POSTED BY
Liz Moyles
Pamela Bonnett
Board Member/ CEO /Serial Startup Business Enablement Executive / Advisor, Investor / Principal at Bonnett Consulting, LLC
I spoke with Pam just a few weeks after she had taken up her new role as a Chief Commercial Officer for Outcomeus and Proove Genomics. Pam is such a beam of positivity. She lights up the room with her smile and she is so very passionate about MedTech. Her energy is contagious.
She has had an exceptional career, spending many years at GE, being there on stage for the ringing of the bell at the New York Stock Exchange when Envista spun out of Danaher and now she is the CCO for two companies, Outcomeus and Proove Genomics.!!!
In one of her roles as VP North America, she was asked at a Dental Industry event, where the VP North America was and could he be introduced to him. The guy couldn’t believe it when she said, “you’ve found her - that’s me you’re looking for”. He was incredulous–and that was 2018!!!!
Despite being madly busy, she finds time within her schedule to give back. One of her roles as Chairwoman of the Board at HERhealthEQ, working alongside Marissa Fayer, involves working with developing economies such as Africa to drive health equity for women by asking the MedTech Industry to donate and provide medical devices and equipment and or funding to make a positive impact women's health issues.
The issues the team focus on are the top non-communicable diseases (NCD's) - breast cancer, cervical cancer, maternal health, and heart disease. So please if anyone is reading this and can help. Do reach out to Pamela or myself.
She has also given back to the MedTech community many times playing key roles for example in Ultrasound AI where she was CEO harnessing the power of AI to transform pre-natal ultrasound imaging.
I knew immediately we were going to have a lot to talk about and that I would love this conversation.
I hope you all enjoy the interview!
- Pam, what attracted you to move into MedTech? Was this something you considered as a child / teenager?
Not exactly. My mom was a stay-at-home mom who immigrated from Ireland. I grew up knowing that role wasn’t for me. There was nothing wrong with it, I just knew I wanted to work outside the house doing something that I was good at and make a solid living. My mother was fearless. I think I get it from her – she just thought – “I want to do that” and then she would do it. We lived in Chicago in Southside which has a strong Irish community – I come from an Irish family, and I still go back to Ireland with my family regularly. I love it as do my children.
My mother instilled in me not to listen to people telling me ‘I knew nothing about a specific topic’. She was always there for me …………… and I grew up thinking “don’t tell me I can’t , and that I don’t know, because I can, and I will show you”.
Originally, I thought I wanted to be an attorney. So, I studied and got myself 3 jobs simultaneously to try and pay for my schooling.
I took the exams to become a lawyer and started working full time to support myself. I realised I couldn’t devote the time required to study and also economically support myself at the same time.
- Oh no Pam …… so what did you do? That must have been one heck of a career crossroads especially after having invested and worked so hard to put yourself through university.
I looked around and saw a role in Sales at DHL. I had a great time, but I didn’t find it meaningful, and I knew I wanted to make a difference. To do something that made a difference to people’s lives.
I sought out a role in Medical Devices and started at GE, in the time of Jack Welch. He was a great leader.
I was the first woman in the Cardiac Ultrasound Sales team, and when I became pregnant in 1991, the HR person said to me “I’m not sure how this works as we’ve never had this situation in Sales before! “. However, GE was super supportive. The women I worked with at GE are still, great friends and we support each other through thick and thin maintaining connections and opening doors for each other. In fact, one of my ex-colleagues helped me set up my own Consultancy Company as I needed some advice and mentoring at the time.
GE invested heavily in supporting women to have a voice and to be leaders.
I started in Cardiology and Radiology and just worked my way up. I never said no to a challenge or opportunity – even when I wasn’t sure what I was saying yes to.!!! And then I found that as soon as I mastered a role, I wanted to move on and try something else. I liked to be out of my comfort zone.
- Was there any point you look back on and think that was a ‘game changer’ for you?
Yes – the role of Enterprise General Manager. This was a new model for GE at the time. Instead of developing narrow product-based relationships with our clients we were put on a mission to look at the customer as a whole – what did the hospitals / customer buy from us in total? We asked ourselves questions like – “are we getting in each other’s way because we are siloed?” – e.g. Cardiology would go in, Ultrasound, the MRI team would be speaking elsewhere. No one had a holistic view of the customer.
There were 5 of us in the team and Ken Denison said during our first training meeting, “we are not here to sell anything; we are here to consult and listen”.
It was a fab role, and I loved GE – in fact I stayed there 27 years! I had a full retirement package but had no plans to do so.
- So clearly that didn’t work for you Pam, did it?
After GE, I was recruited by Danaher for the role of VP of North America at Kavo Kerr. The President of Kavo Kerr, Patrick Eriksson told me he wanted a woman leading and he was true to his word – he really championed women.
Envista became the holding company of a number of dental brands, Kavo Kerr, Ormco and Nobel Biocare. When I went in to look at the portfolio, I found that were separate sales teams all calling on the same clients, competing for the same funds. We put several into 1 larger team to have a better view of the customer. Then we spun out of Danaher as Envista and set up a an independent, publicly traded company.
I got to stand on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the bell ringing– it was a surreal moment – I could never ever have imagined!!!!!
One of the biggest challenges was helping everyone feel secure in the new environment – we worked hard and kept everyone with us. Once we became an independent company, we separated the KaVo Kerr portfolio into KaVo Imaging, Kerr Consumables and KaVo Kerr Treatment to better serve our customers.
- What did you notice about the Dental Market?
