The Family Business with Matt Kaufman

Adoption.

Not of new technology. Not of a #medicaldevice. Traditional adoption of a child. It is an area of interest for me. My niece and nephew were adopted along with more than a few friends and their children. My feeling is the whole point of a social media platform is to share and encourage conversation.

This is one of the best exchanges I have ever had on the topic with two individuals that know it firsthand. David Carey, his wife Kim and daughter Elise provided candid insight into the emotions involved and an understanding of how this feels. Particularly all the while explaining it to their biological son, Cooper who was 7 at the time.

My podcast #thefamilybusiness focuses on how family and career are intertwined. This is as good an illustration as I could imagine. If you have questions about adoption these are the people to ask. We welcome any comment, question or sharing of this information. Beyond impressed at their ability to express themselves candidly.

Dave built quite a career with Stryker and currently Pristine Surgical. He is extraordinary. Kim just runs triathlons and other small accomplishments. Ironically they met racing together on their first date. No pressure…

The History of the Steam Engine.

Never would have guessed that book would launch a lifetime of learning. Led a kid living on a ranch in New Mexico to Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Quite a story. Sit back and hear about Gabriel Sanchez in this episode of The Family Business. Improbable path to CEO of a medtech startup.

That book and watching the Apollo 13 movie set him on a course for engineering and mechanical problem solving. He was drawn to the engineers figuring out how to making a breathing device out of basically garbage. To him, the engineers were the hero.

His technology that he created has evolved into the company Enspectra Health, Inc. Going to save patients from the challenges that come along with skin cancer and biopsies. Unreal system. Take a bow Fogarty Innovation for helping his company come to life. Thank goodness for the public library and his mother pushing non fiction.

When you become a parent, your title at work, your education, SAT scores and IQ go out the window. Your kids do not care. They want to do art projects with pipe cleaners, egg cartons and crayons. It takes a humble and introspective person to understand that piece of parenting. The sacrifice of your identity for a period of time in your life when your accomplishments are put in a box. We have all been through it and thankfully life is a circle. Always funny when you find out that someone was a math wizard, phenomenal dancer, cheerleader, star athlete or awarded an academic scholarship before they started their family. You? You did stand up comedy? Yes. Yes, I did.

In this episode of the Family Business, we get to sit down with Justin Ballotta and his incredible wife Meredith Ballotta to discuss this point. She was educated at the highest level and had a significant career going. They made a choice and she put her career on hold to have a family. In this clip, we have a laugh about the realization of who you were and now you are in charge of art projects.

They are a sensational pair. Justin is one of the most respected executives in medical devices. His time with Cardiva Medical was beyond impactful and now with his development of Revival Healthcare Capital he is now helping other companies have success. They are each humble and grateful for their lives and had some funny stories to tell about how they built their family and careers.

What do they call you?

Pops.

This is one of my favorite questions to ask grandparents, in laws or in this case step parents.

Fahad Kajani is one of the truly sensational human beings on this planet. Exceptional business mind, high degree of ethics, funny as all get out and horrible taste in music. His time and contributions at Henry Schein, E4D Technologies and now with Vision Radiology has been exemplary. In this episode of The Family Business, we discuss Fahad marrying a wonderful woman (Samantha), who has two children. Here is the plot twist. He used to call his own father Pops. Nothing like a little symmetry to continue showing life is a circle. Guess the Massachusetts Institute of Technology education is paying off with his math skills.

Fahad is incredibly open and shares what it is like to add water and have instant family. How his parents and extended relatives reacted to all of this (spoiler alert - they were awesome) and everything that comes along with this life choice.

Love still conquers all, apparently as his life continues to ascend. His career is a terrific story in itself and interweaving it with his personal life makes it beautiful.

Never know what your kids will pick up from you. Sometimes it is simply leaving things on the floor and letting them gravitate towards it naturally. Who can say where it will lead?

Well, we can see in this case. Michaella Corso was surrounded by balloon catheters growing up. Turns out it rubbed off. Now, she is one of the foremost Clinical Affairs executives in the industry. She has been beyond valuable for Penumbra, Inc. Truth be told, she is an even better person. Teamed with her extraordinary husband Issao Fujiwara with Waymo, they have created a career and family fabric that is exceptional.

