EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT
Smith & Nephew Sr. VP Alain Tranchemontagne: The Five Principles
Alain Tranchemontagne Smith & Nephew Sr. VP
For more than 25 years, Alain Tranchemontagne has spent his career driving success for some of the biggest names in the medical device sector of healthcare. Through stints at Ansell Healthcare, Covidien and now Smith & Nephew, he has navigated positions in sales, marketing, general management, strategy and commercial development.
At Smith & Nephew, he is currently responsible for MarCom, DTC, SEO, tradeshows, pricing, contracting, surgeon education, sales rep training, commercial excellence, surgeon-led innovation, grants, fellowships, professional affairs, employee trust, risk management, several customers, and he chairs the Andover facility for the $2.5B business. At a large and successful company, with competition from the likes of J&J, ZimmerBiomet and Stryker, how much upside can you achieve? In Alain’s case, a lot. Three years ago, the company had decided on a significant restructure. It wanted to integrate its various businesses, which include adult reconstruction, robotics, sports medicine, trauma and extremities, advanced wound management, and ENT, into a single U.S. entity.The objectives: to accelerate growth, deliver efficiencies, and de-risk the business. As of November 2018, Smith & Nephew released its Q3 results.The U.S. business would deliver another quarterly sequential improvement and its highest 9 | HS&M JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
growth in many years.Representing half of Smith and Nephew’s revenue, the U.S. performance was critical to meet analyst expectations.And it did.It lifted the stock almost 8% in a single day, setting expectations for future performance. What kind of leadership do you have to provide to achieve results like that? FIVE PRINCIPLES Like many successful leaders, Alain has articulated certain key principles that work together to create and maintain success. 1. Create a culture of accountability Alain told us “Most people asking for accountability mean ‘get rid of someone who presumably failed to deliver.’But all this exhibits is a situation of failed accountability. If individuals are to be accountable, they need the engagement and support of the company. How do you teach employees to measure their own progress, be empowered, and take responsibil-
