At Symmetry Surgical®, our executive leadership team is composed of talented individuals with a track record of success and dedication to our shared mission of “Elevating Surgery for Life”.
Leadership Team
Meet the Executive Leadership Team
Brian J. Straeb was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Symmetry Surgical in June 2018. Prior to joining Symmetry Surgical, Mr. Straeb served as President of the U.S. Patient and Post-Acute Care business at Getinge, where he led commercial and operational functions across the patient handling, medical bed and DVT businesses. Prior to joining Getinge, Mr. Straeb served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amerinet.
Mr. Straeb began his career with Covidien in 1991 where he held various sales and marketing positions across the imaging, critical care, respiratory and surgical businesses. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Missouri - Columbia.
Scott D. Kunkel is Symmetry Surgical’s Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, a position he assumed in December 2014. Mr. Kunkel joined Symmetry in March 2009 as a Director of Finance, a position he served through 2011. From 2012 through December 2014, Mr. Kunkel served as Vice President Finance at Symmetry Medical’s Symmetry Surgical division.
Before joining Symmetry Medical, Mr. Kunkel was the Vice President Finance & Administration and Member at EnergyLogic, LLC from February 2004 to March 2009. Mr. Kunkel came to EnergyLogic from General Electric, where he was a Finance Manager at GE Consumer & Industrial from April 2000 to February 2004. Mr. Kunkel started his career in January 1996 as a Financial Analyst for Ford Motor Company. Mr. Kunkel graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and received his MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
Cindy Davidson is Symmetry Surgical’s VP of Human Resources and Corporate Communications. In the medical industry for over 30 year, Ms. Davidson began her career in sales at American V. Mueller. Throughout her time at Baxter, Allegiance and Cardinal Health, she held roles of increasing responsibility in sales, sales training and sales operations.
Throughout her career, Ms. Davidson displayed a passion for leading teams and driving corporate strategy. While at Cardinal Health, she led the transformation of new hire orientation and leadership development into award-winning programs.
At Symmetry Surgical, she is a business partner with strong and strategic change management and leadership development skills. She leads the Human Resources team, and develops human resource strategy, including talent development and diversity, recruitment and selection, performance management and rewards.
Ms. Davidson holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Purdue University.
David C. Milne is Symmetry Surgical’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel. In this role, Mr. Milne handles all of the Company’s legal issues and also leads the identification and work related to mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
Prior to joining Symmetry Surgical in 2014, Mr. Milne served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance officer at Symmetry Medical, Inc. from 2009 to 2014 [NYSE: SMA]. Mr. Milne also served as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to the Steak ‘n Shake Company [NYSE: SNS], where he managed the legal department, handled the company’s legal and regulatory issues, and served as chief compliance officer.
Mr. Milne began his career in Indianapolis-based firms Bose, McKinney & Evans and Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence and M.A. in English from Indiana University and a B.A. in English from Wabash College.
Tony Pascoe was appointed the role of Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Symmetry Surgical® Australia and Asia Pacific in 2021. In this role, Mr. Pascoe is responsible for leading and implementing global product development strategies and initiatives within the minimally invasive surgical devices and reusable product portfolios.
Prior to this role, Mr. Pascoe was the Director of Sales and Marketing at NISI Ltd., a Hong Kong-based robotic technology start-up organization where he created the global go-to-market strategy and business plan for the organizations’ key product launches. From 2015 to 2019, Mr. Pascoe was the General Manager at Olympus Asia Pacific where he developed and deployed the five-year strategic plan for the APAC region and grew revenue streams for country sales business centers and distributors. Mr. Pascoe also held sales and marketing leadership positions at Olympus Australia and New Zealand including Group Manager, Regional Sales Manager and Business Development Manager. He began his career in healthcare at AstraZeneca as a Hospital Specialist Representative and has a Master of Education from Australian Catholic University and Bachelor of Applied Science from Queensland University of Technology.
Sejal Rao, is Vice President of Engineering and Project Management as a member of the New Product Development team. Ms. Rao began working with Symmetry Surgical in October 2013, leading the organization in the design and development of new products, the enhancement of existing products and ensuring the engineering support of quality and regulatory initiatives.
Prior to her role at Symmetry Surgical, Ms. Rao was a Product Engineer at Blackstone Medical and KMedic.
She began her career as a research assistant at Stryker and received her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University.
