An Interview with BME Alumnus Jon Serbousek

A seasoned executive with more than 30 years of experience in the medical device and biotech industries, BME alum Jon Serbousek has served in several biomedical industry leadership positions in his rich, interesting professional career. Most recently as President and CEO of Orthofix Medical. Prior to Orthofix, he was the Worldwide Group President of Biomet Orthopedics, President of Biomet U.S. Orthopedics, and Worldwide President of Biomet Biologics. In addition, prior to joining Biomet, Jon held general management positions within Medtronic, including Worldwide Division President – Spine, and Worldwide Vice President, and General Manager of Biologics for Medtronic’s Spine and Biologics business. Additionally, Jon spent 13 years with DePuy Orthopedics, now a Johnson & Johnson company, where he served numerous roles of increasing responsibility, including Vice President of Marketing and Production Development, and Vice President of Spinal Operations. Jon has held numerous board positions for both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. He earned his BS in Engineering from Washington State University, his MS in Bioengineering from the University of Utah in 1985, working for past Utah Orthopedics and BME adjunct faculty, Dr. Dan Daniels, and later completed several advanced management programs including a global program at the IMD International School of Management, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

How did your Biomedical Engineering education and research at the University of Utah impact your vision for your career?

Jon completed his Masters degree in Bioengineering in 1985. At the time, very few Universities had Biomedical Engineering graduate programs that were as well developed as Utah’s. He was fascinated with the combination of engineering and medicine. As a bachelor of science student at Washington State University, he was on a pre-med/engineering track before undergraduate programs for Biomedical engineering were prominent. He approached his WSU bachelor’s advisor and the Dean of Engineering to set up a custom program that included predominantly mechanical engineering, gross and micro anatomy, and chemistry course work. Because Jon took the initiative to work with the Dean, he was better able to prepare for the next steps in his academic journey. First, he looked nationally at health sciences and mechanical engineering programs, and ultimately decided to apply to the University of Utah because at the time, faculty Willem Kolff, William DeVries, and Robert Jarvik were pioneering artificial hearts with Utah bioengineering colleagues. He was also inspired by other innovative artificial organs work with Prof. Kolff. For Jon, it came down to: “The University of Utah was leading in transformational medicine.” So, he applied to the University of Utah, and only the University of Utah. Jon claims that, “This lead in transformational medicine is a hall mark for the University of Utah: not only do they have great science, engineering, and educational program, but these programs are translatable. You see the benefits of this work being translated to the bedside in real time.”

When Jon interviewed for the Utah bioengineering graduate program, he was able to pick a thematic track. He chose an orthopedic group under adjunct research faculty, Dr. Dan Daniels, and produced his Bioengineering Masters degree with Orthopedics, focusing on the mechanics of upper extremities. At this time, his research lab was in the south wing of the University Hospital. Because of his location, he worked with the orthopedic residents who provided clinical guidance and was exposed to various allied professions. The hospital Operating Room was nearby, and he was welcomed and encouraged to utilize the OR to learn as much as possible given the clinical guidance where he was exposed to various allied professions.

Jon’s advisory group in this environment included an attending MD, the bioengineering faculty, and the faculty who had expertise in the students’ research area. This backdrop of cross-collaboration prepared him well for his career, providing a “comprehensive view to what the impacts of what your engineering education could do to impact a patient’s life. We saw this every day. We saw this in the OR, we saw it in our research, we saw it with the surgeon attendings and residents. You see the direct impact of your work, and that’s the real thing that sets your vision for your career. Seeing this impact launched me into being passionate about designing, developing, and translating implants/procedures/technologies to provide patient care. I was shown the art of the possible.” For Jon, education was not only beneficial for his future, but was augmented by medical collaborations that would propel him in future endeavors.

Jon comments on how the Utah environment is “so unique because it provided a private biomedical research park that complemented the outstanding academic environment. The new Research Park concept (at that time) allowed these surgeons and researchers and others to have private conversations that created businesses to translate medical technology ideas.” One example was an early stage genetics company, Axial Biotech. Jon says, “I don’t know much about genetics, but through my career, I learned how to commercialize innovative technologies. This start-up was commercializing genetics for predictive scoliosis testing by utilizing a multi-disciplinary team and translational expertise.” And this collaboration with genetics experts in the Salt Lake area and surgeon Jim Ogilvie, MD (now retired locally) was enabled because of the unique University of Utah environment. Dr. Ogilvie knew Jon from previous orthopedic engineering collaborations and knew of his U of U engineering background and asked him to serve on the start-up board. Even after 30 years, Jon is still very involved with the MedTech community that he discovered during his training here.

