I have known the guy for nearly 20 years and he was great. The fact that Merit fired him or he retired is sad. It speaks to the toxic culture of the company that’s more interested in meeting Starboard’s expectations than actually selling products. Don’t worry though. With the latest news on a private equity buy out, 50-70% of the over paid sales force selling commodities will be gone anyways. Then you will have more time to complain about the company that once was. RIP Ron.
Merit is a political animal. If you’re not Mormon you don’t stand a chance. This is how companies die or are sold. God speed Ron.
The company sells silly products driven by supply chain; the board knows this. The fact that the EVP Global Sales, COO, CFO, EVP Finance, SVP Key Accounts, SVP Europe, EVP HR, and more are done should make people pause. I know I did.
Maybe this is why the company is a target for a buy out? The last ten years for me have been pretty amazing but I have also seen a slow decline over the last year or so in the sales force. Products moved around, management changes, politics, and lack of decision making by management have turned us into just another company when that was never what I believed or why I joined. With Ron Frost gone now it seals the deal. The only COO that would take a phone call from a sales rep in all of medical device and bust his ass to get customers taken care of.
Ron Frost was a great man. One of the friendliest people and leaders I know. I had many one on one conversations with him. He was ready to retire and ready to pass on the reigns. Merit has leaned up and in a good way. Previous leaders did not grow with the business, nor were fit to lead a billion dollar global med tech company. The current leadership team is the strongest Merit has ever had. The pipeline at Merit is deep (including stepping into therapeutics), the brand of merit has never been stronger with clinicians as we have been able to provide product where in today’s turbulent world, many companies are on increasing backorder. we are infusing the right amount of needed process to reduce cost, but are not burdened with undue process like the larger med dev companies. Merit is an incredible place for career growth and opportunity at the moment. Ron will be dearly missed and leaves big shoes to fill, but he laid a great foundation for others to now build upon.
There have been a lot of good people from Merit replaced or simply let go due to several issues. Start with the CEO and his dictator leadership mentality. Next, the CFO, this guy was a bean counter and knows nothing about med device. No one understands his promotion to this position. Finally take a look at the people they have brought in to replace those they kicked to the curb after years of dedication and loyalty, they do not posses the credentials whatsoever to be in those positions. Best bet would be if someone would buy Merit and stop all the narcissistic behavior, just focus on the prize and stop the BS. Toxicity is Merit and a lot of good people get thrown under the bus as these guys cash in their shares.
