The respiratory care company Vyaire Medical has brought on a new CEO, following a year of new product launches.
Effective immediately, Gaurav Agarwal will take over for Dave Eckley, who will maintain his seat on the board of directors of the company, based outside of Chicago.
Agarwal most recently served as president and chief operating officer of the wound care-focused KCI, which was acquired by the international conglomerate 3M last October in a $6.7 billion deal to expand its surgical offerings. Before that, he was president of Smith & Nephew’s orthopedic reconstruction business and a VP at GE Healthcare.
“He brings a wealth of experience in driving innovation and growing businesses in the medical device industry,” Steven Dyson, chairman of Vyaire’s board of directors, said in a statement. “In the five years that I’ve known him, I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of his focus on the customer, his attention to employees, and his ability to create value for shareholders. He is the perfect fit for Vyaire at this time.”
Vyaire was launched in 2016, when the investment group Apax Partners acquired Becton Dickinson’s ailing respiratory business and spun it out into a stand-alone company, with thousands of individual products across ventilation, diagnostics, vital sign tracking, nebulizers, masks and more.
Eckley has served as Apax’s operating advisor for operations and logistics and has been CEO of the connected electronics firm Aguila Technologies, as well as CEO and co-founder of TradeGlobal, the business solutions provider previously known as Filltek.
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“Dave Eckley has been an invaluable leader for Vyaire Medical this past year, defining a clear vision and mission, championing a customer-first culture, and establishing a seamless supply chain operation across legacy systems,” said Dyson. “The board extends its deep appreciation and thanks on behalf of our employees, partners and customers for Dave stepping into the CEO role during this critical time.”
Over 2019, Vyaire kicked off new products including its SuperNO2VA nasal ventilation mask and the bellavista 1000e ventilator system, as well as pulmonary function testing hardware and software through its Vyntus and SentrySuite lines. Earlier this month, the company signed a five-year deal with Spirosure to distribute the latter’s Fenom Pro asthma monitor in the U.S., U.K., the Netherlands and Germany.
“I’m excited to be joining Vyaire Medical. It has a clear vision and mission, a strong team in place and a robust pipeline of products to meet the needs of our patients and customers,” Agarwal said. “With a formidable footprint, and the ability to leverage technology to create best-in-class solutions, my focus will be working with the team to push the boundaries on innovation, create additional value for customers and patients and secure Vyaire’s position as the leader in respiratory care.”