Hall of Fame inductee Jon Wells reflects on the relationships, mentors, and leadership lessons that have guided him through decades of change in healthcare and distribution.
Jon Wells never planned on a career in healthcare. A graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in architecture, he was drawn instead to the satisfaction of creating something lasting – designs that moved from concept to construction and ultimately served people for years. “What drove me was being part of something that built meaningful things,” Wells, president and CEO of Midmark, recalls. That instinct to build would become the throughline of a career that eventually led him to Midmark and, this year, to induction into the Medical Distribution Hall of Fame.
Wells’ entry into healthcare came almost by accident, but it didn’t take long for the industry’s real-world impact to capture his attention. Early in his Midmark career, he worked closely with architects across the country, traveling extensively and seeing firsthand how thoughtfully designed clinical environments could influence care. The work, he says, was far from abstract. “It really affects clinicians, patients and healthcare,” he explains. Later, as a sales representative in Atlanta, Wells gained a deeper appreciation for the role of distribution. “It’s more than moving products,” he says. “It’s relationships, trust from distributors, trust from clinicians … that last mile matters.”
Across decades with Midmark, Wells has continued to follow that same builder’s mindset, shaping products, teams and partnerships that support better care delivery. His Hall of Fame recognition reflects a career defined by thoughtful design in its many forms – from physical spaces to the systems and relationships that help healthcare run more effectively.
Designing for the “last mile”
For Midmark, innovation doesn’t end when a product leaves the factory floor – it’s tested in the hands of healthcare stakeholders every day. Wells says that reality has shaped the company’s approach to product development for decades. “Distribution is the front line of Midmark,” he explains. “It’s where strategy and execution meets reality.” From early design conversations to post-sale support, the company considers how products will be delivered, installed and serviced through its distribution partners, who he calls “truly an extension of Midmark.”
That emphasis on the “last mile” has helped the company refine products and processes based on real-world feedback. Distributors provide insight into everything from workflow challenges to installation barriers, and that input loops back into future designs. “It amplifies who Midmark is to thousands of customers each and every day,” Wells says. “The feedback from distributors because of that last mile is critically important to us.” In an industry where small inefficiencies can ripple into patient care delays, he adds, seamless implementation and reliable support are just as important as the product itself.
Wells’ leadership perspective has also been shaped by the industry’s constant state of change. Over the course of his career, he has navigated the rise of managed care in the 1990s, waves of consolidation among providers and distributors, the shift from promotion-driven sales to contract-based purchasing, and more recently, the disruption of COVID-19 and global supply chain challenges. Each era, he says, forced leaders to rethink how they operate.
A guiding influence has been the concept of a growth mindset – the belief that challenges strengthen organizations rather than weaken them. Wells credits that philosophy with helping Midmark weather the pandemic, when dental practices temporarily shut down and uncertainty gripped the industry. The experience reinforced the value of a strong leadership team and deep distributor relationships. “We can’t predict what the next Black Swan will be,” he says. “The best way to manage Black Swan events is having a really strong leadership team.”
Balancing the long view with the front line
For Wells, leadership at Midmark means constantly toggling between two timelines: the realities of today’s distribution environment and the investments that will shape the company years from now. To keep both in focus, Midmark relies on a five-year rolling strategy – a framework that allows leaders to evaluate present-day decisions through a longer lens while still executing against annual goals. “We used to be very one-year, two-year focused,” Wells says. “Now, that five-year rolling strategy helps us understand decisions we’re making today and how they’ll impact us two and three years out.”
The structure is both disciplined and flexible. The first three years of the plan are mapped in detail, while the later years remain directional, allowing the organization to adjust as market conditions change. Annual budgets and tactical plans still drive day-to-day operations, but those actions are guided by a broader mission and set of strategic priorities. Wells says the key to making that balance work is honesty – an unvarnished look at what’s happening in the field. “You really need to be very open and honest and taking in all of this information, and kind of a brutal reality of what’s real and what’s not,” he explains. Much of that real-time insight comes from distributors, whose feedback helps inform both monthly adjustments and longer-term investments, from production capacity to product line decisions.
The planning process itself is internal, built over time as the leadership team gained confidence in long-range forecasting. In a capital-intensive industry with factories, facilities and large product lines, those decisions carry significant weight. “You have to develop some confidence with it over time,” Wells says. As leaders began to see multi-year plans materialize as expected, that confidence grew, enabling the company to invest more decisively while remaining cautious about where to double down or pull back. The ability to shift resources across product lines and sales channels, he adds, has become a strategic advantage.
