Mills River, N.C. — Raumedic Inc., the North American arm of Raumedic A.G., has named William F. Gearhart its CEO.
Gearhart will be responsible for developing the firm's brand in North America. Raumedic Group CEO Martin Bayer said in a statement that Gearhart brings a considerable track record of success in the start-up, growth and leadership of medical device companies.
His background consists of helping three medical device start-ups in California come to fruition and eventually be sold (to Boston Scientific, ev3 and CR Bard). He also served in a business development role for three other emerging start-ups with a focus on breast cancer. Prior to that, he served as a division general manager and vice president for Pfizer Cardiac Angioplasty and in sales and marketing for Medtronic and St. Jude Medical.
He will be based out of Raumedic's new U.S. headquarters in Mills River, which just came on line within the last year and consists of a clean room, several extrusion lines, molding and assembly facilities.
The site represents an $11 million investment to date. The firm projects to invest a total of $27 million into the site by 2022.
"We are committed to meet customer demands in the most professional way possible and thus strongly rely on the human factor," Gearhart said in an April 3 news release. He added that he hopes to double the sites current work force of more than 50 people in the years to come.
Raumedic manufacturers tubing, molded parts, catheters, components and systems for the medical device and pharmaceutical industry utilizing both thermoplastic polymers and silicones at a total of five production sites in Germany and the United States.