In this clip from The Family Business, you can see how much of an impact you can have on your kids by not cleaning up.

A few truisms emerge over 20 years of search.

Here is one my favorites - Of all the career decisions you make in your life, the person you marry is one of the largest. When the most important person in your life believes in you and encourages you to take risks, there is no greater confidence builder. In another example of this, I present to you Zaffer Syed. He broached the idea of going to a start up named Saranas with his wife. She apparently eats risk for breakfast and told him to go for it. Zaffer is entrepreneurial himself and this reinforcement by the person he trusts most sealed the deal. The rest is history. I am sure everyone appreciates Tahira Syed and all the spouses out there being the voice that validates the decision. In this episode of the Family Business, we learn quite a bit about Zaffer, his tennis skills, the Texas Medical Center Innovation and how teaching his daughter to drive is a bit of an adventure.  He is a sensational guy as is his family. One of the truly good humans in the healthcare space.

I was a rare bird. Such a nerd. This is what I learned about Carla Leibowitz when she was growing up in #Quito #Ecuador. Having a daughter who is a STEM kid, I can do nothing but appreciate people like Carla pursuing a technical career when many people told her to stay home and have babies. Took her all the way to #MIT and an ongoing sensational career.

On top of all that, she has an amazing family and is setting an example for her children. In our conversation on The Family Business, Carla speaks about how going to a bilingual school allowed her to be the translator between American doctors and Ecuadorian physicians. There she saw her first interventional procedure. It launched her fascination with medicine and therapy. Right place + Right Time + Right Person = Adventure.

The rest is history being written everyday. Her contributions at Paige have been instrumental in developing game changing healthcare technology. She is absolutely an extraordinary human.

I got the call from the doctor....

Hard to think of a more ominous sentence. Funny how the ubiquitous word "the" can signify Cancer. In that call your life and those around you change in an instant. Now, to keep it interesting, add in that you are pregnant. Let that sink in. Pregnancy meet Cancer, Cancer this is Pregnancy. Find a way to coexist. This is Lisa Ensz. She is on another plane personally and professionally. Fortitude and tenacity at a level where the needle is pinned. She was on The Family Business with me where we discussed her astounding life. Here is another line - I was feeding my baby on one side and getting radiation on the other. We have known each other since HeartWare Inc Medtronic days and I was not aware of all that she overcame. Today she is immensely successful with Corvia Medical, Inc. Not to mention a beautiful marriage and two spectacular children. All of this started in South Dakota.

Ever speak with someone that you feel like the world needs more of?

I have known Amy Belt Raimundo for many years and cannot say enough about her contributions to her community, the investment world, medical technology, advancement of female executives and her family. In this episode of the Family Business, we hear all about how she brought MedtechWomen to life. Her success at Kaiser Permanente Ventures providing investment to emerging companies has been substantial all the while vocally leading the effort to normalize women being on Boards. Some folks when they make it they do not reach back to bring the next person along. Amy has brought the whole team with her. I met her during the #Guidant days and you could see her scalability back then. In this clip, you see how it has filtered down to her 5 year old daughter. Do not interrupt Emery when she is on a Board call.

It is a rite of passage as a first time parent to be exhausted. Comes with the territory as my Dad would say. The Salunke family was in the usual zombie state. With his wife pregnant with their first child Nitin Salunke also was launching (birthing) his first product ever. No rest for the weary. Luckily Supriya Salunke was able to bring Sonia S. into the world and we are all the better for it. In this episode of The Family Business, we learn that when all else fails and the baby will not sleep, turn on the vacuum cleaner. Two of the most intelligent people around resorted to a Hoover to get some rest. Whatever it takes...

Their family is extraordinary. Supriya has a sensational career at W. L. Gore & Associates and Sonia is with Accenture. They run together, travel together and support each other. Nitin is the CEO of Supira Medical which is a Shifamed company. Not to be left out is Nikita Salunke at Stanford.