Wells’ own leadership style has evolved alongside that planning discipline. One of his biggest lessons, he says, was learning to slow down and empower others to make decisions. Early in his career, he prided himself on decisiveness and speed. Over time, he realized that moving too quickly could leave teams without the confidence or experience to lead on their own. “I needed to work through them and have them make more decisions, and support them,” he says. Today, he measures success by how well a team functions in his absence – a shift that reflects a deeper focus on trust, development and long-term strength.
Built on trust, strengthened by transparency
For Wells, the relationship between manufacturers and distributors has always been rooted in trust – but what that trust looks like has changed dramatically over time. Earlier in his career, he says, trust was often measured by responsiveness and reliability: returning calls quickly, meeting ship dates and delivering consistent quality. Those fundamentals still matter, but the expectations on both sides of the partnership have expanded.
Today, transparency and collaboration are just as critical. “The partnership and the transparency on what we’re going through as companies and in the industry,” Wells says, “to be able to share those things and help each other move forward and support our customers – that’s what’s evolved.”
The past decade, and especially the last five years, have tested those relationships in new ways. Distributors have been asked to manage unprecedented complexity, from pandemic-driven surges in PPE and vaccine distribution to shifting capital spending and supply chain volatility. Wells notes that navigating those changes has required closer communication and a shared understanding of challenges on both sides. “Distributors manage so much more complexity than they used to,” he says. In response, Midmark has worked to maintain open lines of communication, even when the news isn’t always positive. “We’re always here for our distributors. We’ll listen,” he says. “Sometimes the news isn’t great for us or for them, but they know that we’re here, and we’ll always pick up the phone, and we’ll work through it the best we can, and we always land on the other side.”
That commitment to partnership extends across the Midmark medical, dental and veterinary businesses, where Wells sees continued opportunity for deeper collaboration in the years ahead. As the industry grows more complex, he believes strong channel relationships will be essential to helping providers navigate change and deliver care effectively.
When asked what he hopes his legacy will be, Wells points less to specific accomplishments and more to the values that guided his career. A strong work ethic and integrity, he says, have always been central. “Always take the high road,” he notes, emphasizing sincerity and consistency in every interaction. He also points to empathy – not only in leadership, but in design. Understanding the needs of clinicians, distributors and customers has shaped how he approaches both product development and partnerships. “It’s really how I worked with others and listened and earned trust,” he says. “Stayed focused on building things … and just keep moving forward.”
Wells credits that mindset to a network of mentors who influenced him at every stage of his life and career, from his father’s work ethic to colleagues and leaders within Midmark and across the industry. Each, he says, helped shape his approach to leadership and relationships. Taken together, those influences reflect a career defined by steady progress, collaboration and a belief that trust – earned over time and reinforced daily – remains the foundation of lasting partnerships in healthcare distribution.
The project is the product
Looking ahead, Wells sees the next five years as an opportunity to expand Midmark’s impact beyond individual products to entire ecosystems of care. For him, it’s not about tables, sterilizers, or any single piece of equipment – it’s about making workflows function seamlessly and supporting clinicians in the environments where they deliver care. “The project is the product,” Wells explains. “Getting that practice up and running and getting it running in a good functional way is important.” This perspective requires sales and distribution teams to think holistically, to understand the clinician’s daily challenges, and to offer solutions that make work easier and more efficient.
Central to this approach is collaboration and trust. Wells emphasizes the need to ask more questions than feels comfortable, to truly understand the client’s perspective, and to work alongside them to solve problems. “Once they see the results of that work, then you become much more of an asset for them,” he says. In essence, the value isn’t just in the equipment sold, but in helping practices and hospitals operate better, smarter, and more seamlessly. This mindset is shaping the next generation of salespeople at Midmark, reinforcing the company’s legacy of thoughtful design, attentive service, and proactive problem-solving.
Wells’ Hall of Fame induction offers a moment to reflect on that legacy, but he is quick to redirect praise to the broader community. “It isn’t about me. It’s really Midmark, reflective of Midmark and the people and the history and the distribution partners, and customers that I’ve had the privilege to work with for so many years,” he says. For Wells, the honor represents the collective effort of countless professionals committed to advancing healthcare. At the same time, he views it as a responsibility – to mentor, guide, and support the next generation so they, too, can innovate and build trust in a rapidly evolving industry.
Through decades of navigating change, from technological shifts to global crises, Wells’ career has been defined by the same principle that drives his vision for the future: build thoughtfully, collaborate intentionally, and keep moving forward. In his view, success is less about individual accolades and more about creating environments where teams, partners, and clinicians can thrive. As he continues to shape Midmark’s journey, Wells embodies a philosophy that’s as forward-thinking as it is grounded: in healthcare, the project truly is the product, and the people involved are the heart of its success.