Our leaders

Michael A. Mussallem was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Edwards Lifesciences in 2000, when it became an independent, publicly traded company. Under his leadership, Edwards has established its position as a global leader in patient-focused medical innovations with the introduction of lifesaving and life-sustaining therapies such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement, new resilient surgical valves designed for active patients and non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Mussallem has not only led the development and successful implementation of the company’s patient-focused innovation strategy, but also established Edwards’ commitment to philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. Since 2004, the company and Edwards Lifesciences Foundation have gifted almost $130 million to charitable organizations around the world, supporting underserved patients and strengthening communities where our employees live and work. In 2014, Edwards Lifesciences Foundation launched Every Heartbeat Matters, which has impacted more than 1.7 million underserved people and aims to improve the lives of 2.5 million additional underserved structural heart and critical care patients by the end of 2025. During Mussallem’s tenure, Edwards was recognized among the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute. Prior to his current position, Mussallem held a variety of positions at Baxter International from 1979 until 2000, when Edwards was spun off from Baxter. Currently, Mussallem serves on the board of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) and is an advisory board member for the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California. He is a trustee of the University of California, Irvine Foundation and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. Mussallem has served as board chairman of both AdvaMed and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI). In 2022, Mussallem was elected as a member to the National Academy of Engineering, in recognition of the impact of transcatheter heart valves on the health of patients worldwide. He received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and an honorary doctorate degree from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Bernard J. Zovighian will be president of Edwards Lifesciences on Jan 1, 2023, and will become CEO of the company in May 2023. Prior to this leadership transition, Zovighian served since January 2018 as corporate vice president responsible for the company’s Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies (TMTT) business. As the leader for TMTT, Zovighian established a global organization focused on developing and delivering a portfolio of therapies designed to change the standard of care for mitral and tricuspid patients. The patients impacted by mitral and tricuspid heart valve diseases suffer from debilitating conditions that, at best, severely diminish their quality of life, and at worst, are life threatening. Zovighian joined Edwards Lifesciences in January 2015 as vice president and general manager of the Surgical Structural Heart business, later serving as corporate vice president of the surgical business from 2016 until he began leading TMTT. Prior to joining Edwards, Zovighian held a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for nearly 20 years, in roles such as regional leadership outside of the United States and worldwide president of one of the company’s divisions. During his nearly 30-year career in globally recognized medical technology companies, Zovighian has lived in several countries and led teams in different locations, and he blends this global mindset and a team-based approach to leadership with his strengths in strategy development, the innovation and adoption of disruptive technologies that elevate the standard of care, and establishing trusted partnerships. He has dual master’s degrees in science and business from Universities of Marseille, France.

Donald E. Bobo, Jr., has been corporate vice president since 2007 and is currently responsible for the company’s corporate strategy and corporate development functions. In addition, Bobo has executive responsibility for key heart failure initiatives as well as the U.S. healthcare solutions and commercial services team. Bobo has more than 35 years of experience in the medical technology and healthcare industry and has served in various operating roles at Edwards, including, most recently, the development of the company’s Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid strategy, vice president and general manager of the Surgical Structural Heart business and global valve manufacturing operations. Prior to joining Edwards in 1995, Bobo held a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibilities with American Hospital Supply and Baxter Healthcare Corporation and InnerSpace Medical. He serves on the board of numerous medical technology companies, including egnite, and has been a board member and chaired the executive committee of the California Life Sciences Association. Bobo received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Bob Jones University, and his master's degree in engineering from the University of Southern California.

Todd J. Brinton, M.D., has been corporate vice president, advanced technology, and chief scientific officer, since 2019. Dr. Brinton has significant experience as a champion of cardiovascular innovation and has a strong patient focus as a tenured practicing clinical cardiologist. He has deep ties to the medical technology community as a founder, board member and advisor to several start-up companies, including his role as physician founder, board member, and chief medical officer of ShockWave Medical, Inc. Dr. Brinton began his career as an engineer in the medical technology industry, ultimately becoming a director of clinical research and development, prior to entering medical school. Before joining Edwards, he was a clinical professor of medicine (cardiology) and adjunct professor of bioengineering at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was an attending interventional cardiologist at both the Stanford University Medical Center and the Palo Alto VA Medical Center. Dr. Brinton also served as the fellowship director at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign from 2006 to 2019, where he mentored and directed numerous teams on the development of new technologies. In addition, he served as the co-director for both the graduate and executive education programs at the center during a similar time period. He is extremely active in the American Heart Association serving as the Chair of the 2022 Bay Area Research Roundtable and the 2022 Orange County Heart & Stroke Ball. In addition, he currently serves on the AHA national research committee and strategic outcomes subcommittee. He has served on the advisory board for the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation Cardiovascular Innovation and Research Center at UC Irvine since 2020. Dr. Brinton received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, San Diego in biomedical engineering, and his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowships in cardiology and interventional cardiology at Stanford.

