Episode 299: Pam Fox Rollin, Growing Groups into Teams (replay)

This week, we revisit our interview with Pam Fox Rollin. Pam coaches executives and top teams in Silicon Valley and globally. Pam also facilitates technology and healthcare organizations to succeed in strategic transformation, executive development, and culture change. Her bestselling books -- Growing Groups into Teams and 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role -- are described as indispensable for leaders at all levels. Pam and her team at Altus Growth Partners work with highly capable people to take on their next round of leadership and strategic growth. Pam’s MBA is from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), where she later served as Guest Fellow in leadership and Master Coach for executive education.

This week we revisit our interview Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance.  He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Managing Director at DeNovo Ventures, Senior Advisor at Apercen Partners, Advisor to Sonder Capital, and 15-year Lecturer at Stanford University.   He has served on more than 20 public and private boards focused on technology and the life sciences, including Align Technology (NASDAQ), Avedro, Axogen, Inc. (NASDAQ), Hansen Medical (NASDAQ), Insound Medical & Vynca Health.  He also serves on the boards of Case Western Reserve University, Headstart, and Save the Children.   He was a seed investor, board member and advisor to the founders of Align Technologies and has served as CEO of five life sciences companies, which resulted in significant shareholder value.  He was a member of the founding management committee of Guidant Corporation (NYSE) and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley venture fund.  He has authored or co-authored thirty articles on healthcare and governance and the book The Entrepreneur’s Journey.

This week, we revisit our interview with Fouad Al Noor. Fouad is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad was an entrepreneur with Entrepreneur First, where they created a medical software startup.  Fouad has also worked as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London, where they worked on the design of data logging and battery optimization circuit for a portable EEG sensor. This device is used to help with sleep monitoring using brain signals.  Before that, Fouad worked as a Software Engineer at SAP, where they worked on front-end UI for a large manufacturing project. Fouad has also worked as an Events Manager at Cafe Parfait, where they helped design a night out for the club. Fouad has also interned at SPI Lasers as an Electronic Engineering Intern and was the Opinions Editor at Wessex Scene. Fouad Al Noor has a Master of Engineering (MEng) in Electronic Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of Southampton.

In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Shawn McCormick. Shawn has 30 years of financial expertise and operational experience in the medical device and life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Aldevron, a private equity-backed CDMO. Shawn joined Aldevron in 2020 and remained until February 2022, following the sale of the company to Danaher, Inc. in 2021. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tornier N.V. and Tornier, Inc. from September 2012 until the completion of the merger with Wright Medical in October 2015. He also served as Tornier’s Principal Accounting Officer. Mr. McCormick served as Chief Operating Officer of Lutonix Inc. from April 2011 to February 2012, when Lutonix was sold to C.R.Bard.  He served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of ev3, Inc. from January 2009 to July 2010 and as its Principal Accounting Officer. ev3 was sold to Covidien in July 2010. Mr. McCormick held various positions of increasing responsibility at Medtronic, Inc. from 1992 to 2009, including Vice President of Corporate Development from May 2008 to January 2009 and Vice President of Finance for the Spinal, Navigation, and ENT business from 2002 to 2007.  He has been a Director of Nevro Corp. since September 2014 and Inspire Medical Systems Inc. since January 2017. He also served on the board of Surmodics, Inc from December 2015 to December 2020 and the board of Entellus Medical from December 2014 to February 2018, when Entellus was sold to Stryker. Mr. McCormick serves as the Audit Committee Chair for both Nevro and Inspire and previously for Entellus. He also served as a Surmodics’ audit committee and governance and nominating committee member. Mr. McCormick served on the board of LANX from August 2010 to November 2013, serving on the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee before LANX was sold to Biomet in November 2013.  Mr. McCormick is a Certified Public Accountant (non-active license). He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. 

This week, we revisit our conversation with Keith Grossman. Keith has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 35 years. He was the Chairman of the Board of Nevro Corporation (NVRO) until April 2025, having previously served as President and CEO from 2019 to April 2023. Prior to Nevro, he was named President and CEO of Thoratec Corp. (THOR) for the second time in 2014. He led the company’s return to growth, a 2.5x increase in company value, and its $3.4 billion acquisition by St. Jude Medical in 2015. He previously served as the CEO, President, and Director of Conceptus, Inc. (CPTS) from 2011 to 2013, where he took the company from negative sales growth to over 20% growth, tripled EBIDTA, and led the company’s sale to Bayer Healthcare for over $1.1 billion, a 3x increase in the company’s value before his arrival. Prior to Conceptus, Keith served as managing director of TPG (Texas Pacific Group), a private equity firm, as a member of its healthcare investment team. Prior to TPG, Mr. Grossman served as Thoratec’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and director for the first ten years of its growth as a commercial company.  Prior to Thoratec, he held a number of commercial and general management roles with companies including SulzerMedica and American Hospital Supply Corp. He currently also serves as Vice Chairman of Alcon, Inc., and is on the board of Outset Medical, Inc. and previously served as a member of the Board of directors of Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Kyphon, Inc., ViewRay, Inc., Zeltiq, Inc, and a number of privately held medical device companies. Keith received a B.S. in life sciences from The Ohio State University and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.

