MedTech Holdings Appoints New CEO

MedTech Holdings Appoints New CEO

MedTech Holdings Inc. has a new leader. Dan Croteau has been named chief executive officer of the components and medical device contract manufacturing firm, succeeding George W. Blank, its founding top executive. Blank will now chair MedTech’s board of directors.

The appointments took effect on Jan. 17.“Dan’s emphasis on developing internal talent while reaching outside for new skills and technology will be instrumental in continuing to strengthen our organization for our customers,” Blank said in a news release announcing the appointments. “Dan truly embodies the culture that ties the business units of our company together.”

Croteau, 45, has more than 20 years of experience managing healthcare and manufacturing companies. He most recently was president of FlexMedical, the contract design and manufacturing arm of Flextronics International, an electronics manufacturing services company headquartered in Singapore. Before he joined Flextronics, Croteau served as executive vice president and general manager at Accellent, a Wilmington, Mass.-based contract manufacturer. He began his career at the General Electric Company and Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc., a consulting company located in McLean, Va.

Croteau has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

“We were impressed with Dan’s proven ability to lead top performing teams, his personal integrity, and his track record for innovation and partnership with customers,” Blank noted.
“He demonstrated these skills by increasing customer satisfaction and driving standard; operating, continuous improvement and quality systems. In addition, he developed strong organizations which delivered consistent double-digit growth to FlexMedical.”

Based in Irvington, N.Y., MedTech Holdings is comprised of several business units: The MedTech Group, a South Plainfield, N.J.-based provider of precision injection molded medical device components and contract manufacturing services; Advanced Polymers, a Salem, N.H., manufacturer of heat shrink tubing and balloons used in angioplasty procedures (MedTech merged with Advanced Polymers last summer); and TDC Medical, a designer and developer of disposable and reusable therapeutic devices (the two companies joined forces in February 2009).

MedTech Holdings maintains manufacturing locations in South Plainfield; Salem; West Haven, Conn.; Vega Baja, Puerto Rico; and Heredia, Costa Rica. Its design and development facilities are located in Marlborough, Mass.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; and Boulder, Colo. It also operates a supply chain office in Singapore.

Cook Medical Finds new VP Within its Ranks

Listen up, Millennials: It still pays to be a loyal employee. Really.

Need proof? Consider the heartwarming tale of Rusty Burns, who began working in the shipping department of Cook Incorporated in 1979. Six years later, the company named him warehouse manager, and in 1991, gave him additional responsibilities managing materials and overseeing purchasing. Over the last two decades, Burns has hopscotched through jobs and titles at Cook, working in IT, distribution, logistics and inventory control. He’s served as manager of purchasing and director of purchasingand logistics.

In return for his loyal service, Cook

executives named him vice president of global logistics and purchasing. In his new role (which he assumed late last year), Burns manages all global warehousing, distribution and materials management services for Cook.

“For three decades, Rusty Burns has shown outstanding leadership and guidance in helping direct the global expansion and modernization of Cook’s warehousing, shipping and materials management functions,” noted Kem Hawkins, president of Cook Group Inc., the parent firm of all Cook-related medical manufacturing subsidiaries. “His exceptional vision has helped Cook improve its ability to deliver products to our customers in a timely manner.
We are very pleased to add him to ourexecutive management.”

The Bloomington, Ind. born-and-bred Burns said he is eager to devise strategies that enhance the company’s distribution reach. “I’m excited about the opportunity to work with our logistics team to enhance Cook’s global distribution network,” he proclaimed.

There’s still hope, Generation Y.

TransEnterix Recruits NuVasive Exec for Chief Technology Job

At least his job description hasn’t changed all that much.

Richard M. Mueller has been named chief technology officer at TransEnterix Inc., a Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based firm that developed a minimally invasive surgical system called the Spider. The device, according to product data, takes a laparoscopic approach to minimally invasive surgery, allowing doctors to use multiple instruments through one incision. The system works much like an umbrella, opening up and expanding once it’s inside the abdomen. The expansion, company executives claim, enables surgeons to approach the surgical site from different angles.

TransEnterix executives drafted Mueller from NuVasive Inc., where he worked as vice president of product development. During his five-year stint at the San Diego, Calif., firm, Mueller helped expand the company’s product line and boost annual revenue.