Daveen Chopra joined Edwards Lifesciences as corporate vice president, Surgical Structural Heart, in May 2018, and assumed leadership of Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies in January 2023. Chopra has broad experience in the medical technology industry, including global leadership in strategy, marketing, commercial operations, research and development, and program management. Prior to joining Edwards, Chopra held various roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Medtronic, plc, from 2005 to 2018, culminating in a global leadership role as vice president and general manager of its aortic franchise. Chopra previously served as vice president of global marketing leading Medtronic’s endovascular therapies business. While in Medtronic’s endovascular therapies business, he served as vice president, U.S. commercial operations, director of program management office, senior business manager for the endovascular and peripheral business in Asia-Pacific, global group product manager for thoracic stent grafts, and international aortic product manager. Prior to Medtronic, Chopra served as an international strategy consultant at The Parthenon Group supporting clients in various industries ranging from education to industrial manufacturing. In 2020, he joined the board of the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation, and, in 2021, he joined the board of Octane. Chopra earned a dual bachelor’s degree in economics and biology from Duke University, and a masters from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with honors.

Dirksen J. Lehman has been corporate vice president, public affairs, since June 2013. He joined the company in 2007 as vice president of government affairs, and later added responsibility for global health economics and reimbursement. In his current role, Lehman continues to oversee these functions and also has responsibility for global communications, corporate branding, corporate medical affairs, global corporate giving, and patient engagement. Prior to joining Edwards, he was head of the healthcare practice at Clark & Weinstock, a government affairs and crisis management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Lehman has also served in The White House as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, and health counsel for the majority on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He currently serves as chair of the board of directors for California Life Sciences, and is a member of the board of directors for Team Heart. Lehman received his undergraduate degree from Millersville University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from Catholic University of America.

Jean-Luc Lemercier has been corporate vice president, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Canada and Latin America since July 2017, and assumed leadership of JAPAC (Japan, Greater China and Asia Pacific) in August 2022. Prior to his current role, Lemercier served as vice president of transcatheter heart valves EMEA from 2008 to 2017. Under his leadership, Edwards has successfully built its leadership position in Europe. Prior to joining Edwards, Lemercier served in various leadership roles with Johnson & Johnson Cordis from 1996-2008, including leader of the structural heart disease group in the United States; vice president of new business development in Europe, vice president of the Cordis cardiology division in Belgium, and general manager of Cordis France. Lemercier has more than 30 years of medical technology experience, beginning with Baxter in France, and held several sales and marketing management positions within Baxter in both Europe and the United States. Lemercier has served on the board of CARMAT since 2017. He holds a doctorate degree in pharmacy from the Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University in Lyon, France.

Christine Z. McCauley has been corporate vice president, human resources, since 2012. McCauley has more than 30 years of experience working in all the functional disciplines of human resources. Prior to assuming her current role, she served as Edwards' vice president, human resources. Before joining the company in 1999, McCauley held a variety of human resources positions at Texas Instruments, Loral (Ford) Aerospace and Bally's Health and Tennis. Currently, she is a member of the board of directors of Baxter Credit Union and CorneaGen, and previously served on the board at Octane. McCauley earned a dual bachelor's degree in business administration and organizational effectiveness at The College at Brockport State University of New York and a master's degree in human resource management from Chapman University.

Gary I. Sorsher was appointed vice president, quality and regulatory compliance, in June 2020. Sorsher joined Edwards in 2015 as vice president, quality, for the early transcatheter mitral valve therapies organization. He later was appointed to a new role as vice president of quality for the valve network, and was the key quality partner to the Surgical Structural Heart leadership team. Most recently, Gary was the vice president of quality responsible for Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies (TMTT), advanced technology (AT), quality laboratories and pilot operations. Prior to joining Edwards, Sorsher was vice president of corporate quality compliance and medical device operations at Allergan, Inc., with responsibility for U.S. and international device facilities. Previously, Sorsher held quality leadership roles at Endologix, Inc., C.R. Bard, Inc., and Cordis, Johnson & Johnson. He serves on the board of trustees for Orange County Ronald McDonald House. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Byelorussian Polytechnic Institute, Minsk, USSR.

