IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nihon Kohden, a U.S. market leader in patient monitoring, sleep assessment, neurology and cardiology instrumentation solutions, has appointed Dr. Wilson P. Constantine the new chief executive officer of Nihon Kohden America. Constantine, who joined the company’s U.S. operations as chief operating officer in September 2014, was named CEO as part of a reorganization that will allow the company to remain ahead of the needs of the rapidly changing U.S. healthcare market. He succeeds Fumio Izumida, who led the company through solid double digit growth between 2010 and 2015.
“Wilson is a person who shares a passion to contribute to the advancement of medicine with new technologies, which is essential to the corporate philosophy of Nihon Kohden,” said Hirokazu Ogino, corporate director in charge of international operations for Nihon Kohden Corporation. “Upon joining our organization, he immediately began reshaping the corporate strategies based on his deep understanding of the unique needs of healthcare within the U.S. market. We believe he will demonstrate strong leadership to help the company achieve record growth in the coming months and years, and establish a robust foundation to provide better healthcare solutions to customers.”
Prior to the reorganization, Nihon Kohden operations were broken into product line-specific business units. Moving forward, the company will offer unified healthcare solutions that are designed to respond to the needs of customers and the market.
“The healthcare market is becoming more consolidated to allow organizations to achieve efficiencies of scale that would not be possible as an individual hospital or physician’s office,” said Constantine, who was previously CEO of private equity backed spinout from Hospira Worldwide, Monarch Medical Technologies. “At the same time, these organizations are looking for companies that can meet their needs across multiple departments. By changing the way we approach the market, we will be able to demonstrate both the breadth and depth of our technological innovations across the healthcare continuum.”
As part of the restructuring, several additions and structural shifts have been made across the organization, including:
- Michael R. Stone has been named the new senior vice president of sales. Stone was previously vice president of sales at Henry Schein Inc., where he scaled the growth of the sales team, building it to record sales of more than $1.5 billion a year.
- Kathy Hart has been appointed the new vice president of marketing. Hart, who began her career as a critical care nurse, has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing of patient monitoring, neurology and anesthesia delivery systems.
- Veffa Devers has been selected to be the new vice president of clinical excellence programs. A registered nurse, Devers is a seasoned former chief nursing officer with 20 years of experience in patient care.
- Thomas Bento has been named senior vice president of regulatory and quality affairs. Bento has extensive experience working within the industry, serving the last decade as a senior quality and regulatory consultant for Certified Compliance Solutions, where he counseled hundreds of medical device and pharmaceutical companies on all aspects of regulatory compliance.
- Betzy Estrada has been appointed director of human resources. Estrada previously held senior human resources positions at Claremont University Consortium and Covidien/ev3 and worked in human resources management at Johnson & Johnson and Beckman Coulter Inc.
“Our goal is to provide customers quality, innovative products with an exceptional experience, while also offering our people the opportunity to continue to grow in their roles and within the organization,” Constantine said. “By reorganizing, we are heeding the market’s call and will be able to better serve our customers and position the company for growth.”
Constantine has more than two decades of experience in medicine and the medical device industry, having served in executive leadership roles at companies including Stryker Orthopaedics, Misonix and Henry Schein Inc.
About Nihon Kohden Corporation
Founded in Japan in 1951, Nihon Kohden is the leading manufacturer, developer and distributor of medical electronic equipment, with subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company’s products are now used in more than 120 countries, and it is the largest supplier of electroencephalography products worldwide. A pioneer in transformational healthcare technology, Nihon Kohden has envisioned, designed and produced revolutionary devices, such as pulse oximeters, arrhythmia analysis, low-invasive blood volume monitoring and wireless patient monitoring. In the U.S., the company is a trusted source for patient monitoring, sleep assessment, neurology and cardiology instrumentation solutions, and has been recognized for the highest customer satisfaction among U.S. hospitals and health systems for 34 consecutive quarters (MD Buyline). For more information, visit www.nihonkohden.com and www.nkusa.com.
