Keep Current
Learning about and embracing new technologies has been key to Fisher Healthcare Mike Garza’s 50 years in lab sales
Mike Garza
Even as a young adult, Mike Garza was never too far from a medical laboratory. After nearly 50 years in laboratory sales, the same can be said of him today.
Garza is a senior account executive for Fisher Healthcare, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, calling on major customers in the Los Angeles area, including UCLA Health, Kaiser Permanente Regional Reference Laboratories and the Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, to name a few. He and his wife, Karen, live in San Clemente, California, a couple of miles north of La Casa Pacifica, Richard Nixon’s “Western White House.” With them are their three Whippets (a breed that looks like small greyhounds, but actually are two-thirds greyhound, one-third terrier).
Growing up in Saginaw, Michigan, Garza was the youngest of five children whose parents stressed the importance of higher education. He graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in microbiology and public health, hoping to work in some type of medical research. He enrolled in the master’s program in immunology at Wayne State University, and worked as a supervisor at Henry Ford Hospital’s virus and immunology lab.
Into sales
While working at Henry Ford, Garza came to a life-changing conclusion. “I was a good tech,” he says. And he enjoyed the job. “But I was working with some brilliant people, and I knew I couldn’t come up with the same kind of original thinking they did.” So he sought a job that would help him stay close to the lab, only in sales, not research. He ended up taking a job with Organon (later, Schering-Plough, then Merck), selling diagnostic kits. “It was great,” he says. Soon after, he was named area manager.
After working with reps from American Scientific Products, Garza decided he would like to work for a full lab supplier, calling on all departments. “My pal and former MSU classmate Fred Moon, who was already with S/P, helped get me an interview with DM Tony Hackenberg,” he recalls. “What do you know? He hired me, and now I was in the full lab distribution business.”
For S/P, he worked a Detroit territory that included such giants as Henry Ford Hospital, William Beaumont Hospital and St. John Hospital. “I was doing very well and comfortable with my customer base,” he says. But in 1989, Karen – who also worked for Baxter, selling critical care products – was offered a management position in Irvine, California. “We decided to take the plunge and move to California,” he says.
Six years later, Garza was hired by Fisher Healthcare. At the time, the company was involved in its acquisition of Curtin Matheson Scientific – a supplier of laboratory products and equipment – and no territory was available. So Garza applied for and received the district manager position, which included Los Angeles, Orange County, Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Hawaii. He spent 10 years “managing a terrific sales team,” but realized he loved selling and wanted to go back into a territory. So he did.
“Medical sales and in particular, laboratory sales, has been the best career I could have chosen,” he says. “This business is ever evolving. I am amazed to see what has happened in my lifetime. At one time I sold Coulter Fn Analyzers and IL Flame Photometers. Now I’m selling QuantStudio™, molecular based assays and talking about precision medicine, thanks to Thermo Fisher Scientific and the acquisition of companies in this space. I embrace technology; I love seeing what is going on.
“My advice to anyone in medical sales is to keep current.” By learning about and embracing new technologies, “your effectiveness as a sales rep will be rewarded,” he says.
Garza has served on the President’s Advisory Council multiple times, and has achieved the highest sales level – Circle of Excellence – eight times. He is a long-time member of the prestigious Blue Jacket team. And he has no thoughts about retirement.
He serves on the board of the local Boys and Girls Club, and enjoys tennis, golf and skiing. “Karen, the pups and I enjoy driving to Carmel near the Monterey Peninsula. At home, we get to watch the sun set every night over the Pacific.
“Retire? Not just yet. Still living the dream!”