The final episode of The Leaders’ Room podcast season four features Sean Gayer, VP operations for EMEA manufacturing at Boston Scientific. This series is created in partnership with IDA Ireland.
Once again in season four of The Leaders’ Room podcast, we get to know the leaders of some of the most influential multinationals in tech, life sciences and innovation, as well as getting insights into their leadership styles and the high-tech trends that are transforming their industries.
In this final episode of season four, we speak to Sean Gayer, VP operations for EMEA manufacturing at Boston Scientific, about his role at one of the world’s major medtech organisations, the future of human health as we all live longer, and the kind of leadership that keeps people – and patients – at the centre.
Boston Scientific was founded in 1979 and is today a global medical device company with revenues of $20bn, a presence in 127 countries, 59,000 employees and 48m patients treated annually. Its stated mission – to transform lives through innovative medical solutions – is one that comes through clearly in how Gayer talks about the company and the work being done at its three Irish facilities.
In Ireland, Boston Scientific has three manufacturing sites and around 8,000 employees in total. Galway, the largest site with more than 4,000 staff, focuses on cardiovascular products including the Watchman device – a stroke prevention product placed in the heart that reduces the risk of clotting and the need for lifelong blood thinners.
Clonmel makes active implantables: defibrillators, pacemakers and a deep brain stimulation device used in the treatment of Parkinson’s. Cork produces cancer treatment products, catheters and a device called RotorBlade, which rotates at 160,000 revolutions per minute to drill out calcified plaque in the arteries, explains Gayer.
A €75m investment in R&D capabilities in Galway was announced shortly before we spoke, which Gayer says reflects the confidence the company has in the Irish sites, and the direction of travel for Boston Scientific in this country.
Scorekeeper or team player?
Gayer’s route to his current role is an unconventional one, and he tells it with good humour. A BCom from UCC, training at PwC, and then his first industry role at Millipore (now Merck), where an early manager gave him advice that has stayed with him to this day: you can be a scorekeeper or a team player, and you’ll have more fun being a team player. “Go down to the production floor, understand what is driving the numbers, and then you can actually do something about them,” explains Gayer.
It is a principle he refers to as Gemba – going to where the problem actually is, talking to the people doing the work – and he has carried it through every role since: a hearing healthcare company, a spell in telecoms and ICT, and then Boston Scientific Cork in 2013 as finance director. Two years later he became site lead, and two years ago he stepped into the EMEA regional role. An accountant, as he puts it, “who had too much interest in operations”.
On leadership, Gayer draws on the Shingo Prize model, which Boston Scientific Cork challenged for successfully during his time as site lead. At the top of the triangle is the North Star – for Boston Scientific, positively impacting patients’ lives. At the base are the cultural enablers – lead with humility, and respect every individual, says Gayer. The middle piece, he says, takes care of itself if you give the right people a well-defined problem rooted in purpose.
Looking to the future
The conversation about the future of human health is a fascinating one. We are living longer – average life expectancy in Ireland has risen by more than 20 years in the past century, and that is likely to continue. That puts real pressure on health systems, and Gayer sees AI, robotics and remote monitoring as part of the response – AI for early detection and clinical decision-making, robotic-assisted surgeries and virtual wards that allow patients to recover at home while being monitored remotely. That kind of thinking, he says, is what the health system needs more of.
In manufacturing, the focus is on supply chain resilience post-Covid and on smarter, more connected factories where pooled data supports better decision-making. Boston Scientific’s Irish workforce of 8,000 represents, as Gayer put it to the company’s board, more than 70,000 years of accumulated knowledge. That, he said without hesitation, is their greatest asset.
We’re grateful to all our interviewees again this season, for taking the time out of busy schedules to come into the studio and share their insights and their intelligence with us. And a big thanks as ever to our partners IDA Ireland who make this series possible.
The Leaders’ Room podcast is released fortnightly and can be found by searching for ‘The Leaders’ Room’ wherever you get your podcasts. For those who prefer their audio with visuals, filmed versions of the podcast interviews are all available here on SiliconRepublic.com.
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