgical robot systems installed globally.

“With Versius we have an opportunity to help hospitals and surgeons transform surgery for people around the world,” Bose said. “I am excited to lead a business that has such a differentiat…

Philips names Julia Strandberg chief business leader for connected care business

Julia Strandberg, new chief business officer for connected care. [Image courtesy of Philips]Philips (NYSE:PHG) announced today that it appointed Julia Strandberg as the chief business leader of its connected care business.

Strandberg’s appointment becomes effective April 24, 2023. She joins Philips’ executive committee, reporting to CEO Roy Jakobs. As of April 1, 2023, Philips intends for its connected care business to comprise monitoring, sleep and respiratory care and enterprise informatics.

Her role could include involvement with the ongoing Philips Respironics recall. Here’s how that recall unfolded. She succeeds Dan Leonard, who took on the role on an interim basis when Jakobs became CEO in October 2022.

Strandberg joins Philips from Pear Therapeutics. At Pear, she served as chief commercial officer, leading the team building, launching and growing Pear’s prescription digital therapeutics.

Before Pear, Strandberg led a he…

iCad CEO Stacey Stevens resigns for personal reasons, Dana Brown named as replacement

iCad (Nasdaq:ICAD) announced today that it accepted the resignation — for personal reasons — of Stacey Stevens as president and CEO.

Stevens, who took over the corner office in March 2022, plans to remain with the company through April 30, 2023. She intends to ensure a smooth transition to new president and CEO, Dana Brown. The iCad board named Brown to the position, effective immediately, while she also remains board chair.

Nashua, New Hampshire-based iCad, which develops cancer detection and therapy solutions, said in a news release that its board “congratulates Ms. Stevens on her outstanding leadership.” The board thanked Stevens for more than 16 years of service to iCad. She originally joined iCad as SVP for marketing and strategy in 2006.

About Dana Brown

Brown became the chair of iCad’s board in January of this year. She brings 30 years of experience across the technology industry. Most recently, she was a strategic advisor at Sus…

Former Stryker Neurovascular president takes University of Utah medical innovation post

Mark Paul and his wife Jana. [Image from the University of Utah]The University of Utah named Mark Paul, former Stryker (NYSE:SYK) Neurovascular president, as executive director of its new medical innovation center.

Having spent his 36-year career across a range of companies in medtech, Paul is set to take over the University of Utah Health Center for Medical Innovation (CMI). His appointment becomes effective April 1, 2023. The center supports student, faculty and staff efforts to develop medical devices and solve healthcare problems.

A large chunk of his experience came across the last 15 years, when he served as global president for Stryker Neurovascular. Hall told the university that he brought this business arm from “a little handful of employees” to 1,200. The business operated across 70 countries around the globe.

Hall’s career spans neurology, neurovascular and cardiovascular applications. In addition to Stryker, he worked at Procte…

Tandem Diabetes Care appoints new board chair

Tandem Diabetes Care (Nasdaq:TNDM) recently announced the appointment of Rebecca Robertson as the chair of its board of directors.

Robertson initially joined Tandem’s board as an independent director in January 2019. She succeeds Kim Blickenstaff as chair. Blickenstaff intends to continue as a member of the board.

Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.

Surgical robot maker Interventional Systems names new CEO amid leadership changes

Pedro Costa (left) and Dr. Michael Vogele (right) with the company’s Micromate robotic platform. [Image courtesy of Interventional Systems]Miniature surgical robot developer Interventional Systems announced a number of executive changes including a switch in the corner office.

Dr. Michael Vogele, who founded Interventional Systems, intends to step down as CEO. The company tabbed former chief product officer Pedro Costa to succeed him. Additionally, the company named Srdjan Milosavljevic chief technology officer (CTO). Milosavljevic led Interventional Systems’ R&D team previously.

The two new appointments join co-founder and CFO, Thomas Pfeifer, and COO Patrick Lambardt, in the company’s C-suite.

In a blog posted on the company’s website, Interventional Systems’ said Vogele’s mark goes beyond that of a founder and CEO.

“Michael set the tone for what would be the company’s key values: a restless love for al…

Smith+Nephew names new company chair

Rupert Soames. [Image courtesy of Smith+Nephew]Smith+Nephew (NYSE:SNN) announced that it appointed Rupert Soames OBE to succeed Roberto Quarta as chair of the company.

Quarta reached the end of his tenure and intends to retire as chair and non-executive director this year.

London-based Smith+Nephew plans to appoint Soames as an independent non-executive director at its annual meeting on April 26. His appointment remains subject to shareholder approval and should take effect on Sept. 15, 2023. Quarta agreed to continue as chair to ensure a smooth transition. He also intends to put himself up for re-election as a non-executive director on April 26 on this basis.

Soames joins Smith+Nephew after serving as CEO of Serco Group, an outsourced services provider. He held that role between 2014 and 2022.

Prior to Serco, Soams held the corner office at Aggreko from 2003 to 2014. He served as non-executive independent director at both DS Smith and Electrocompone…

Dentsply Sirona to lay off up to 10% of workforce in restructuring effort

Dentsply Sirona (Nasdaq:XRAY) announced a cost-saving restructuring plan that includes layoffs of up to 10% of its employees.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Dentsply plans to reduce its global workforce by 8% to 10% as part of its plan. The dental equipment maker’s most recent headcount had 15,000 employees, meaning the cuts could affect as many as 1,500 workers.

The plan aims to improve operational performance and drive shareholder value creation.

Dentsply said in a news release that it expects the effort to achieve at least $200 million in annual cost savings over the next 18 months. It features a new operating model to streamline the organization, enhance efficiency and drive future growth.

“The actions we are planning follow our comprehensive review of the business and will enable Dentsply Sirona to improve its execution, build a winning portfolio, return to growth, and generate consistent returns,” said Simon Campion, Dentsply CEO. “We…

Delcath Systems appoints new board chair

Delcath Systems (Nasdaq:DCTH) announced today that its board of directors voted to appoint John R. Sylvester as its new chair.

Sylvester joined Delcath as a director in July 2019. He currently serves as CEO of Curium Pharma’s SPECT and international businesses. Previously, Sylvester served as BTG’s chief commercial officer, leading the company’s interventional oncology and interventional vascular businesses.

He brings extensive experience building interventional oncology businesses, Delcath said in a news release. This includes his work at BTG before Boston Scientific bought it for $4.2 billion. Sylvester also built Biocompatibles International’s interventional oncology business, which BTG bought in 2010.

“I look forward to partnering with John in his new role and know that the company will greatly benefit from his extensive experience in commercializing innovative interventional oncology products, as we prepare for launch in the …