Tegra Medical Expands Senior Management Team
Tegra Medical’s top management tier has become a little bit leaner. The Franklin, Mass.-based machining and contract manufacturing firm has hired Jim Hillman as vice president of operations for its two Bay State facilities (Franklin and Dartmouth). Hillman, described by Tegra corporate chieftains as a “strong advocate of Lean manufacturing principles,” replaces Bob Miller, who has become vice president of the GENESIS Tech Center, an 18,000-square-foot facility that helps customers get their products to market quicker by assisting them with various product development needs, namely the inventory of raw materials commonly used in minimally invasive and interventional devices; design for manufacturability; prototyping; and pilot production. The center opened two years ago with 35 employees and its own engineering team. Miller will oversee operations at GENESIS to ensure the necessary systems and resources are available to keep pace with customer demands.
Miller has been with Tegra for three years, serving as vice president of operations. Before he joined Tegra, Miller was operations director and plant manager for Smiths Medical, a St. Paul, Minn.-based medical device provider. During his tenure there, Miller worked at international sites in Mexico and the United Kingdom, consolidating manufacturing plants and rolling out new enterprise resource planning systems. He holds a bachelor of science degree in operations management and information systems from the University of Massachusetts as well as professional supply chain accreditation from Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. In addition, he is a certified purchasing manager.
Hillman joined Tegra from Vaupell Holdings Inc., a supplier of injection molded components and assemblies headquartered in Seattle, Wash. For the past five years, Hillman was Northeast Division general manager; before that, he worked for Smiths Medical as vice president of manufacturing operations, where he supervised operations at two manufacturing plants that made disposable medical devices. He spent six years working for Accellent Inc., a Wilmington, Mass.-based contract manufacturing firm serving the cardiology, endoscopy and orthopedic sectors. Hillman assumed various roles at Accellent, though he most recently served as vice president of operations for the company’s Orthopaedics Division, overseeing facilities in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania that produced orthopedic implants
and instruments.
“Jim’s knowledge of medical device contract manufacturing, creativity, drive, engaging management style and strong customer focus are the attributes we wanted to lead our Massachusetts operations,” Tegra Medical President and CEO Bob Roche said.
A captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Hillman holds a bachelor of science degree in systems analysis from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and an M.B.A. fromOregon State University in Corvallis, Ore.
New VP of Sales Hiredat Helix Medical
Helix Medical LLC has a new sales and marketing executive. The Carpinteria, Calif.-based device manufacturer has named Wendy Hinchey to lead its sales and marketing team for the Americas (her official title is vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas).
Hinchey brings to the position 18 years of sales leadership experience in both the healthcare and industrial markets, according to the company. She worked at GE Healthcare for the last nine years, most recently serving as vice president of regional sales with the conglomerate’s Diagnostic Imaging business.
“Wendy is a strong fit for the Helix team,” Helix Medical CEO Jorg Schneewind said. “She brings a combination of strategic vision and tactical execution to this post as well as a deep technical understanding.”
Hinchey holds a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She also has received Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Promotion Fills CFO Spot at Vicor Technologies
The new year is barely three months old, but it already has been good to Thomas J. Bohannon. The chief accounting officer at Vicor Technologies Inc. has been promoted to chief financial officer.
Bohannon succeeds David H. Fater, Vicor’s CEO who also served as CFO since joining the Boca Raton, Fla.-based biotechnology firm in 2002. Bohannon’s appointment will not affect Fater’s roles as CEO and board chairman.
In his new position, Bohannon will work with Fater, Vicor board members and investment bankers in structuring and managing the company’s capital funding requirements. He also will continue to perform the duties of chief accounting officer, a position he has held since December 2008.
“Tom has been a tremendous benefit to Vicor during its evolution from a development-stage company to a revenue-generating public entity. We are fortunate to have him continuing with the company as CFO and confident that his extensive experience and diligence will continue to be a valuable asset to Vicor as we continue our transition to a commercial enterprise,” Fater said.
Bohannon has more than 40 years of experience as an accountant and financial officer. Before joining Vicor in 2002, he was an independent consultant, serving as the financial officer for various companies in the southeastern United States. For 10 years he was a senior manager at Ernst & Young’s Atlanta, Ga., office, where he specialized in financial and SEC reporting.
Bohannon has a master’s degree in business administration (with a concentration in accounting) as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. He is a certified public accountant licensed in Georgia.
