Steffen Hovard Named UroMems Board Chairman

UroMems has named current board member Steffen Hovard as chairman.

Hovard is a medical device industry leader in the United States, with a successful track record in urology. As chairman, he will be focused on increasing UroMems’ financial, clinical development and commercial footprint in the United States. “The U.S. is an important geography for UroMems because a large percentage of urological procedures occur there,” said Hamid Lamraoui, CEO and co-founder of UroMems. “This is also the opportunity for the company to bring on board of U.S.-based investors involved in emerging innovative medical device companies. In addition, Steffen has been a key contributor to the Company’s development since he joined our Board in 2020. We are grateful that he has accepted the additional responsibility as Chairman of our Board of Directors. His strong reputation within the medical device industry will be of great assistance as we transition from being a French emerging medical device company into a global, clinical stage medical device company.”
 
For more than 20 years, Hovard has been a prominent leader in the medical device industry, especially in urology. He has held multiple leadership roles at subsidiaries of Coloplast, a publicly traded global medical device company. Most recently, from 2011 to 2019, he served as president of the global Interventional Urology business, a global $300 million fast-growing business with a broad portfolio of both single-use and implantable devices. Hovard currently serves on a number of medical device company boards. Having worked internationally throughout his career, and now living in the United States, Hovard brings a geographical and business perspective to UroMems, giving a solid foundation for the company’s transformation to the next stage, as it prepares for clinical trial and eventually commercialization.
 
“I joined UroMem’s Board in 2020 because I believed that the UroActive device is truly innovative and potentially transformational treatment for the millions of men and women worldwide who suffer from stress urinary incontinence or SUI,” said Hovard. “Now as we approach the initiation of clinical trials in the U.S., I was offered the opportunity to increase my involvement with UroMems by taking on the responsibility as chairman of the Board. I hope to further assist the company in reaching its goals of increasing U.S. investors’ interest, launching clinical trials and anticipating the commercial launch in the U.S. and other geographies.”

UroActive is an active implantable electronic artificial urinary sphincter that compensates for sphincter insufficiency in patients, both men and women, with SUI. It is based on a unique mechatronic platform using embedded smart, AI-based, digital and robotic systems which, based on data collected from a patient, creates a treatment algorithm that is specific for each patient’s needs. The UroMem’s technology platform is protected by more than 100 patents and is designed to overcome the limitations of current solutions by optimizing safety and performance, patient experience and surgeon convenience.
 
Founded in 2011 by Pr. Pierre Mozer, Lamraoui, and Stéphane Lavallée, UroMems is developing robotic methods and smart systems for treating urinary incontinence. Since the inception of the company, significant investments have been made for the development of UroMems’ first product. This includes two financing rounds totaling $30 million, led by Wellington Partners, Bpifrance, Supernova Invest, Cita Investissement, btov Partners, Hil-Invent and Financière Arbevel. The company has been awarded by several innovation prizes including the Prix Galien Award Medstart’up, and the Worldwide Innovation Challenge initiated by the French government.