Interview with Advisory Board Member Bob Bruce

This week we have been speaking with Bob Bruce, one of our advisory board members about why he is so passionate about Garland Surgical and the MaltaHip.

What inspired you to become a member of the Garland advisory board, and what do you hope to accomplish in this role?

Having recently retired, and not actively looking for anything more strenuous than playing golf, Simon Mifsud contacted me for some advice on an orthopaedic product he was involved with. Once Simon explained and demonstrated the product, I became more intrigued and saw a truly innovative, disruptive offering that could greatly transform patients lives.

When Simon suggested that I join him as a non-executive director and advisory board member, it was actually a very quick affirmative decision. I felt I could add value and assist in taking the product through the development and commercialisation phases. The latter here is a big challenge with Garland being a start-up medical device company breaking the barriers to entry is difficult, but extremely rewarding.

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Having spent 40+ years in sales and marketing, with an engineering background, I have been fortunate enough to travel the world interacting with many great companies and great people. Bringing companies and technological offerings together and breaking barriers is a major key to success. Using my experience, I believe I can help and advise Garland on this journey.

— Bob Bruce, Advisory Board Member

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As a member of the advisory board, what do you see as your most important responsibilities, and how will you ensure that you fulfill those responsibilities effectively?

There are a number of responsibilities in this role. Ensuring that shareholders funds are spent correctly. Challenge the activities being undertaken ensuring they are aligned to the strategic plan. Ensure the plans are clear manageable and achievable in achieving the company’s goals. Provide unbiased insights from a third-party perspective. Assist, mentor and be a resource for executives in the business. Having held main board and executive management roles I can call on these previous experiences to guide the company in achieving its goals.

What are some of the challenges that you anticipate facing as a member of the advisory board, and how do you plan to address those challenges?

The biggest challenge is actually not getting involved more from an operational perspective, in the thick of doing stuff daily, but to hold back and advise, point, suggest and assist. Regular catch-up calls outside of formal meetings and working with a team you like and trust is key here, we are fortunate to be in this situation with the company and the inventors.

How do you plan to work collaboratively with other members of the advisory board, and what strategies do you believe are most effective in building consensus and achieving shared goals?

We are very fortunate here in that I have known and worked with another advisory board member Tim Band for many years. Tim brings a phenomenal wealth of technical, operations and management experience in the orthopaedic market to the business. Previously I worked very closely with Tim in successfully developing processes and products globally.  

This is the first in a series of interviews with our advisory board members. Keep checking our news page for further content and information!