Before joining NuVasive, Mueller was research and product development director at Theken Spine LLC, an Akron, Ohio-based manufacturer of spinal fixation products that was acquired by Integra LifeSciences Holding Corporation of Plainsboro, N.J., in the summer of 2008.
Before that, he supervised research and development efforts at Volk Optical Inc. of Mentor, Ohio, and served as both project manager and department manager at Proctor & Gamble, where he managed the global manufacturing of over-the-counter products.

TransEnterix executives said Mueller’s experience and approach to product development made him an ideal choice for the chief technology officer position. Mueller will oversee all aspects of the company’s research and development efforts, including rapid innovation.

“With more than 100 medical device product launches under his belt, Rich knows how to effectively engage surgeons and advance innovative solutions that make their work easier and result in better patient care,” Pope said. “Given our vision of innovation based on surgeon feedback, Rich is uniquely qualified to build upon the launch of our Spider Surgical System.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the Spider Surgical System formarket in 2009.

OraSure Hires new Salesand Marketing Executive

OraSure Technologies Inc. has added a sales and marketing veteran to its executive team.

The Bethlehem, Pa.-based company hired Tony Zezzo as executive vice president, marketing and sales. He started with the firm on Jan. 3.

In his new role, Zezzo oversees OraSure’s global marketing and sales operations, including the domestic and international sales teams for the company’s infectious disease and substance abuse businesses as well as marketing and client services/customer care. He reports to OraSure President and CEO Douglas A. Michels.

Zezzo has nearly 30 years of experience in the diagnostics industry. He most recently worked for the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics division of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where as vice president of North American sales and marketing, he supervised U.S. and Canadian sales and marketing efforts. Zezzo joined J&J in 1985; his responsibilities gradually have increased over the last 26 years, and his positions have required him to work with both the domestic and international markets.

Zezzo’s first task at J&J’s Ortho Diagnostics division was to increase sales in its global blood screening and blood bank businesses. In 1994, he became executive director of J&J’s Health Care Systems, where he led sales and marketing efforts in the managed care market. Zezzo returned to the Ortho Diagnostics division in 1996 to assume the role of executive director, marketing and sales for its AIDS/Hepatitis unit. Three years later, Zezzo was named vice president of sales and marketing for all of the Ortho Diagnostics division’s businesses in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

A Grove City College graduate, Zezzo belongs to the American Association of Blood Banks and is a board member at the National Blood Foundation.

“Tony brings a tremendous depth of experience in the diagnostics business in both domestic and international markets. He is a proven sales and marketing executive who will ensure that we continue to build upon our leadership position in the markets we serve,” Michels said in a news release announcing the new hire.

OraSure Technologies develops, manufactures and markets oral fluid specimen collection devices, diagnostic products including immunoassays as well as other in vitro diagnostic tests and medical devices. The company claims to be the leading supplier of oral-fluid testing solutions for substance abuse drugs and the detection of HIV antibodies.

Former CoreValve President Accepts Job at CardiAQ Valve

Rob Michiels has joined another heart valve company. The former president and chief operating officer of replacement heart valve manufacturer CoreValve Inc. has accepted the top spot at CardiAQ Valve Technologies Inc.

Brent Ratz, the privately-held company’s founding CEO, remains a director and president. He also assumes the role of chief operating officer.

“Given Rob’s success in shepherding the evolution and growth of the TAVI [transcatheter aortic valve implantation] business from the ground up at CoreValve, I am very excited that I was able to convince him to join us full-time,” Ratz said.

Michiels is a 30-year veteran of the medical device industry. Besides his stint at CoreValve (which was acquired by Medtronic Inc. for at least $700 million in April 2009), Michiels was CEO of VenPro Corporation, general manager and corporate officer at EndoSonics Corp., and president and COO of InterVentional Technologies Inc.

In addition, Michiels, 61, is a founding partner of Consilium Associates, a medical device market research firm based in Irvine, Calif. The company identifies and funds new technologies (in 2002, Michiels led theoriginal angel investment in CoreValve).

Fluent in English, French and Dutch, Michiels has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Antwerp University in Belgium and a master’s degree in business administration from Indiana University.

CardiAQ Valve has developed a proprietary system for transcatheter mitral valve implantation. According to the Irvine, Calif.-based company, the system features an anchoring mechanism and delivery catheter that allow surgeons to accurately and

securely implant a new mitral valve within a beating heart.