Joseph Nuzzolese joined Edwards as corporate vice president, global supply chain, in August 2016 and his responsibilities were expanded to include quality and regulatory compliance in June 2020. Prior to joining the company, Nuzzolese was the vice president, supply chain, for Johnson & Johnson's global surgery business, where he was responsible for leading worldwide operations for the Ethicon and Cardio and Specialty Surgery Businesses, which included Ethicon, Ethicon EndoSurgery, Biosurgery, Biosense Webster, Acclarent, Mentor, Advanced Sterilization Products and Sterilmed. Nuzzolese has more than 25 years of experience leading all facets of supply chain and held a number of senior leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, including vice president of supply chain in the Office of Strategy & Execution, vice president of worldwide operations for Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. and vice president of drug delivery for ALZA Corp. Nuzzolese was appointed to the Orange County United Way Board of Directors in July 2018. Nuzzolese received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Katie Szyman has been corporate vice president since 2015 and is currently responsible for the company’s global critical care and vascular business. Prior to 2015, Szyman held a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibility for more than 20 years at Medtronic, plc, where she served as its senior vice president and president of the global diabetes business from 2009 to 2014, overseeing research, development, operations, sales and marketing for the company’s insulin infusion pumps and continuous glucose monitoring systems.  Prior to that, she held a variety of leadership roles at Medtronic, including senior vice president of corporate strategy and business development, general manager of endovascular, and vice president of finance for the cardiovascular business. Szyman serves on the boards of Outset Medical Inc., Inari Medical Inc., and the American Heart Association of Orange County, and joined the board of the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation in 2015. She previously served on the boards of Octane, Tornier, Inspire Medical Systems, and the California Healthcare Institute. Szyman graduated from the University of St. Thomas and earned her master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Scott B. Ullem has been corporate vice president, chief financial officer, since January 2014. In addition, Ullem has executive responsibility for the company’s information technology, information security, risk management, indirect sourcing, and corporate services teams. Prior to joining Edwards, he served as chief financial officer of Bemis Company Inc., a Fortune 500 publicly traded global supplier of packaging and pressure sensitive materials used in leading food, consumer, and healthcare products, from May 2010 to December 2013. Ullem also had leadership responsibility for one of Bemis' three business segments and the company's information technology function. Prior to Bemis, Ullem spent 17 years in investment banking, serving as managing director at Goldman Sachs and later at Bank of America. Since 2016, he has served on the board of Berry Global, Inc., where he is a member of the Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is a passionate supporter of initiatives aimed at improving social equity, quality and safety and recently led the development of Edwards’ Social Impact Investment Fund to expand access to capital in underserved communities. Ullem currently sits on the board of egnite, an advanced technology digital health company. In 2014, he joined the board of the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation. Ullem received his bachelor's degree in political science from DePauw University and his master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Arnold A. Pinkston joined Edwards as Corporate Vice President, General Counsel in July 2019. Pinkston has more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer and business leader including serving as general counsel at Allergan, general counsel at Beckman Coulter, deputy general counsel at Eli Lilly and Company and chief legal officer at CoreLogic, Inc. Throughout his career he has built and led high-performing global teams and managed complex business and legal issues relating to litigation, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, board governance, compliance, finance and securities. Pinkston currently serves as a board member for Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE: BIO) and the Forum for Corporate Directors. He is also on the Orange County Community Foundation’s Board of Governors. He received a bachelor's degree in geophysics from Yale College and a juris doctor degree from Yale Law School.

Larry L. Wood has been corporate vice president, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, since 2007, and has been responsible for key company R&D, operations, marketing, commercial, clinical and regulatory initiatives in transcatheter valve replacement around the globe since the program was a development project. In January 2023, he took on an expanded role as group president, with additional leadership responsibility for Surgical Structural Heart and other key company initiatives. Under Wood’s leadership, the Edwards SAPIEN heart valve has won numerous awards, including the Prix Galien “Best Medical Technology Product” award and was named Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” Grand Award winner in the Health category. In 2022, the SAPIEN 3 Ultra valve received the silver medal for the Prix Galien Golden Jubilee Award for best medical technology. Wood has more than 35 years of experience in the medical technology industry at both Edwards and Baxter International, and is a frequently invited faculty member at key interventional cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery scientific congresses. Wood previously held key positions in manufacturing management, regulatory affairs, and strategic and clinical marketing, primarily in the company’s leading surgical heart valve franchise. Wood received his master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.