OrthoWorx Leadership Team Taking Shape

OrthoWorx board members have made their first executive appointment. Brad Bishop, public affairs director at Zimmer Holdings Inc., has been hired as executive director of the Warsaw, Ind.-based group.

Bishop is slated to join OrthoWorx on June 23. He has more than 20 years of experience in the orthopedic industry, having worked for Zimmer since 1988 in various public affairs and communications roles. As public affairs director, Bishop supervised internal and external communications, corporate philanthropy, community affairs and state and local government relations. He also served as treasurer of the Zimmer Political Action Committee.

“Brad has been an integral part of the Warsaw community for more than 20 years,” David Floyd, an OrthoWorx board member and DePuy Orthopaedics president, said in a news release about Bishop’s appointment. “His background in the orthopedics industry and his leadership roles on community initiatives provide a solid foundation for his new position with OrthoWorx.”

Bishop has served on various associations and civic boards throughout his career, including the Indiana Health Industry Forum; Kosciusko Development Inc.; the YMCA of Kosciusko County; the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Orthopedic Capital Foundation; and the Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where he currently presides as president. He also was president of the board of directors of the United Way of Kosciusko County.

Bishop’s appointment is the second in three months at OrthoWorx, a state initiative created last fall to advance the orthopedics sector in the Warsaw-Kosciusko County area. A report issued last year by Biocrossroads, a group formed to advance Indiana’s life sciences sector, concluded that nearly one-third of the world’s $32.5 billion orthopedic device industry—including 60 percent of the global hip and knee replacement market—is based in the Warsaw area.

In late February, the OrthoWorx board named Cheryl Blanchard, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and a senior vice president at Zimmer, as chairperson. The group also announced at that time that it had secured $120,000 in additional funding.

Blanchard said Bishop will help drive all board initiatives forward. “OrthoWorx has a strong board of directors whose members are actively engaged in moving our specific initiatives forward,” she noted. “The Talent and Workforce Development, Community Development, Transportation and Logistics, Education, and Innovation committees have begun the process of developing their strategic plans, and having Brad as a full-time employee of OrthoWorx will help drive all of the initiatives forward.”

Bishop said OrthoWorx has a responsibility to maintain the strength of Indiana’s orthopedic sector and raise its global profile.

“As our industry and community continue to evolve and new opportunities and challenges arise, we must have an organized, cohesive strategy to solidify our standing as the orthopedics capital of the world for decades to come,” Bishop said. “The OrthoWorx initiative provides an unprecedented opportunity for Warsaw’s orthopedic industry and community leadership to stand up, promote and leverage our strengths while identifying and addressing our unique challenges.”