I noticed it was hugely male dominated. In fact, at one of the industry events I was attending, someone came up to me and asked me where the VP of North America was and could I point the person out to them. I was the VP North America. ☺
I said to him, “you’ve found her. That’s me you’re looking for”. He said “No!!!” – he was incredulous and quickly tried to make a recovery. And that was 2018!!!!
As a result, I decided to set up the Kavo Connect Women’s Network, leading D&I for women within the male-dominated dental business. I knew it wasn’t easy working in the environment and I wanted to make sure people felt supported as minorities.
- So What Happened Next ?
We made a few difficult changes at Kavo Kerr separating the businesses out as I said, and then the CEO asked me to take on Nobel Biocare, one of the entities as the VP North America.
This coincided with COVID, and it was a hugely challenging time as pretty much all procedures were stopped. I was trying to support our customers, but they had very little business themselves, and that resulted in the need to restructure our own operation. Eventually we realised we needed to conserve funding until after COVID and hoped we could make a return to normal business once this had passed. As part of the effort, I stepped down and eliminated my position. It was a difficult time for everyone.
I tried to retire. I did a solid 2 months and thought I’d go off into the sunset. Then I got tired of beaches, biking, golf and thought “I want to do something more and I had to find my way”!!
So, I decided to set up my own Consultancy – rather than retire and that’s when an ex-colleague from GE helped me.
- I’m sure there’s a famous song with that line somewhere ☺ – So tell me about the Pamela Bonnett Consulting Roles you held….
I was approached by many start-ups. So many people were exiting the workforce and there was a need strategic leadership. I was helping them with product launch, go to market and commercialisation.
One of the companies was Ultrasound AI. First, I became an advisor and then the CEO. This was a brilliant product to detect risk for preterm birth using Ultrasound. I passionately believed in the solution and still do. We moved the product from an algorithm to an actual product with the and submitted to FDA and just needed funding.
I must have held over 200 calls with investors over Zoom for months and months during COVID. We couldn’t get funding. It was probably the saddest point in my career – I was confounded by how the investors wouldn’t invest in the technology. It was maddening, women’s healthcare was not getting its fair share.
During my time there, I decided to take the product to Ghana where it is being used. Ghana has the highest maternal, infant mortality rate in the world. This mission changed my perspective and gave me the opportunity to see first-hand the global inequities in women’s healthcare.
When I stepped down, I thought I would retire again. I have retired a few times and just love working and the adrenaline and making a difference. I couldn’t do it without my husband, Brian. He has been hugely supportive of me and our kids during my entire career.
- I see you don’t give up, do you?
No – not easily – not when I am passionate. I met Marissa Fayer at Ultrasound AI, and she asked me to join HERhealthEQ as a Board Advisor. Then I became the Chairwoman of the Board. We are a not for profit trying to provide health equity for women in middle to low-income countries and developing countries.
There is lots of evidence that if women thrive and survive in these communities, that the whole community does too. There is better schooling, education, jobs, welfare, better society, ambition. So, by targeting women, it is a way in to the ecosystem, to try and help the whole community.
We focus on various disease states, and we ask the Medical Devices world if they will donate medical equipment and funding to help. We are small but we are having an impact.
So please if anyone out there, CEOs, Board Advisors, Investors are reading this and you are interested, please do reach out to me or Liz to try and help us. We are so grateful on behalf of the communities we save.
- What advice would you give to anyone starting in their career or perhaps reading this and wanting to learn from you?
I would say ‘take the leap’ even if you don’t know where it will lead. 98% of people don’t know where their journey may take them.
- Your advice is like Nike’s – Just Do It! Tell me about your current adventure at Proove Genomics and Outcomeus ….
The need for the companies is borne out of the Opioid Crisis which has affected a lot of the developed world. Individuals becoming addicted to prescribed medication for pain relief. Addiction is a terrible condition and as result many physicians are frightened of prescribing opioids to people who need it and are in pain. Roughly 8-10% of the population will become addicted to an Opioid once they take it. We just don’t know who those people are, that is where Proove Genomics comes in.
Proove Genomics and Outcomeus are sister companies, and their technology and products are complimentary to each other.
Proove Genomics is focused on genetic testing, using Predictive Data, (a product from Proove Genomics) to identify the likelihood of addictive behaviours and pain sensitivity in patients. A doctor can do a genetic test, with our product and assess how likely a risk a patient is of developing an addiction to Opioids and how patients perceive pain and metabolize medications. This guides clinicians on the necessary level of patient monitoring, the appropriate medication to prescribe, and the optimal duration of treatment.
Outcomeus provides patient monitoring at home –using DOALITY, a platform for remote physiological monitoring. We check for pain and movement and assess how people are improving over their rehabilitation and with pain relief in a controlled manner.
Pain can obscure a patient's perception of their own progress. Through remote monitoring, we help patients visualize their improvements. We provide physicians with valuable insights into patient progress, enabling them to suggest additional pain management strategies, including therapy, based on patient feedback.
I am honored to work with an exceptionally talented team to bring these two companies to market. I am deeply passionate about partnering with clinicians and patients to prevent addiction and enhance patient outcomes.
Thanks, Pam …… what an interview and what a journey. From attorney, to GE, to VP North America, to being present at the bell ringing on the NYSE, helping women in Ghana, setting up women’s networks and now working to help avoid and manage the Opioid crisis and much more in between.
And if anyone wants to send Pam and Marissa Fayer, any donations of funding for HERequalityEQ please contact either Pamela, Marissa or myself !!
Thank you for being so honest, entertaining, interesting and inspiring!
Liz
