Note: This post originally appeared on AdvaMed.org on Oct. 30, 2020.
AdvaMed Advance® recently hosted more than 200 medtech leaders for our second annual Summit on Inclusion & Diversity. This year’s session included three panel discussions with several top industry CEOs and business leaders followed by breakout sessions where the panel speakers dove deeper into how they’re leading sustainable change at their organizations and answered questions from attendees. Attendees represented 50 different AdvaMed member companies and most held the title of vice president or above. A survey of attendees revealed overwhelming consensus around the belief that they can make a difference in inclusion and diversity at their organization. Survey respondents also signaled that they believe all levels of leadership play a critical role in continued success of inclusion and diversity, and they felt senior leaders and managers play the most critical role.
All three of the AdvaMed Advance® panel sessions explored a different leadership perspective in advancing inclusion and diversity. The first panel featured the AdvaMed Board members who started the initiative, the second panel featured industry CEOs who spoke to their own journeys in advancing inclusion and diversity at their organization, and the final panel featured four senior leaders with an average tenure in medtech of more than 20 years. Each panel spoke to the actions leaders can take to bring to fruition an organization’s vision for inclusion and diversity.
The need for data was also a clear theme throughout the panel sessions. AdvaMed Advance® will now turn to developing an industry benchmarking survey to help us better understand the best practices in place across our industry in addition to our industry representation metrics. We look forward to launching this survey in 2021.
Special thanks to the ten industry leaders who joined us to lead these important and impactful discussions!
- Kevin Lobo, Chairman & CEO, Stryker
- Martha Shadan, President & CEO, Miach Orthopaedics and Chairwoman, AdvaMed Accel
- Antoinette Gawin, President and CEO, Terumo BCT, Inc.
- Mike Mussallem, Chairman & CEO, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation
- Tom Polen, CEO & President, BD
- Nadim Yared, President and CEO, CVRx
- Yin Becker, Vice President Communications, Public Affairs and Corporate Marketing, Stryker
- Oray Boston, President, Global Biosurgery, Ethicon at Johnson and Johnson
- Brett Estervig, Vice President and General Manager Sports Medicine, Smith+Nephew
- Julie Tyler, Divisional Vice President, Global Marketing, Abbott Vascular
Learn more about our work on inclusion and diversity through AdvaMed Advance® and sign up for future outreach.