Vicor develops non-invasive medical devices using its PD21 nonlinear algorithm and software.
Industry Veteran Takes Over Leadership of CareFusion
J. Michael Losh certainly can keep a promise. When CareFusion Corporation Chairman and CEO David L. Schlotterbeck announced his retirement last fall, Losh—the company’s presiding board director—vowed to find a replacement before the CEO’s Feb. 28 departure date.
And he succeeded, with time to spare. On Feb. 1—four weeks ahead of schedule—the company publicly shared its choice of successors: Kieran T. Gallahue, former president and CEO of ResMed Corp., a San Diego, Calif.-based manufacturer of products that diagnose and treat sleep-disordered breathing. In a news release announcing the appointment, CareFusion chieftains claim ResMed’s revenues grew 500 percent to $1.2 billion under Gallahue’s stewardship. They said their new leader has nearly 20 years of strategic, operational and corporate management experience in the healthcare industry, with a “deep expertise in the medical technologies field.” Since 2007 Gallahue also has served on the board of Volcano Corp., a San Diego-based developer of interventional cardiology products.
“Kieran brings strategic, operational and public company experience to CareFusion, with a proven track record of growth—all qualities that were critical in our search process,” Losh said in prepared remarks. “CareFusion has ample opportunity to grow and innovate…We see a clear path to create exponentially greater value and believe Kieran is an ideal fit to accelerate this work.”
Gallahue, 47, had held the top spot at ResMed since January 2008. He joined the firm in January 2003 as president and chief operating officer of the Americas and was promoted in September 2004 to global president and chief operating officer. Prior to ResMed, he worked for Nanogen Inc., a DNA research and medical diagnostics firm, and Instrumentation Laboratory, a company that develops diagnostic instruments for critical care and hemostatsis. He also held marketing, sales and financial positions at The Procter & Gamble Co. and GE.
Gallahue holds a bachelor of science degree in economics and accounting from Rutgers University in New Jersey and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in Boston, Mass.
Schlotterbeck’s retirement occurs just 18 months after the San Diego firm’s launch as a stand-alone public company in 2009. Schlotterbeck was vice chairman and CEO of the clinical and medical products segment of Cardinal Health when the drug distribution giant spun off CareFusion in August 2009. He had joined Cardinal in May 2004 when the Dublin, Ohio-based company acquired Alaris Medical Systems, a San Diego company headed by Schlotterbeck.
Unilife Taps Former BD Pharma Executive for COO Spot
Unilife Corporation’s “pivotal” 2010 fiscal year appears to be spilling into 2011.
The company relocated to the United States (from Australia) in April 2009 to better position itself in the global pharmaceutical drug delivery devices market. Last April, the firm began 24-hour manufacturing cycles of its Unitract 1-millileter syringe after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. And its Asian distribution partner, Stason Pharmaceuticals, ramped up its efforts to establish relationships with local pharmacies in Asia.
Last month, the company took another step to expand its global footprint in the drug delivery devices market by appointing Ramin Mojdeh, Ph.D., as chief operating officer and executive vice president. The appointment took effect Feb. 7.
Mojdeh has more than 25 years of business leadership experience in various industries; for 18 of those years, he has been involved in the design, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of therapeutic and diagnostic medical devices for several multinational companies, including Becton Dickinson and Company (BD), GE Healthcare and Boston Scientific Inc. At Unilife, Mojdeh will help expand and accelerate discussions with pharmaceutical companies about the company’s Unifill syringe and other products in development.
Mojdeh spent the last eight years at BD, serving as vice president and general manager of BD Medical, Pharmaceutical Systems, North America from 2008 to 2010. In that role, he directed all aspects of the division’s North American operations including sales, marketing, business development, commercial development, finance, research and development, manufacturing, operations, quality assurance, regulatory and legal affairs, and human resources. From 2002 to 2008, Mojdeh was worldwide vice president of Research and Development for BD Medical.
He also was a board member of BD Ventures Inc., the company’s venture capital arm that manages all technology and innovation activities. He also served as chairman of the Advanced Drug Delivery Council, an organization that identifies and develops new growth strategies in the drug delivery device space.
Before joining BD, Mojdeh worked as business director for Invasive Cardiology at GE Healthcare in 2002. He spent the previous 10 years at Guidant Corporation (before it was acquired by Boston Scientific), serving as business director of Advanced Patient Management (1999-2002) and business director of Advanced Patient Monitoring System (1996-1999).
Mojdeh received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.