Plot your career development to your current point for me: Looking back, what were major determinants to put you where you are now?

• First job was arranged by an U of U advisor’s relationship. Jon was the third person to join a small startup (funded by Kyocera – Bioceram) that was going to bring new technologies from Japan to be translated to new orthopedic implants and procedures in the States;
• Jon decided he needed more experience in a larger format company. He wanted to learn more about manufacturing, quality systems, marketing, and distribution channels, so went to work for DePuy (global orthopedic device company) as a bioengineer. Jon emphasized “I’m never worried about my next role or assignment. I always focus on doing an exceptional job in the current role or project. If you focus on and perform exceptionally in your present role, then opportunities will come to you”. Utilizing this philosophy at DePuy, he went from developing implants, to management, to then-President of DePuy, Mike McCaffrey, approaching him to assist in starting a new sports medicine company.
• Jon led the creation of the new sports medicine company in his early 30s. His focus in this company was on meeting researchers and surgeons and finding product, surgical and business opportunities. He did this for 2 years, and then DePuy’s President reached out to him again to help with creating a new spine company. Mike McCaffrey became a close mentor who encouraged exploring one’s potential, and demonstrating commitment and excellence. As Jon demonstrated this, he was provided more opportunity.
• DePuy’s new spine company started with 3 people, and collaborated with a company in Germany. This was an entirely new implant and surgical approach for caring for patients with spine issues. As the company’s success and growth occurred, the team asked, “how can we expand and grow even faster?” They proposed to the Board to acquire the #2 market-share spine competitor at the time and so they did. This acquisition instantly made DePuy the clear #2 company in the global market. Where did Jon learn to strategically assess and propose such a deal? He had never specifically done anything like this, but he did learn how to analyze and pursue opportunity, and work within a diverse, talented team and use his training and confidence from his University experience. He learned to embrace new goals and risks that were frightening and beyond his comfort zone: “If someone has faith in you for a new role, give them the courtesy to respect their faith in you, take it on, and drive it to make it a success.”
• DePuy was eventually bought by Johnson-&-Johnson Orthopedics, bringing greater new business opportunities, decisions, and resources that further motivated Jon to learned as much as he could in new business and team environments. He worked continuously with surgeons, engineers, and marketing, manufacturing and sales experts to discover new business prospects with new product designs, propose technology acquisitions and mergers, and forge productive collaborations with business partners. This experience further highlighted how industry partners are key to successfully translating University discoveries to create patient benefit. In translating University discoveries, companies play a key role in commercialization by de-risking through pre-clinical and clinical testing, regulatory exploration, financing, and manufacturing to scale under well established quality systems to assure patient safety.
• Medtronic then recruited Jon to become a division president to lead the commercialization of new spinal implant systems, as well as develop and commercialize a first-in-class recombinant bone growth protein delivery system to transform spinal fusion procedures. This was an exciting new exploration and an entirely new dimension from his previous experience in developing metallic orthopedic devices. How was he able to navigate this new field involving the emerging field of combination devices and biotech drugs? Tapping again his broad experiences at the University of Utah, he used collaborations to help fill the gaps, take advantage of the opportunity, and figure out how to engineer the technology with a talented new team.
• During his time at Medtronic, Jon ran many businesses and participated in many breakthrough programs. However, one of his rewarding activities was having the opportunity to re-engage with U of U researchers and surgeons by bringing pre-clinical and engineering research collaboration projects back to the University of Utah. He had come full circle and established connections with surgeons and researchers he knew from the time he received his degree. “Once you are in this U of U network, it’s contagious, and you stay with it. Clearly, I’m still coming around.”
• Nearly 8 years later, a private equity firm acquired Biomet Orthopedics and they reached out to ask Jon to run their orthopedic business. So, after a successful and rewarding experience, he left Medtronic.
• Biomet’s business was also a very rewarding and unique experience. Private equity-owned businesses are run differently than public technology companies. This can be very rewarding, high energy environment with incredible team alignment. The new environment allowed Biomet to transform itself with new refreshed product portfolios, technology translation, organizational structure and team building, and enhanced distribution channels. He had an exceptional experience and once again, he was able to learn and grow, in senior management.
• With Biomet’s market value greatly enhanced, it was acquired by Zimmer and Jon chose not to move forward in the combined company and rather explore other new, diverse opportunities.
• At this time, Jon paused and took time to figure out next steps in his journey. He started working with venture capital and private equity groups – again, not exactly an engineering job but a new opportunity presented to him. These groups sought skill sets that University of Utah bioengineering students could develop throughout their entire career with the motivation to explore beyond traditional boundaries. To address the question often presented in the medical device business, “How do you rapidly and effectively grow companies and technologies?”, Jon spent 4 years in this new adventure.
• He also did considerable amount of pro bono About 50% of his time was dedicated to assisting small companies/entrepreneurs to get their ideas or businesses started. He did this without payment as he believes it is important to give back with his experiences and knowledge accumulated in the domain. Jon says that these are some of the most rewarding projects that he’s taken on. When trying to help these high-risk efforts, he is often asked why he does it, and he says, “I want the life sciences to flourish, and I’ll help you (entrepreneur) in this difficult effort because I can”.
• In 2019, Jon was approached to consider becoming the CEO at Orthofix Medical. Seeing this as a new challenge, he accepted the role and has been rebuilding the company as CEO for the past 3 plus years and recently architected and completed a merger with another company. Now as Executive Chairman of the Board for Orthofix, Jon both began and completed his mission to create significant value in this medical technology company in producing high quality, enhanced patient care products and procedures to improve patient quality of life.

