‘Fair and fierce,’ Ashley McEvoy says of Abbott’s Lisa Earnhardt

“Fair and fierce” is how Ashley McEvoy describes Abbott EVP and Medical Devices Group President Lisa Earnhardt.

McEvoy — who previously led the world’s second-largest medical device business as worldwide chair of Johnson & Johnson MedTech — offered that assessment of her former competitor in a brief interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing.

“The world needs more leaders like Lisa at the helm of businesses,” McEvoy said.

MDO recently profiled Earnhardt for the cover of our upcoming Women in Medtech issue. (You can subscribe to our free email newsletter to be notified when the magazine’s digital edition is live online.) She leads the world’s eighth-largest medical device business and became the most powerful woman in medtech when McEvoy stepped down from Johnson & Johnson in 2023.

They first met when Earnhardt was president and CEO of Intersect ENT, before it was acquired by Medtronic for $1.1 billion. McEvoy said the two “worked very closely” at AdvaMed after McEvoy became chair of the industry group’s executive committee.

“What I’ve always appreciated about Lisa is her deep belief that innovation’s best years are ahead to improve patient care, and she’s very collaborative to advance the health of the industry,” McEvoy said. “… We were working [together at AdvaMed] to modernize the industry and create a more frictionless environment where more patients have access to care to enable more superior outcomes, and Lisa has always been a champion of that.”

McEvoy on diversity in medtech

The medtech industry trails other industries when it comes to leadership that represents their customers, McEvoy said.

“It’s really important that leadership at the top of the house reflect our patients, and when only a certain segment of patients are represented by leadership, whether it be gender or geographic representation or race, we’re missing important patient insights,” McEvoy said.

Analysis: Gender parity in medtech leadership remains elusive

Leaders like Earnhardt can help bring more engineers, executives and employees of all kinds into medtech.

“Lisa is a beautiful ambassador of the industry because she’s got street cred on engineering, innovation, building cultures, being a good collaborator, getting performance and always being in service of patients,” McEvoy said.

What’s next for McEvoy?

Asked about her departure from J&J, McEvoy called it a “nice bookmark” after a 27-year career with the company, for which she is “very grateful.”

“My successor, Tim Schmid, worked for me for over 10 years and executed the succession beautifully,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

McEvoy now serves on the Proctor & Gamble Board of Directors and the Industry Advisory Board for HealthQuest Capital, a Redwood City, California-based private asset firm that invests exclusively in healthcare companies.

Has medtech seen the last of Ashley McEvoy?

“Stay tuned on that,” she said. “Stay tuned.”

Previously: Ex-J&J MedTech Chair Ashley McEvoy: ‘Smart companies are sticking by DEI’