Lowell S. Limpus, Jr. is Symmetry Surgical’s Senior Vice President, Worldwide Operations. In this role, Mr. Limpus leads operations and manages the global supply chain, materials and purchasing. Prior to joining Symmetry Surgical in 2018, Mr. Limpus served as Vice President of Global Operations at Beaver Visitec International where he was responsible for all manufacturing, supply chain, production planning, warehousing and distribution and information technologies. Mr. Limpus also served as Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Fenwal, Inc., a Fresenius Kabi Company for more than six years and as the Director of Supply Chain for two companies at Danaher Corporation. Mr. Limpus began his career as an Advance Purchasing Program Manager at Allison Transmission, a division of General Motors, before advancing to Corporate Director of Program Management at Delco Remy America. Mr. Limpus received his Master in Business Administration from Indiana University and his Bachelor of Science, Marine Engineering, from the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
Wayne Nethercutt, is Symmetry Surgical’s Vice President, Regulatory and Quality Systems. Mr. Nethercutt joined Symmetry Surgical in March 2019 and is responsible for leading the Regulatory and Quality organization including product registrations and collaborating with all regulatory bodies to ensure compliance with applicable regulations.
Mr. Nethercutt has held leadership positions in several medical device organizations spanning diverse product portfolios. Prior to his time at Symmetry Surgical, Mr. Nethercutt was the Director of Regulatory Affairs and Senior Director of Regulatory and Quality Systems at Ambu from June 2012 through February 2019. He came to Ambu after leadership roles at LifeScan (a Johnson and Johnson Company) OBS Medical Inc. where he served as president and Chief Operating Officer, BioMet Inc., and Eli Lily and Company. Mr. Nethercutt began his career in clinical research at DePuy Orthopedics. He received his Master of Business Administration from University of Indianapolis and his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana.
K. Andrew Maggard is the Vice President of Sales, Instrumentation at Symmetry Surgical, a role he has held since December 2015. Prior to this role, Mr. Maggard served as an Area Vice President of Sales in the Southeast region, providing strategic team leadership, developing tactical sales plans and driving revenue growth for a $11M region. Under his leadership, the Southeast region won “Region of the Year” for three consecutive years – 2017, 2018 and 2019 – with double-digit growth and reached $19.5 M in revenue in 2019. As a Surgical Specialist, Mr. Maggard consistently exceeded goals and was recognized with the President’s Club award in both 2013 and 2014 for outstanding sales performance. Before joining Symmetry Surgical, Mr. Maggard held leadership roles in Systems Administration at Electronic Data Systems where he supported operations through comprehensive systems administration and meticulous IT support. Mr. Maggard received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana.
J. Robert Saron joined Symmetry Surgical on August 30, 2018, as Senior Vice President Global Distribution as part of the acquisition of Bovie Medical where he was the President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer and Director. Mr. Saron has served as both Director and President of the Health Care Manufacturing Management Council. In 2011 he received the Leonard Berke Achievement award from HMMC for ethics, mentoring, marketing skill, industry knowledge, contributions to the industry and contributions to HMMC. He currently serves as a director of the Health Industry Distributors Association Education Foundation. He received their highest award in 2008, the Industry Award of Distinction (renamed the John F. Sasen Leadership Award) and in February 2013 was inducted into the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame. Mr. Saron brings over 40 years of executive sales, marketing, and distribution experience in the medical industry. Mr. Saron holds a bachelor’s degree in Social and Behavioral Science from the University of South Florida.
Janis Dezso is the Vice President of Global Distribution for Symmetry Surgical Inc.®. Ms. Dezso has 30+ years in the medical manufacturing industry serving both U.S. and International markets. She began her career in the shipping department at Bovie® Medical (acquired by Symmetry Surgical in 2018), and held roles in customer service, sales, marketing management and is now part of the executive leadership team at Symmetry Surgical. Ms. Dezso is a firm believer in giving back to the industry. As such, she served as the President of Healthcare Medical Management Council, was a founding member and past chair of Professional Women in Healthcare and currently serves on the both the HIDA Channel Partner and Physician Office Advisory councils. Ms. Dezso has been married to her husband Andy for 38 years, has two wonderful children, Andrea and Joseph, and one grandson, Emmett.
Joseph L. Kapralick, Jr., is Symmetry Surgical’s Vice President of U.S. Sales for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS). In this role, Mr. Kapralick develops, manages and strategically leads the MIS Team while collaborating with marketing, new product development and operations to expand the MIS portfolio, grow profitable revenue and optimize sales team growth and coverage. His strengths include employee recruitment, retention and development; building high performing sales teams, expertise in technical knowledge of products and surgical procedures; and cultivating lasting relationships with key opinion leaders. Prior to serving as Vice President of U.S. Sales for MIS, Mr. Kapralick was Area Vice President of Sales for the Northeast/MidAtlantic region, valued at $17M annually and exceeded sales quotas each year while in the role. As a Director of Sales for Laparoscopy and Ligation, Mr. Kapralick grew his team from 0 to over $6M in 2018. Prior to Symmetry Surgical, Mr. Kapralick held leadership positions in marketing and sales at Teleflex, Inc., Medifocus and Boston Scientific Corporation. Mr. Kapralick began his career as a Surgical Specialist and was promoted to Regional Manager at Tyco Healthcare/Sherwood Davis & Geck. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Gwynedd Mercy College in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania.