CHAIRMAN, CEO EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES, IRVINE
Runs Orange Country’s largest medtech employer— almost 5,000 workers here, and 16,000 worldwide. Maker of heart valves and related products, as well as critical care monitoring equipment. Edwards is OC’s most valuable public company, sporting a $50B market cap as of October.
THEN: Appointed to his positions in 2000, when Edwards became an independent, publicly traded company, spun out of Baxter International.
NOW: Under his tenure, Edwards has become, in its words, “a global leader in patient-focused medical innovations with the introduction of lifesaving and life-sustaining therapies such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, new resilient surgical valves designed for active patients and non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring.”
FUTURE: 50-acre campus has seen a flurry of new development in past few years, adding several new buildings. A new cardiovascular innovation facility is next in line to be built at campus. Hundreds being hired to staff up the expanded headquarters base.
IN THEIR WORDS: “As we are hopeful the worst of the pandemic is behind us, we’re constantly reminded of the importance of our work as we pursue solutions for cardiovascular disease, which continues to be the number one killer in the U.S. and the world, well ahead of cancer and other deadly conditions.”
