Invacare Appoints President and CEO

Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare Corporation has named Matthew E. Monaghan its new president and CEO effective April 1. Monaghan’s appointment follows an extensive global search conducted by an executive search firm under the direction of the Invacare board of directors.

Monaghan, 47, will join Invacare with a breadth of general management, medical device and turnaround experience within global companies. Robert K. Gudbranson will continue to serve as interim president and CEO until Monaghan joins the company, after which time Gudbranson will continue as senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Monaghan currently serves as senior vice president and general manager of Zimmer’s Global Hips business, where he is responsible for more than $1.3 billion in revenue and the division’s new product development, engineering, clinical studies, quality, regulatory affairs and marketing functions. He also oversees the company’s global reconstructive research group. Prior to joining Zimmer in 2009, he spent eight years as an operating executive for two leading private equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Cerberus Capital, where he led operational improvements of portfolio companies. Among the most notable were the carve-out of a global medical device business from Baxter Healthcare, making significant improvements at a U.S. personal insurance business and running a consumer durable goods business spun off from Newell-Rubbermaid.

Monaghan spent the first 13 years of his career in aerospace manufacturing and engineering at General Electric (GE). While at GE, he completed several assignments across operations, finance, quality, engineering and research. He also led a software business for GE Medical computed tomography (CT) systems where he was in charge of upstream product development, software engineering, sales and marketing. Prior to leaving GE, he led business development for a unit of GE aircraft engines. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

“On behalf of the board of directors, I am pleased to welcome Matt as Invacare’s next president and CEO,” said C. Martin Harris, M.D., interim chairman of the board. “Our board conducted a thorough and comprehensive search over the past six months and unanimously concluded that Matt is best suited to lead Invacare through this critical time and into its next phase of growth and development. In addition to his medical device background, he has proven turnaround experience, which will be critical to Invacare as it works through its short-term challenges. We are fortunate to have someone with Matt’s broad cross-functional experience, and the board looks forward to the results of partnering with the senior management team under Matt’s experience and leadership.”
“I am honored to have been selected to lead Invacare at a time of unprecedented opportunity for the company,” said Monaghan. “Invacare is well positioned to take advantage of the growing global home healthcare market. I look forward to working closely with Invacare’s board of directors, executive team and talented and hard-working associates to continue to turnaround this business, innovate, and resume the company’s historical market leadership position.”

“I want to thank Rob Gudbranson for the outstanding job he has done as Invacare’s interim CEO,” added Harris. “Under Rob’s direction, the company has made progress on the quality systems remediation and continued to implement the business improvements necessary to begin to return the company to profitability during this challenging time.”

Invacare makes home and long-term care medical products.