SeQual Technologies Inc. recently announced that Ron Richard has taken the role of senior vice president of marketing and sales. Richard left a vice president position at ResMed to join SeQual, after increasing the growth in sales for ResMed’s sleep disordered breathing devices at a rate of 25 percent a year.
Richard brings to SeQual more than 30 years of experience in respiratory, pulmonary and sleep medicine and plans to focus on SeQual’s new Eclipse product, which the company is touting as a new standard in the United States for long-term oxygen patients, as well as help the company expand into new markets in the Americas, Europe and elsewhere.
Richard said he made the move to a smaller company positioned for growth, similar to his move to ResMed Corp. several years ago. “Understanding the Eclipse and the clinical side of it, the way it works for patients and how patients respond to it is incredible. Patients who felt trapped at home before, now can do the activities they enjoy because they have a device that is small, lightweight, and keeps their blood rate saturated. The stories of how it improves the lives of oxygen patients can bring tears to your eyes,” Richard says.
Answering whether SeQual will enter the sleep market soon, Richard says that SeQual is looking at the overlap syndrome — people diagnosed with both COPD and sleep apnea. “We are looking at studies pertaining to this,” Richard says.
Richard plans to lead SeQual’s advocacy efforts for the oxygen market. “We just made a trip to the Hill and visited Congressmen; we joined AAHomecare and the National Home Oxygen Patient Association (NOPA) to lobby against the 36-month cap and campaign at the local, national and state levels,” Richard says.
Richard began his career as a respiratory therapist and went on to help found a respiratory-products distributorship. He subsequently held marketing positions at Nellcor Puritan Bennett, Total Sleep Diagnostics, and Thermo Medical Inc.
Richard succeeds the retiring Ed Radtke, a SeQual founder. Ratke will continue at SeQual in a consulting role.