In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Karen Long, a Managing Director at KCK (Med Tech) Group. KCK focuses on capital investment in commercial and growth-stage medical device companies. Karen has been with KCK since January 2018, when she joined as Executive-in-Residence. Karen serves as Board Director in many KCK portfolio companies as well as Independently. Prior to KCK, Karen was President and CEO of Nuelle, a women’s consumer health company incubated at ExploraMed, a Silicon Valley medical device incubator. Nuelle was acquired in 2017. Karen has spent over 20 years in medical devices and diagnostics developing and marketing novel and market leading products focused on improving quality of life. She has held a series of key operating roles in consumer diagnostic companies, ChemTrak and Inverness Medical and eventually management positions at LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company, after the acquisition of Inverness Medical. In early 2007, Karen joined Acclarent as Worldwide Vice President of Marketing and led Acclarent’s marketing efforts through rapid growth and ultimately through the acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Karen held remained at Johnson & Johnson until joining the ExploraMed incubator in 2012. Acclarent was also an early spinout from ExploraMed. Karen began her career as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker after receiving her undergraduate and graduate degrees from San Diego State University.

This week, we revisit our conversation with Todd Henry regarding his book, The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work.  Todd Henry is an author, speaker, and consultant who equips leaders and teams to unleash creativity and perform at their best. He is the founder of Accidental Creative and host of the long-running Daily Creative Podcast, with millions of downloads worldwide. Todd has written seven acclaimed books, including The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Herding Tigers, The Brave Habit, Daily Creative, Louder Than Words, and The Motivation Code. Through his writing, speaking, and workshops, he helps individuals and organizations generate ideas consistently, build authentic influence, and lead with impact.  

This week, we interviewed Retired Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch. Oak is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the author of the 2021 release, “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”. Both his leadership talks, and his book are based on his 40+ years of leadership experience in combat, peacekeeping operations, disaster relief operations and in the board room. Oak highlights principles that will benefit today’s leaders and inspire the leaders of tomorrow, in any profession and at any level of leadership. LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Military Arts and Science in Leadership and History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002. He received thirty-one military service awards, including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

In this week’s episode, we revisit our interview with Alisa Cohn. Alisa is an Executive Coach who has worked with C-suite executives at prominent startups (such as Venmo, Etsy, Draft Kings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Tory Burch) and Fortune 500 companies (including Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Pfizer, Calvin Klein and The New York Times.) She is the author of From Start-up to Grown-up, which won the 2022 Independent Press Award, and the creator and host of a podcast of the same name.  A frequent keynoter, Inc. Magazine named Alisa one of the top 100 leadership speakers, and she was named the Top Startup Coach in the World at the Thinkers50/Marshall Goldsmith Global Coaches Awards and the #1 Global Guru for Startups. She is the executive coach for Cornell’s New York City tech incubator, and she has coached leaders from around the world, including the first female minister of the transition state of Afghanistan and the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. She has guest lectured at Harvard, Cornell, The Naval War College and Henley Business School. Her articles have appeared in HBR, Inc, and Forbes, and she’s been featured as an expert on BBC World News, Bloomberg TV, and in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal. 

This week, we revisit our conversation with Dr. John Lowry. John is a recognized authority on negotiation through his experience as a lawyer, management consultant, entrepreneur, negotiation coach, and university administrator. We discuss his new book, Negotiation Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Solving Problems, Building Relationships, and Delivering the Deal. His results-focused, systematic approach to negotiation has been successfully implemented by thousands of professionals across the United States. John teaches negotiation at the top-ranked Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law and lectures in Vanderbilt University’s Master’s in Management in Health Care program. John serves as president of Thrivence, a new management consulting firm affiliated with Barge Design Solutions. In addition to leading the firm, John counsels clients on leadership, executive team effectiveness, strategy, revenue growth, and conflict management. He also provides negotiation training and coaching for governmental entities, healthcare organizations, and other businesses. John is a popular keynote speaker and leads multiple executive retreats each year including the opening retreat of the Nashville Health Care Council Fellows program. John earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communications from Pepperdine University and master’s degree in religion from Abilene Christian University. He received his juris doctorate degree from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. He has also completed graduate work in dispute resolution at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law and in public policy at California State University, Sacramento. John resides in Nashville, TN, with his wife, Melissa, and their three children.