John Moyer

oteworthy

John Moyer ’99 Specializes in Bringing Orthopedic Technology to WV

BY LINDSEY BYARS

If you’ve had an orthopedic related surgery in Virginia or southern West Virginia, there is a good chance Moyer Medical Inc. had a hand in the procedure. John Moyer’s company distributes for two major orthopedic companies—Smith and Nephew and Wright Medical Technology—and their focus is primarily on sports medicine. The company distributes parts for foot and ankle reconstruction, as well as biological materials that help grow bone.

“Most are made of materials that occur naturally, like calcium phosphate, and biological proteins called growth factors that are infused into these materials that help initiate the healing response,” John says. “There’s a lot of products out there that through discovery and really good science, they’ve created the technology to manufacture these things. It’s a huge, huge market. It’s a billion-dollar market. It’s where technology and science meet and has enabled medicine to move forward.”

While many people in this billion-dollar market transitioned from medical careers, John’s path was somewhat unconventional, proving the versatility of a college degree and the importance of building relationships along the way.

After graduating from Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, Virginia, John Moyer came to Concord as a history major. The educational environment proved to be more than he had anticipated, learning quickly the meaning of the Mountain Lion adage, “Bard is Hard.”

“I wasn’t prepared for college studying and the course work. It was difficult for me to adjust, and it was hard!” John says. “I remember that about Concord. I mean, academically, it’s a very good school.”

Deciding history wasn’t for him, John changed his major to Travel Industry Management.

“One of the reasons I went to Concord was

John Moyer with his family.

to be into the outdoor recreation,” John says. “I loved to ski, I loved to mountain bike and all that, so I think I just gradually migrated in that direction.”

After graduating from Concord in 1999, John moved back to Mechanicsville and took a position as a house manager on a golf course. He may have been drawn to the outdoors, but John also had a gift for sales and building relationships. This strength led to his first job selling medical devices in Roanoke, Virginia.

“I was selling spinal instrumentation, things that go in your body to fix deformities, pathologies, basically screws and rods and plates used in orthopedic surgery. And also biological materials,” John says. “It’s just not one of the things that you hear about in college. People know about getting into pharmaceutical sales, but ultimately it’s better than that.”

In 2006, after working for other companies, John decided to start his own. At the time, he was single, had no children or any other attachments, so he took “a leap of faith.” John had been an athlete in high school, and with his interest in outdoor recreation, he was no stranger to athletic injury, paving a natural progression into building a team-based company focused on sports medicine.

“We do a lot of shoulder injuries, a lot of knee injuries, sports injuries,” John says. “We go into surgery. Most of our time is spent going into operating rooms and selling and assisting on surgery.”

As a distributor for Wright Medical Technology, John’s job means processing and sterilizing the materials for surgery. Then, his team helps the nursing staff, identifies things the physician needs, and stands by for quality assurance of the product. This involves being the expert on their products, knowing the finer details of the science and how mechanically things work. John says this is a heavily regulated industry that requires constant training.

“We have 12-weeks of training at the corporate office, we’re heavily tested on product knowledge, we have to keep up with that four to five times a year, and we’re constantly going to trainings, constantly reading medical literature,” John says.

In addition to product knowledge, John emphasizes the importance of building relationships with physicians.

“It’s a relationship driven industry,” John says. “You have to have a close working relationship with your physicians and you’re really part of

I think resiliency is probably the biggest thing to becoming successful. You can’t be scared to fail, in fact, we fail all the time. But being able to come back from that is really what defines your character.

- John Moyer ’99

the team, so I think the team aspect of things I really embraced. It just feels natural.”

Many of John’s competitors have biology degrees, or formerly worked as physical therapists or nurses. And while this knowledge is essential, John says it takes that and more to be successful.

“The ones who do well, the ones who are successful, are the ones able to sell. There’s got to be this balance of science minded, very technically minded, very relationship minded people who also know how to sell their product and really know how to identify a sales cycle,” John says.

This balance is something John has achieved, and it has served his company well. Moyer Medical Inc. is now comprised of John and four other members of his team. John says growing to where they are now has taken some time, and it was not without struggle.

“It’s only been the last 10 years that I would consider myself relatively successful. I’ve had ups and downs, I’ve been at rock bottom more than once. I’ll probably be at rock bottom again. It’s one of the realities you’ve got to face in business. I mean, hopefully not, but things change daily, and the only thing that’s constant is change.”

One thing changing yearly is the age of the Baby Boomer generation, a fact that John believes will double the orthopedic industry in the next 10 to 20 years. John has no plans to leave this industry until he retires.

“It’s considered one of the top sales positions that you can achieve. It’s changing because the medicine and health care are changing so much, but it’s a good spot. A really good spot,” John says.

John is still an avid outdoor enthusiast, spending lots of time hiking and biking or at Smith Mountain Lake wakeboarding and fishing. He’s a Hokie fan, spending Saturdays with friends at games or home cooking with his family. John, who describes himself as a “regular old dude” is married now, and with his wife of eight years, John is the father of two little boys, ages three and five.

“I enjoy spending a lot of time with them and I think it’s the best thing ever,” John says. “My only regret is not starting early and having more. I love my family.”

Looking back over his career and the path that brought him to where he is today, John says the key to being successful in life at whatever you do is resilience.

“I think resiliency is probably the biggest thing to becoming successful. You can’t be scared to fail, in fact, we fail all the time. But being able to come back from that is really what defines your character.”

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