Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 46
46
( 2025 )
SPONSOR CONTENT
Medtronic draws on its people to transform health care
R
ob Clifton’s career journey
took him out of the country
for a couple of decades.
Now, he’s back in Canada
as president of Brampton, Ont.-based
Medtronic Canada since early 2024.
And he’s feeling as energized about it
as any of his newest employees.
“It’s just the motivation, the pure
enjoyment I’m having coming back
to Canada after 20 years of being
international and then having the
opportunity to lead Medtronic,”
says Clifton. “I can’t think of a better
position inside of Medtronic that I
could have landed in.”
“There are 40 million
Canadians who deserve the
best health in the world,
and I think Medtronic has a
responsibility and is uniquely
positioned to help deliver the
best care to all citizens.”
— Rob Clifton
President, Medtronic Canada
Clifton is hardly new to the global
medical devices firm. In 2012, he
joined a medical supply company
responsible for Latin America that
was bought by Medtronic within
two years. As part of the finance
organization, he worked for a year,
integrating the two companies,
before moving into business development and strategy.
As a top employer, there are so
many possibilities for employees to
move through different areas and
achieve their career goals.
“Now, the fit is absolutely right to
come back to Canada and be part
of driving health care for everybody
here,” says Clifton. “There are 40
million Canadians who deserve the
best health in the world, and I think
Medtronic has a responsibility and is
uniquely positioned to help deliver
the best care to all citizens.”
Medtronic is renowned for the
pacemakers its people have created.
That’s how the company started in
the 1950s, with bulky, visible pacemakers. Now, notes Clifton, they are
the size of a vitamin and are inserted
through the femoral artery.
Clifton’s vision, besides providing
the best health care, is to be the place
Canadians want to work, whether
in Brampton or in Medtronic’s
Montréal and Vancouver offices.
Plus, he adds, making the company
and its employees the partner of
choice for all customers.
The direct customers are the
hospitals and the provincial health
care systems, notes Marc-Sebastien
Verrault, health systems strategy
director.
Medtronic engages with its
partners to ensure that the products
needed are readily available, so that
the right product can be used with
the right clinical indication at the
right time, and for the right patient,
he says.
The ingenuity of Medtronic’s
people makes the company an ideal
partner, adds Verrault.
“The quality of our products definitely sets us apart. Our therapies
and products touch 72 different
clinical indications – for example,
with our cardiovascular pacemakers
and stents, or in spine surgery with
rods and screws,” he says.
Robotics is another popular set
of products Medtronic’s expert
Rob Clifton, president (centre), with members of the leadership team
at Medtronic Canada.
technologists have developed.
“That’s really something where I’m
seeing an uptick,” says Verrault. “The
robotic arms are articulated in a way
that allows much greater agility and
flexibility for the surgeon operating
on a patient’s prostate, for example.
We see it in soft tissues, in orthopedics and in spine surgery.”
To Clifton, that innovation comes
from the strength of Medtronic’s
1,100 employees in Canada. “We
bring technology to solve some of
the most difficult disease states,”
47%
women managers and above
Dedicated to
collaborative partnerships
We are a solutions provider of choice, helping Healthcare systems across
Canada realize their objectives by providing better care and outcomes to patients.
Visit us at medtronic.ca
he says. “So, when we can find that
sweet spot of intersection between
the people and the innovation and
bring them to bear against problems
within health care, I think we can
really change and affect patient care
in Canada.”
“Our partnerships always centre
around promoting better access to
quality care and better outcomes
for patients,” Verrault adds. “Our
mission is very simple. It’s our North
Star. It’s to alleviate pain, restore
health and extend life.” ¢
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1,000
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