EndoGastric Solutions Names Three New Executives

EndoGastric Solutions (EGS) is beefing up its management team.

The company has added three new members to its executive ranks: Mike Zagger, vice president of Sales and Marketing; Philip Macdonald, vice president of Healthcare Economics, Policy & Reimbursement; and Adrian Lobontiu, M.D., F.A.C.S., as medical director.

“These new appointments reflect our company’s deep commitment to building a balanced commercial organization. Our objective is to provide greater access of the TIF [transoral incisionless fundoplication] procedure to the medical community and the patients they serve,” said Skip Baldino, president/CEO of EGS. “With a body of clinical evidence supporting the TIF procedure, multiple recent EsophyX device product clearances, and the AMA approval of a new Category 1 CPT code effective Jan. 1, 2016, we are poised to scale our business. The addition of these healthcare executives will enable us to maximize our commercialization plans and bring optimal value to the GERD [gastroesophageal reflux disease] medical community.”

Zagger is described by EndoGastric executives as “a seasoned professional” in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, with nearly 30 years of domestic and international experience. He most recently was a senior vice president and general manager with St. Jude Medical Inc. During his 15-year career there, Zagger held positions of leadership in sales management, marketing, and corporate and national accounts. In addition, he was general manager of Latin America and Canada. Before joining St. Jude Medical, Zagger spent 12 years at Bayer Pharmaceutical division, where he held several roles of increasing responsibility during his tenure.

Zagger’s work experience and skill set spans the areas of field sales and senior sales management, marketing management, market development, corporate and national accounts, and clinical education and training. He began his career at the Cleveland Clinic, supporting clinical duties in cardiovascular surgery procedures. Zagger graduated from Kent State University in Ohio with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J.

Macdonald brings more than two decades of healthcare economics and reimbursement experience to the EndoGastric management team. Company bigwigs are confident his background will benefit the firm as it focuses on evolving health policy issues, payer coverage, economic outcomes data and other reimbursement-related initiatives.

Macdonald previously served as vice president of Healthcare Economics, Policy & Reimbursement at Given Imaging (now Medtronic plc). Additionally, he has worked for other medical device manufacturers including Siemens AG, St. Jude Medical and Bayer AG, and he also worked in the provider sector at HCA (Hospital Corporation of America).

Macdonald has a doctorate in Healthcare Management and Economics from the University of La Verne in California. He received his master’s degree in hospital administration as well as his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

Lobontiu rejoins EndoGastric after a one year absence from the GERD marketplace. His EndoGastric career began in 2005 in Paris, France, where he managed the company’s European business. Lobontiu has been based in the United States since 2012, serving as the medical director and managing the clinical team responsible for collecting and publishing randomized controlled trial data from the RESPECT, TEMPO and TIF registry studies. To date, Lobontiu has performed or proctored more than 1,000 TIF surgical procedures, according to the company.

From 1999 to 2005, Lobontiu was clinical director at Intuitive Surgical Europe. In that position, he led the team that secured the CE mark for the company’s surgical robot. Lobontiu’s career also includes research management roles and executive positions in the medical industry with such companies as Plasma Surgical in Atlanta, Ga., and Schering AG in Berlin, Germany. He practiced surgery at Henri Mondor University Hospital in Paris and a several other university hospitals in the greater Paris area.

Lobontiu is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, member of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Surgeons, member of the American Gastroenterological Association, and a member of the French Surgery Association. He also is an internationally published author and frequent guest speaker at international conferences and congresses. Lobontiu earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine Targu-Mures Medical School, and his specialty in Surgery from Pierre et Marie Curie University of Medicine in Paris, France. In 2012, he obtained the Effective Use of Power Certificate of Stanford Executive Program from Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.

Based in Redmond, Wash., EndoGastric Solutions develops incisionless procedural technology for gastroesophageal reflux disease.