Jim Stover Jim Stover was second-generation leader of the William T. Stover Company, Little Rock, Ark.; chairman of the Health Industry Distributors Association in 1982; president of HIDA from 1987 to 1993; and president of National Distribution & Contracting Inc. from 1993 to 2005. Stover was among the first to apply computer technology to inventory control and order … [Read more...]

Bob Barnes With a career in healthcare distribution spanning the years 1952 to 1991, Bob Barnes of Durr-Fillauer witnessed and created a great deal of change in the industry. Born and raised in Birmingham, Ala., Barnes attended the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (which later became Auburn University). After graduating and spending a year and a half in the Army, he became a … [Read more...]

John McGuire John McGuire was crucial in advancing the professionalism of distribution firms and their sales reps. He was educated as an architect at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. But when it came time to pursue a career, he chose medical sales, becoming the third sales rep hired by Foster McGaw at American Hospital Supply … [Read more...]

Bill McKnight A former hospital sales rep with American Hospital Supply Corp., Bill McKnight launched Medical Products Sales magazine in 1969. It was the first magazine to target the medical distributor sales rep, and reflected McKnight’s belief that it was the distributor sales rep – not management – who largely controlled and moved market share. Several years after its … [Read more...]

Max Goodloe Max Goodloe, founder of General Medical, pioneered the concept of a national distribution company with a local sales and warehousing presence, so that customers anywhere in the country could rely on next-day service. He built the company through a string of acquisitions that presaged similar strategies by others in the following years – including that of one of … [Read more...]

Gil Minor III In 1963, Gil Minor III joined Owens & Minor – the company his great-grandfather had co-founded as a drug wholesaler in 1882. Minor III became president in 1981 and CEO in 1984. Under his watch, employees came to be called “teammates.” Minor’s own business card referred to him as “coach.” He believed that if Owens & Minor’s customers were successful, so … [Read more...]

Elliot Werber Elliot Werber had tremendous people skills, which he used to help himself and others navigate through tumultuous times in the industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Brooklyn in 1945, he was a college athlete, and after graduation, taught physical education and served as a high school basketball coach. He entered medical products sales first as a manufacturer, … [Read more...]

Lew Allyn Lew and brother Bill Allyn represented the third generation of Allyns to lead Skaneateles Falls, N.Y.-based Welch Allyn. Under their leadership from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, the company built a modern-day sales force, strengthened the company’s ties with distributors, stimulated new-product development, and improved the company’s relationship with its … [Read more...]

John Sasen John Sasen says his story is that of a person who never stopped dreaming, and who always believed that change can only make a person better and stronger. His career was dedicated to training, education and sales, and he believed that seeking customer solutions and profitability are not mutually exclusive goals, though not always easily managed.Sasen began his … [Read more...]