What recommendations do you have for BME students regarding their coursework, research, presentations, or any other assets for their future employment?

“Find value and discover how you can facilitate the next generation of technologies to benefit patients. Don’t worry solely about your specific role at the time. Instead, focus on effectively performing your job while bringing quality people around you and onto your teams. Hopefully, someday they’ll assume your role, so you can move to your next new opportunity. Surround yourself with eager to learn, curious, driven people who enjoy collaboration. If you work hard and assist others on the team, success comes to everyone, as teams always succeed together. No one should stand out individually; the team should stand out together in success.

If you see a learning opportunity that interests or might benefit you – then take it! Never stop learning and challenging yourself. Never think you’re so full of knowledge that you can’t learn, or that someone can’t teach you something worthwhile. Your Utah education provides this foundation, competence and confidence to do this throughout your life!

Finally, continue your professional community work in as many educational and diversified ways to give back and stay humble.”

You have remained career-centric in orthopedic medical devices. How did you navigate from the engineering side to the business side as this medical sector has evolved over the past 40 years?

“Some of this is addressed in my previous answers, but I am happy to have the opportunity to amplify this because it is really, REALLY important. What I learned at the U, whether it be understanding surgeons, watching cases in the OR, talking with residents, or understanding technologies as a design engineer standpoint , is what I have utilized in every step of my career. For example, on the business side, if a surgeon comes to me with an idea or concepts, how do I assess if it is indeed practical and/or technologically probable? How do I assess if this can be developed to a status that can be manufactured or even commercialized? By utilizing everything I learned and experienced at the University of Utah! Because I did the same thing there as a student: the exposure I received at the U helped me to ask the right questions and have conversations with business people initiated by the unique U experience. Once you’re involved in a business sector as an engineer, you’ll determine what you enjoy and motives you and what MedTech pathway has the most exciting opportunities to advance the field. The U provides the environment where you get to combine technology, medical practitioners, enthusiasm and passion, and translate new ideas to actually create new product prototypes to enable good patient outcomes during your degree.”

What do you value in the best quality people who work for you?

Integrity, trust, courage, drive and enduring passion for pursuing creative new ideas that benefit patients.

Never be afraid to fail. If anything, fail forward faster. Failure is part of the learning journey. If you try something and it doesn’t work, some people might call that a failure. But what you learn along that pathway is SO valuable to better pursuing success in the next efforts. The point is to determine these pathways as rapidly as possible to minimize wastes of time and resources. Always be a learner, be courageous, try new things, and bring the highest level on integrity to everything you do.

It is also essential to have the ability to build trust within a team, and once given the trust, you must work every day to build that trust within a team.

Communicate and own your decisions and their short comings should they occur. Once you give your word and commit, deliver on them. You have to put other people first. Help those around you flourish, and success will abound for all.”

What do you enjoy in your leisure time?

Jon enjoys skiing with his wife and daughter in Big Sky, Montana. He also enjoys fishing, mountain biking, and running. Jon recalls running around Emigration Canyon and around Capitol Hill! These hobbies conveniently fit into his Utah student lifestyle and made it an enjoyable place to be for school and leisure.

What do the next 10 years of your career look like to you?

Jon just transitioned from the CEO of the publicly traded company, Orthofix Medical, to the Executive Chairman of the Board, with no desire to retire. Jon has transformed from a bioengineering student researcher at the U, to CEO of a major medical device company – now what comes to mind when contemplating a traditional engineering career route. However, his Utah engineering training is centric to placing him where he is now. Jon will always be helping young companies and entrepreneurs in addition to future professional pursuits. He also plans to stay involved with professional societies, medical device research, and entrepreneurs bringing new ideas that will benefit future patient care. Let’s see how the next chapter is written.