LifeSciences BC Keeps Members Abreast with Industry Roundtable/Medical Device Seminar: Visions of Multinational Healthcare Corporations on Global Markets

Our speakers for the day were: Mr. Rod O’Reilly, President, McKesson Medical Imaging Group; Ms. Laura Fitzgerald,Executive Business Director, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products; Mr. Francois Drolet, VP of Sales and Marketing, Covidien (former Tyco Healthcare); and Moderator, Ms.Cynthia Roney, VP Marketing and Sales, Neovasc.

O’Reilly has led the development of a strong, integrated offering for enterprise image management, which is a key component of electronic health records (EHR). Also, as part of McKesson’s imaging growth strategy, the company acquired Medcon, a global provider of cardiac image and information solutions. Under O’Reilly’s leadership as vice president and general manager, the Medical Imaging Group captured McKesson’s coveted President’s Cup a record three consecutive times (2004, 2005 and 2006). The annual award is presented to the McKesson business unit that achieves high scores in customer satisfaction, retention, employee satisfaction, operation income, sales growth and other performance metrics.

O’Reilly is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and served as vice president of operations at A.L.I. Technologies (ALI) from 1998 to 2002, when McKesson acquired ALI. Prior to joining ALI in 1997, O’Reilly held senior management positions in operations management and marketing over a 10-year period at Digital Equipment Corporation.
O’Reilly earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a joint major in economics from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, and a master’s of business administration from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

McKesson Provider Technologies is part of McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 16 healthcare services and information technology company. McKesson is dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 170-year history, McKesson has grown to provide pharmaceutical and medicalsurgical
supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients.

Laura Katherine Fitzgerald
Laura is currently working as Executive Business Director (Western Canada) with Johnson and Johnson Medical Products (JJMP), A Division of Johnson and Johnson Inc. Prior to joining JJMP, she worked for 20 years in varying progressive positions for Pfizer Canada Inc., Canada’s leading research based pharmaceutical company.

Laura is a lifelong Edmontonian and graduated from the University of Alberta, Faculty of Commerce. She is currently pursuing an Executive MBA in Healthcare Administration at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia.

Laura is on the Board of Directors of the Edmonton Opera Society and of The Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities and a participant on Gala Committee. In her spare time, her husband, Hal Danchilla, and their 2 basset hounds, Howard and Flash, enjoy the river valley and time spent with friends 2 legged and 4 legged.

François Drolet
After spending 11 years in the book publishing industry, François Drolet has joined Covidien in 1988 as a surgical sales representative in Quebec City.

Mr. Drolet has held increasingly important roles within Covidien until he was appointed to the Canadian Head Office in Montreal in January 2001. He has since been deeply involved in integrating the several businesses the company had acquired into a single operating unit made up of 4 strategic business units.

As Covidien’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing, he is now responsible for Strategic Planning, Sales Development, Marketing Communications, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, Operational Excellence projects as well as coordinating the company’s commercial efforts with Canada’s largest customers, distributors and group purchasing organizations.

Mr. Drolet has a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Laval University in Quebec City, is an active member of the Canadian College of Healthcare Senior Executives (CCHSE) and has represented his organization in several industry forums.

Cynthia Roney
Ms. Roney has over 23 years of healthcare sales, marketing and executive management experience, having worked for Baxter Corporation, Physio-Control Corporation (later acquired by Medtronic), Xillix Technologies Corp (later acquired by Novadaq) and PneuVation Medical.  Cynthia joined Neovasc in July 2008.

Ms. Roney's medical device career began at Baxter Corporation, a global diversified healthcare company, where she began as Territory Manager in September 1983, followed by numerous promotions within the marketing and regional management group. After five years with Baxter, Ms. Roney joined Physio-Control, the leading provider of cardiac monitor/defibrillator/external pacing devices which was later acquired by Medtronic. She spent five years in sales with Physio-Control, and in March 1995 she joined Xillix, a medical device company that developed innovative fluorescence endoscopy devices for early detection of lung cancer. At Xillix, Ms. Roney held progressive roles in marketing and management, ultimately serving as the firm's President and CEO from June 2001 to May 2006. Following Xillix, Ms. Roney became President, CEO and Board Director at PneuVation Medical, an early-stage medical device start-up. Ms. Roney holds a B.A. (Economics) from the University of Western Ontario and she is also a Certified Executive Coach (CEC) from Royal Roads University.