MackMedical has formed a new business unit dedicated to orthopaedics and disposable medical devices. “We have grown exponentially in this market sector, so felt it necessary to establish a group that will focus solely on the needs of this market and its customers,” says Dwalin DeBoer, who has been promoted to head up the new unit.
A veteran in plastics engineering and manufacturing, DeBoer has been with Mack for 11 years. During that time, she has deepened her experience by working in several functional areas, including sales, molding and manufacturing. Before Mack, she held engineering positions with several resin suppliers, including Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, GE Plastics (now Sabic), and Monsanto Plastics. DeBoer holds a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Mass.), and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.
Joining her are Dawn Bacon, customer service representative, and Cassie Earley and Rich Hornby, program managers. Dawn Bacon is a 30-year Mack employee who has held a variety of positions within the procurement, finance, human resources, and manufacturing departments. For the past 12 years, she has worked in customer service, bringing to the table a broad understanding of all facets of the business.
Cassie Earley, a recent addition to Mack, brings experience in both pharmaceutical research and engineering to the new business unit. Before joining Mack, she worked for Covance in various clinical research positions, and at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard as a general engineer. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.), Earley holds a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering.
Rich Hornby has just joined Mack, bringing strong leadership skills and orthopedic program management experience to the organization. Most recently, he was program manager for Millstone Medical Outsourcing (Fall River, Mass.), where he was responsible for medical device engineering validation services, mechanical inspection, cleanroom and non-sterile packaging, field inventory audits and distribution services. Before that, he served an 11-year stint as an officer in the Air Force, with assignments in the U.S., Germany and Afghanistan. Still a Major in the Air Force Reserves, Hornby is also a Certified Six Sigma Green Belt. He holds a bachelor’s with an engineering focus from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an MBA from the Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pa.). He has relocated to Manchester, Vt., where he lives with his wife, Annemaria, and their two children (soon to be three). A collegiate hockey player, Hornby still enjoys the sport in his spare time.
The new business unit will also be supported by Chris Wartinger, who, as part of the New Business Development team, will continue to be responsible for spearheading growth in the orthopaedic sector. Wartinger has been with Mack for 20 years and has focused on orthopaedic market sales for the past seven. Prior to becoming a business development manager, he held a variety of other positions within the company, including program manager and production supervisor, giving him a broad understanding of new business development and product launch.
Other New MackMedical Staff
Several others have joined the company under the MackMedical umbrella, including Derek Bickford, customer service representative; Raquel Lakari, program manager; and Jennifer Suursoo, manufacturing engineer.
A recent graduate, Derek Bickford earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Drexel University and a master’s in education from Temple University, both in Philadelphia. An NCAA Division 1 student-athlete, Bickford played varsity soccer for Drexel for four years. Today, soccer remains among his favorite pastimes, along with music. He makes his home in Weston, Vt.
Raquel Lakari brings more than a decade of engineering management experience to MackMedical, with an emphasis on Lean Six Sigma, risk reduction, waste minimization, continuous improvement, R&D, and process control. Most recently, she was engineering manager for Kenney Manufacturing Company (Warwick, R.I.), where she was responsible for engineering and technical support for the U.S., China and Taiwan manufacturing facilities. A graduate of Michigan Technological University (Houghton, Mich.), Lakari earned a bachelor’s in chemical engineering. She is also certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Lakari makes her home in Sunderland, Vt., and enjoys skiing, biking, and hiking the Long Trail.
Jennifer Suursoo supports MackMedical from the manufacturing floor, where she serves as one of the manufacturing engineers for a Class III medical device. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.), she holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and maintains memberships in the Society of Women Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Suursoo is an avid RPI hockey fan and still enjoys participating in track and field events, her collegiate sport. A native of Chester, Vt., she has now relocated to Arlington.
Daniel Hurley has also joined Mack as a program manager. He will be responsible for a medical product development launch, along with other key account responsibilities. A program/project manager for 20 years in the semiconductor industry, Hurley brings extensive project management, operations and marketing experience to Mack. Most recently, he was a product manager for Suss MicroTec (Waterbury Center, Vt.), where he was responsible for the launch and installation of eight robotic production modules over a compressed 18-month timeframe. A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck, N.J.), Hurley has a bachelor’s in biomedical technology. He and his wife, Linda, plan to relocate soon to the Arlington area. They have three adult children – Chris, who serves in the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico; Keith, a PhD chemist in Maine; and Nicole, a veterinary medicine student at the University of Florida.
Contact: Dwalin DeBoer, Business Unit Director
dwalin.deboer@mack.com
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