Where were you before joining CMEPP?

I was a surgical sales consultant with Johnson & Johnson in their medical technologies division, a job I held for eight and a half years.

What are you enjoying about working at CMEPP?

It’s a very different lifestyle from my life at J&J, where I was hitting the road every day at 6:30 am and travelling around the GTA. Now 80% of my meetings are remote, which is a nice change of pace. TJ (Jarvis) has done a fantastic job over the past five or six years, building awareness of CMEPP in the hospitals and growing the business in Ontario. So, I know I have some pretty big shoes to fill but I’m excited for the challenge.

Were you familiar with CMEPP before coming to the organization?

I did know about CMEPP and thought it was a fascinating model. I spent a lot of my time in orthopedics and there was a lot of haggling over the price of smaller items like metal screws, plates, implants, total hips, total knees. And that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what they’re paying for the larger equipment. With all the financial pressure on hospitals now, I can see how the CMEPP model of looking for efficiencies in the management and servicing of medical equipment does have an impact.

Going back a little bit in your in your career trajectory, did you imagine either going into sales or working in medical equipment? How did that unfold?

I started by doing a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology at Brock University. I was always interested in human body anatomy and how everything worked. I stayed there to do my Masters in Applied Health Sciences. It was fascinating but I was still searching. Then I met somebody through a mutual friend who was working for Stryker (medical devices and equipment manufacturing). He introduced me to the person who would eventually be my boss at J&J. I hadn’t realized that being a medical device rep was a career option, that there was somebody in the operating room with her laser pointer telling people how to do the procedures. I didn’t pursue sales, it kind of found me.

Do you have a sales strategy?

In my previous job I tried to be more of a trusted advisor to the surgical teams, so they could think of me as part of the team. I would give advice and didn’t push anything that I didn’t fully believe in. That’s been my mantra. CMEPP being a not-for-profit and technically owned by the Participants, is going to break down a few barriers with people. It’s definitely something I can believe in.

What are you looking forward to with your new position?

I’m already meeting a lot of new people, customers and colleagues, which is great. In this position I’m interfacing with hospitals on a different level than I did before. One of the hospitals I studied before coming to CMEPP was Chatham-Kent Health Alliance. Over the course of five years, they were able to purchase a new CT Scanner and many other items with their surplus and money saved by working with CMEPP. So, I’m looking forward to impacting that kind of change in the Ontario hospitals I work with.