Meet The Team
MedWorld Advisors is a unique company comprised of expert M&A professionals, from Advisors and M&A lawyers to past CEOs who have grown and sold companies as well as key executives in Fortune 500 Companies.
This dynamic team is perfectly balanced with backgrounds in M&A, Finance, Strategic Marketing, Strategic Alliances, and R&D with a proven track record of generating growth in both the US and in global environments. There is also a Medical Doctor on board.
Our combined network is a key component of our success.
Florence Joffroy-Black
CEO, President, Founder
Medical Device Marketing Executive with expertise in international markets Arena for more than 25 years.
Born in France and now living in the U.S., she truly has a global presence, knowledge, and insight.
Global Vice President and Global Director of Strategic Marketing, for Corporations big and small, Public and Private ( including Private Equity-Backed) such as Draeger Medical, Itamar Medical, Beaver Visitec International
Marketing Expert/Consultant for corporations such as HP Medical, Tyco Electronics, and TRW.
Double Master Degree in both Marketing and Finance.
Dave Sheppard
Managing Director, Co-Founder
Leader in the Medical Device Industry for more than 30 years.
President, GM, and VP roles for Companies of Various Size including Covidien
Work at start-up organizations (including working pre-IPO on a successful IPO company)
Completed distribution and licensing deals with over 150 international businesses in 28 countries, comprising of Major Fortune 500 companies (i.e. GE, Philips, Siemens, etc.) as well as smaller entities.
A global network of contacts with channel partners, large and small.
M&A – Sell-side & Buy-side for over 20 years
Successfully obtained EBIT growth thru successful M&A activities.
David Cheung
Managing Director, Asia
Over 20 years of Medical Device, MedTech experience in Asia Pacific.
OEM relationship Experts in Asia Pacific with relationships with Large and small companies.
Educated in Great Britain. Fluent in Chinese.
Director and Founder - Girton Global Services Co, LTD - Hong Kong
Formerly with Excelitas Technologies and Covidien (now Medtronic)
Daniel Sheppard
Managing Director
Managing Director and leading advisor in the Medical Device, Medical Manufacturing, and Digital Health industries
Certified M&A advisor through the Alliance of Mergers and Acquisitions Advisors
Has extensive experience in sell-side advisory, buyer outreach, due diligence, transaction negotiations, and acquisition implementation.
Background in financial analysis and modeling, project management, and healthcare consulting that provide an extensive breadth of knowledge to implement and execute successful process strategies.
Tom Wilmering
Technology Advisor
Former VP of R&D at Medtronic
Has worked in the Medical Device field since the late ’70s.
Tom has owned tool and die shops, led development teams for fortune 500 Med Device companies as well as startups, and currently helps small to medium-sized medical device manufacturers create designs that are of high quality due to an intense focus on manufacturability, and helps establish supply chains for those devices.
Tom’s fundamental love of medical device technology, coupled with hands-on expertise in a range of technologies from plastic part design to software and hardware for embedded systems has led to proven success in a startup, turnaround, and large company environments.
Florence Henry-Leroux
Managing Director, M&A Europe
International healthcare executive with Pharma & MedTech experience in the US, Europe, and Latin America
Well-rounded expertise in Strategy, Commercialization, Portfolio & Brand Management, Medical Marketing, Sales & Training, Business Development
Worked with Lilly, Sanofi-aventis, Vifor Pharma, Havas Healthcare, Covidien / Medtronic and acquired Somanetics, Aspect Medical, Oridion
Structured & operationalized in-licensing and acquisition deals for Big Pharma and MedTech. Launched 10+ products in primary, secondary, and hospital care settings
Fluent in French, English, German. Proficient in Spanish and Swiss German
French & Swiss citizen based in Zürich, Switzerland since 13 years after 9 years in the US
Wissam Abousleiman
International Accounting Advisor
Managing Director of Abousleiman & Co.
MBA Lebanese American University
Lectured at the Kafa’at University for two years.
Works with the following named entities across the spectrum, from public, private & non-for-profit sectors:
Government agencies - Part of Beirut, Council of the South, Center for Educational Research & Development.
Financial institutions - MEAB Bank, Lebanese Credit Insurer
International donors - World Bank, UN, EU, Danida, USAID
Multinationals - Thompson Reuters, GSK, Booz Allen Hamilton, Sabis International
Actively led complex assignments:
Audit & assurance
Business valuation & restructuring
M&A deals & tax planning for cross-border structures & transactions.
