Walt Whitehead for Life at Arthrex Piedmont+

Speaker: Walt Whitehead, Agency Biologics + Sports Manager

Walt Whitehead: I'd say to make sure you show up well rested and ready to learn, no matter your background or what role you're taking on. You'll have to grow in and adapt to new environments, new challenges and new people don't be afraid to ask questions or to let your guard down because that's the fastest way to learn. You're joining a team of highly motivated peers who want you to succeed and will be there for you through the thick and thin. As long as you're willing to make the effort, just give it your all and do your best every day. If you're excited to have a positive impact on patient care, you're in the right place.

Walt Whitehead: We have a lot of options to choose from. But I'm gonna go with the auto Cart procedure for cartilage restoration. In contrast to the current gold standard of care, auto Cart achieves the same clinical outcomes, but it only requires one surgery as opposed to two. It's minimally invasive, meaning it can be done arthroscopically as opposed to requiring a large open incision. So the patients feel better at the end of the surgery. The cherry on top for me is that it's lower cost than the current gold standard. So much lower cost that it's not restricted to large health care systems with good reimbursement. It can be performed anywhere at a community hospital at an ASC cost is not an issue with that. And you don't see that in many innovations, you certainly wouldn't see that at a publicly traded company. It's something, it's a solution that makes Arthrex unique and it's one that I'm very happy to educate my surgeon customers about.

Walt Whitehead: I expect our growth to look insane. Um Based on the last year of working with Danny, our management group and the teams, I've never been around a more motivated group of people. Um And I don't think it's unrealistic to expect us to be the fastest Arthrex Agency to double in size and to go seven for seven. Um In, in fact, I'd be surprised if we, we didn't achieve that in the next five years. It's gonna be a really fun ride and I look, look forward to seeing what we're able to accomplish.

Walt Whitehead: This is a pretty easy question for me to answer. Um Just because when I was considering the opportunity, I was a little bit on the fence until I talked to Danny. Um, you know, he, he called me and, um, when he explained his vision, um I could hear the passion in his voice about what he's planning to do what we are doing. Um And it was something that I just wanted to be a part of, I knew that uh I would be taken care of. I knew that, um, I would have every opportunity to excel and that's all proven true in the last year. Um I mean, even when you just look at our office, uh you can see Danny's touch on everything. He's, he's involved, he's, he's invested himself. And I think by leading, by example, it, it's really a contagious thing that uh makes him very easy to, to work for and work with.

Walt Whitehead: I would say that the group of people that we work with, um, they all have a, a very high expectation for themselves and for what we're going to accomplish. So it, if anything, it, it helps me raise the bar for myself and my own goals to make sure I'm keeping up with, with what we're all trying to accomplish together. Um, I'd say it's made me less afraid to, to go out there and try new things because I'm not afraid of failure. I know that, uh it's a, I've got a supportive team behind me who will help me figure out how to make something work if it doesn't go well the first time. Um, so I'm more willing to, to take risks and to challenge myself and, and to be open to, to new experiences.