James Walker

Responsible for global strategic marketing for the Abbott i-STAT portfolio.

The scope of my role has been expanded to include global P&L responsibility for our Point of Care Diagnostics Business, with a predominant focus on US categories. My role spans the full product lifecycle inclusive of EUA to 510(K) transition, sustaining engineering, business development, operations and supply, and driving accelerated growth of our commercialized portfolio. I recently led a cross-functional team through the overhaul of our business strategy, tactical execution plan and operational processes, inclusive of KPI management. Impact has been delivered through improvement in our overall sales funnel health metrics and close rates, scaled coverage and frequency in high growth segments, new positioning and associated messaging, pricing and contracting excellence, and strategic account management.

Global responsibility for commercial excellence across the Diagnostic Solution Business Unit, inclusive of molecular, microbiology and point-of-care diagnostics. The scope of my role is full lifecycle from strategic innovation, to new product development and in-market commercialized portfolios. I deliver P&L impact through marketing and sales functional excellence inclusive of strategic planning, new product development, launch excellence, campaign excellence and pricing. My responsibilities include developing and executing commercial strategies to scale profitable growth of our technical services portfolio.

Global responsibility for leading our $0.5B Molecular Diagnostics business focused on high throughout centralized molecular labs & cytology. We specialize in HPV, STI, RTI & Enterics assays & highly innovative instrument platforms that help to drive lab efficiencies, diagnostic experience & patient outcomes. My team and I have the honor to work with great people worldwide to deliver superior patient and clinical outcomes. We are a key global partner pursuing the eradication of Cervical Cancer through strategic innovation, inclusive of At Home diagnostics and low acuity care. The scope of my role spans the entire product lifecycle from upstream ideation, innovation and new product development to management of the commercialized portfolio globally.

I had the unique opportunity to lead the US marketing organization through a time of considerable change as 2 business units merged to form 1 $1.8B US business and then faced the global crisis that was the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time I restructured the team to drive strategic and operational alignment to our global platform structure. In doing so I overhauled my marketing leadership team, with talent from internal and external sources, and created a flat but wide operating structure to drive executional rigor and decision making close to the customer. This saw the flow of new capabilities into the team such as strategic marketing, consumer marketing, sales process excellence and business analytics. The team was able to drive incredible outcomes for the business and the patients we serve. This included +$1.5B in new revenues.

Promoted with extended responsibility for both US marketing & business analytics. I advanced my readiness for General Management with a greater focus on the operational and supply chain aspects of the business, specifically leading the business through a complex backorder to overcome a budget deficit of ~$19M and deliver +$3M in over-performance. Proven track-record of leading cross-functional teams in a highly matrixed environment. The capabilities, skills and experiences gained during this time elevated my readiness for VP level positions.

US responsibility for the Vacutainer band, one of our highest equity brands in our portfolio totalling ~$900M in US sales. This role provided me the opportunity to diversify my leadership experience within BD in another Business Unit, having already established significant experience in Diabetes Care. Although this role provided me further opportunity to launch and grow new products, the greatest experience was gained through working with a large sales organization and by developing an advanced knowledge of the US medical device market, inclusive of distributor and GPO based go-to-market models. During my tenure in the Preanalytical Business I gained significant experience of pricing and contracting strategies, with demonstrable business impact in excess of $70M in margin improvement.

Extended responsibility for CoE leadership during a time of organizational change. Established KDG process and global alignment to KPIs.

Promoted to a global leadership role in Diabetes Care with responsibility for Clinical Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing Communications and Sales Process. I created, branded and scaled globally the Patient Centric Sales Approach (PCSA), with adoption of the new process in US, Canada, US, China, Japan, & ANZ. Scaled the globalization of clinical marketing and digital marketing best practices, inclusive of Diabetes Innovations.

One month assignment in partnership with IBM. We had responsibility for developing sustainable revenue and funding sources for the NGO.

Promoted to lead the Canadian marketing organization. This role provided me with the opportunity to diversify my experience geographically. Established marketing and clinical marketing best practices, working extensively with the sales organization to scale the business to a category leadership position through innovation and key strategic partnerships. This included scaling the FIT brand, which was previously created in my UK role.

I joined BD with the opportunity to help drive the rapid expansion of the Diabetes Care business. We achieved category leadership within 2 years as a consequence of strategic marketing rigor, new product development and commercial innovation, and the introduction of clinical marketing capabilities.

I moved to Synergy Healthcare to further develop as a sales and marketing leader with responsibility for the sterile services portfolio. I rapidly accelerated the overall sales funnel health with a focus on expanding the value of the funnel, the velocity and yield.

I returned to Getinge with responsibility for leading the business into new managed service markets to diversify the healthcare business beyond traditional NHS revenue streams. Full responsibility for the sales cycle (2-3 year multi-bid process) with critical strategic partners. Built and scaled new organizational capabilities to support prospective customers over the sales cycle. Led the innovation process for a critical product in the portfolio, which became the standard for the business across Europe. Negotiated and secured preferred supplier and pan-European agreements.

I had responsibility for the FastAid brand of consumer woundcare products as well as private label woundcare products for grocery multiples and retail pharmacy. I led the refresh of the FastAid brand and the creation and launch of the FastAid Advanced portfolio of woundcare products, inclusive of hydrogel and hydro-colloid based products. This resulted in the brand being adopted by major retailers for the first time in its history.

My first role directly out of university, which provided me with the opportunity to learn sales process with responsibility for tendered contracts. Additionally, during my time in this role I completed the Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications to advance my commercial capabilities.