Tarrytown, NY and Warrendale, PA, May 11, 2010 – Bayer Medical Care announced today the appointment of Samuel M. Liang as incoming president and chief executive officer of MEDRAD, Inc., upon the retirement of John Friel later this year. MEDRAD is a global market leader of innovative, high-quality diagnostic imaging and therapeutic medical devices and services and one of the two businesses that, with sister company Bayer Diabetes Care, make up Bayer Medical Care, a Division of Bayer HealthCare AG. Liang will succeed Friel effective July 1, 2010.
Liang comes to MEDRAD from Vascular Therapies, LLC in Totowa, N.J., where he has been president and CEO since July 2008. With more than 25 years in the medical device industry, with concentration in cardiovascular, endovascular, and neurovascular products and combination drug-device treatments (first with Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company and then Vascular Therapies), Liang brings with him a wealth of global cross-functional experience and outstanding customer relationships and skills.
Acknowledged as a leading architect of MEDRAD’s worldwide strategies, Friel became president in 1998 following two decades of experience with the company in various disciplines, with particular emphasis on sales and marketing, international expansion, and research and development. Among other notable achievements, during his tenure MEDRAD has achieved a 15 percent annual revenue growth, created a significant number of new jobs and won the prestigious 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in manufacturing.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Sandra Peterson, president and CEO of Bayer Medical Care said, “Sam Liang has a proven track record of helping companies and executive teams drive creative development and growth. His background in R&D and focus on global customer- and market-driven innovation make him an ideal candidate to succeed John Friel.”
“John has served the company, and the patients and physicians who rely on MEDRAD innovation, very well,” Peterson continued. “For almost 30 years he has led consistent growth at the company with an emphasis on quality and customer-focused service. The employees of MEDRAD and the community leaders around our Warrendale, Pa., headquarters will miss John. But as the baton is passed, I’m convinced that Sam has the vision and skills necessary for the company to continue to develop innovative new products and services and grow at or above market.“
Samuel M. Liang has been President and CEO of Vascular Therapies, LLC, a start-up company developing a combination drug-device product for surgery, since July 2008. Prior to that, he spent 24 years at Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson company, in various engineering, international, strategic and commercial leadership roles including: vice president of marketing for Cordis Cardiology, worldwide vice president of Commercial Operations for Cordis Endovascular and Disease State Leader/GM of Cordis Neurovascular. Liang was also the vice president of the Cordis Global Stent franchise and worldwide vice president for Cypher programs where he led all aspects of the company’s stent franchise and its initiatives in drug-eluting stents. This included commercializing and launching Cypher, the world’s first drug-eluting stent along with unprecedented incremental reimbursement at launch in the U.S.
Liang holds a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Material Sciences from Duke University and a Masters in Management from the Kellog Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.
Bayer Medical Care is a division of Bayer HealthCare LLC and is comprised the businesses of Bayer Diabetes Care and MEDRAD, Inc.
Bayer Diabetes Care is a worldwide leader in diabetes care, supporting customers in 100 countries and, for more than 40 years, has led the way in diabetes care product innovation. Today, Bayer Diabetes Care offers an unparalleled choice in diabetes management systems and comprehensive support including education, tools and resources designed to simplify life with diabetes. Bayer Diabetes Care has its global headquarters located in Tarrytown, New York. www.simplewins.com.
MEDRAD, Inc. develops, markets and services medical devices used to diagnose and treat disease. Its product offerings include fluid injection systems for radiology and cardiology, endovascular devices for the safe treatment of cardiovascular disease, magnetic resonance-compatible accessories and equipment services. The company’s world headquarters is near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. www.medrad.com.
Forward-looking statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
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