Jim Cavanaugh
Managing Director
Over 20 years in Medical Device Industry working for large, mid-size, turnarounds, public and private corporations.
Held various roles leading Strategy, Product Management, Marketing, and Sales, most recently as a Global VP and Business Unit Leader.
Worked on BD opportunities, Due Diligence, and Acquisitions of mid-size and small businesses.
Specializing in Value Creation with Products and Services starting with Strategy and driving through Product Development and Commercialization.
Eric Heinz
Consulting Partner
Eric Heinz is founder, CEO, and general partner of Heinz Ventures, a life sciences venture studio.
Prior to Heinz Ventures, he most recently worked as vice president, market and corporate development for Titan Medical, a surgical robotics company based in Toronto.
Prior to Titan, his 22-year career in the Medtech industry included multiple companies and functional areas, such as product development at Medtronic Sofamor Danek, product management at Intuitive Surgical, marketing management at IMRIS and corporate development (M&A) at Smith and Nephew.
Inventor on over 20 issued patents and 42 patent applications.
Graduated with a BS in bioengineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a MEM from Christian Brothers University, and an Executive MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Scott Hayden
Global Cross Border M&A
26 years in the Medical Device Industry. This includes working with over half of the top 50 Medical Device OEMs.
Worked in all facets of the industry, from product design, business development, sales leadership, and most recently CEO.
Successfully planned and executed an exit strategy for an OEM Company with manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen China aimed at maximizing the return for the Private Equity owners.
Balthasar Wicki
M&A Switzerland
Specialties: M&A, family-owned companies, corporate legal issues, international market development, innovation management, social media, competition of the 21st Century.
Legal and strategic support for internationally active SME (small and medium enterprises) - liquidity crisis management, integration, M&A, acquisitions, etc.
Based in Zurich but works with all European countries.
Lived and worked in India and China.
Ramanand Mundkur
M&A India
M&A lawyer since 1994, based in Bangalore India.
Over 60 M&A transactions, development, and licensing transactions in the last nine years.
Deal size varies in size from US$ 0.5 million (angel and seed investments) to private equity and strategic investments in the US$ 100 million range.
Shai Kuttner
M&A Netherlands, M&A Israel
Extensive experience in cross-border transactions, IPO’s and multinational tax structuring and restructuring both mainly in Israel, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Has close ties with listed companies in Israel and the United States and with large private companies and investors operating in a number of sectors including high-tech and medical equipment, various industries, and immovable property.
Shai speaks fluent Hebrew and English, and he is a member of the New York Bar Association and the Israeli Bar Association.
Joe Hage
Medical Marketing Communications
Leader of the Medical Devices Group, the world's largest medical device community (over 300,000 members)
Host of the annual 10x Medical Device Conference (http://MedicalDeviceEvents.com)
Medical device marketer specializing in marketing communications and strategy, lead generation, and website development for medical device and related companies.
Michael Gentile
Consulting Partner
MBA, RRT, FAARC, FCCM
Involved with Respiratory, Cardiovascular, and Critical Care for 30 years.
Has been awarded fellowships from the American Association for Respiratory Care and American College of Critical Care Medicine.
Authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.
Involved in the development, submission, teaching, testing, marketing, and launch of multiple drugs and medical devices.
Roger S. Mecca, MD
Anesthesiologist
Subspecialized in Critical Care, special expertise in Respiratory Physiology, Postoperative Care, and Complications of Anesthesia and Surgery
The University of California at Irvine
Harvard Medical School
Worked for Covidien as Medical Advisor
Medical device development
Hyperbaric medicine
Aerospace medicine
Professional publication
Kenji Kuroda
Owner, Kuroda Law Offices / Kuroda Patent Offices – Tokyo
Kuroda Law Offices is a full-service law firm, founded in 1995 with offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, and Taipei.
Their affiliate, KLO Investment Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., is located in Shanghai, with branches in Guangzhou and Beijing.
Their focus is intellectual property litigation including Japanese and foreign patents, international business matters such as direct investment and finance projects, and mergers and acquisitions both domestic and abroad.
David Ataide
Global, Cross Border M&A
Over 30 years experience, an accomplished global healthcare executive with core expertise in:
M&A
General management
Marketing
Channels of distribution
Services and business development
Domain expertise in a wide variety of medical device, imaging, and healthcare I.T. markets
Worked in key leadership positions at HP Medical, Philips, GE Healthcare.