InspireMD Names VP of Global Sales in UK

Tel Aviv, Israel-based InspireMD Inc. has appointed Rick Olson as vice president of global sales operations in the United Kingdom.

Olson will be responsible for fully implementing the global sales strategy the company has developed over the past several months. Also, his extensive experience in coronary, vascular and peripheral product sales will enable the Company to begin to advance commercial efforts across all three therapeutic areas.

Olson is a 25-year global sales, marketing and management executive with expertise in developing and executing strategies to achieve scalable growth for an array of novel medical device technology companies, including Boston Scientific and Covidien. Prior to joining InspireMD, Olson served as the director of international strategy and the high performance management system at Covidien. Before it was acquired by Covidien, Olson was director of international neurovascular marketing & sales force development at ev3 Inc., where he initiated market development and sales execution strategies for all OUS (outside the United States) markets. During his tenure with ev3, revenues increased from less than $5 million to over $400 million in sales leading up to the acquisition of ev3 by Covidien in 2008. Prior to that, Olson spent nine years at Boston Scientific where he served in various sales and marketing leadership positions both in Europe and the United States. Olson holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Oregon State University.

“We are delighted to have Rick join the team at this important time in the company’s commercialization efforts,” said Alan Milinazzo, CEO of InspireMD. “Rick has a strong track record of building successful sales organizations in the coronary, vascular and peripheral therapeutic markets. His ability to positively lead our organization in all three therapeutic areas is a tremendous benefit to our commercial efforts as we enter the next phase of our selling activities. Further, Rick’s success in implementing highly efficient and successful sales strategies has spanned virtually all geographies. This allows us to advance our current market strategies and evaluate new markets across all therapeutic areas.”

InspireMD makes embolic protection systems. The company’s U.S. headquarters are in Boston, Mass.