The science of care: Jarrod Percy

Jarrod Percy is the first to admit that his career path has been unusual. The Medela Vice President Asia–Pacific started off his working life as a diagnostic pathology laboratory technician, something that allowed him to spend weekends following his music dreams, when he worked part-time as a radio announcer and played in a band.

"Straight away, you can get an insight into my creative but slightly chaotic mind," he says with a laugh.

After Percy met his wife, Wendy, they traveled and worked overseas before returning to Australia. Wendy found a teaching job straight away, but Percy was looking for a new challenge.

"I saw a massive opportunity to make sure that we had the best technology in the right place at the right time for the mother."

"I saw an advertisement for an account manager for a scientific company. So I applied and was asked to sell them a ballpoint pen, and I hadn’t the foggiest idea how to answer that question," he recalls.

"But the creative mind kicked in and I sold that pen on its features and benefits, without even knowing that’s what you called them."

He landed the role and progressed quickly through the ranks, ultimately becoming General Manager and Senior Business Director of the healthcare division, while at the same time managing environmental and industrial process technologies.

"The president of the company often referred to me as his utilities guy," Percy remembers. "I was very happy there – I wasn’t looking for another job. But then I got a phone call saying there was a role as a managing director, and would I be interested?"

New opportunities

The role was with Medela, a healthcare company headquartered in Switzerland, with subsidiaries all over the world. Its strong emphasis on people, strategy, quality products and innovation appealed to Percy, as did the potential to have a broader impact on the business, rather than the sales and marketing focus of his previous job.

His position now involves oversight of all Asia–Pacific markets, excluding China, and his excitement about the company’s healthcare mission remains.

"Medela has two main business streams," he explains. "The first is surgical and wound care, which includes thoracic and lung drainage and vacuum systems for surgical and airway suction."

This segment includes products used in vacuum-assisted births, which fits neatly into the other business stream: focusing on lactation support and breast pumps and accessories, both in hospitals and directly to families.

New technologies

"We were the market leader in breast pumps, and I saw there was such a respect and strength in the brand," Percy says. "I thought there was tremendous opportunity to drive growth by making sure we offered the best technology and service in the right place at the right time for the mother."

Breast pumps are often a thoughtful baby shower gift, but sometimes the product the mother receives might not suit her and her baby’s needs.

"Subsequently she doesn’t get the milk supply she wants, and then she doesn’t question the breast pump, she questions herself, and is potentially discouraged from breastfeeding altogether," Percy notes. "That’s just not a great place for a new mother to be."

Percy’s motivation to improve Medela’s market-leading products and services also came from personal experience. In 2000, he and Wendy had twins who were born at only 30 weeks, and being able to pump milk for them became an essential part of connecting with their tiny newborns.

"Our customers expect us to be innovating, because we occupy such a trusted position in the journey of patients and mothers and babies and their families."

"I’ve had countless mothers whose children were in the newborn intensive care unit say to me that their breast pumps enabled them to give milk to their babies, and it was one of the only things that made them feel connected to their babies at that time," he says.

No business can succeed without its partners, and Percy acknowledges the value of companies such as property group Pellicano.

"Medela has been leasing our property from Pellicano for nearly 15 years," he says. "We have always found the team to be collaborative, responsive, proactive and a true partner to our business. As our business needs have evolved, Pellicano has been engaged, focused and working in lockstep with us to find the best solutions to our changing needs."

Another essential partnership is the scientific collaboration with the University of Western Australia and the Human Lactation Research and Translation Group, through which Medela promotes education for midwives around breastfeeding support.

"We strive to improve every day," Percy says. "We want to make sure we are providing our customers with the best possible solutions and empowering them to achieve the best outcomes for themselves and their families."