Building an ERG in the Medtech Industry: Insight from LGBTQ+ Groups

Ben Redgell, Social Media Manager, BD

Ben Redgell has worked at BD for six years. What began as a business case for temporary digital support in the UK, grew into a permanent digital marketing team led by Ben, helping the business to connect with customers and patients in new ways. After establishing digital marketing within the UK, Ben took on a new venture by joining the Corporate Communications team as Social Media Manager. He now works with teams around the world to unlock the potential of social media, through corporate channels and social media advocacy programs. Whilst studying international business at university sparked his initial interest in working across markets and cultures, it was an assignment in organisational leadership that solidified the trajectory of Ben’s career. Fuelled by a passion to make a difference, he has been heavily involved in inclusion and diversity since graduating, helping BD teams deliver events and initiatives that improve awareness, understanding and empathy. Ben notes that his personal and professional development is intricately linked; when he joined BD he had not come out as gay yet – fast forward five years and he became the global co-lead for the Out and Proud Employee Network (OPEN), BD’s LGBTQ+ ERG. Ben is passionate about driving OPEN’s mission; to embrace and inspire the LGBTQIA+ community both within and outside BD via increased visibility, opportunity, development, education and corporate advocacy.

Rebecca Rehm, Senior Manager, Compliance Business Partner, Olympus Corporation of the Americas

Rebecca Rehm is an ethics and compliance business leader who has worked and consulted successfully under DPAs and CIAs, including at Fortune Global 500 companies. Since 2017, she has been a compliance business partner at Olympus Corporation of the Americas where she supports marketing and sales in the medical device businesses. Prior to joining Olympus, she spent five years at the Ethics & Compliance Initiative where she was the director of member education and certification. For the previous seven years, she managed the educational programs at a genetics center at Mass General Brigham. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and is currently vice chair of AdvaMed’s PRIDE Leadership Network, co-lead of the LGBTQ Colleague Affinity Network at Olympus, a sub-group chair of the Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s Working Group on Racism, Discrimination and Abuse of Power, and a frequent speaker on diversity and inclusion. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology with a concentration in neuroscience from Williams College, a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Brown University and is certified as a Leadership Professional in Ethics & Compliance. She lives outside Boston with her family.

Matt Wetzel, Partner, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Goodwin Procter LLP

Matt Wetzel is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Goodwin Procter LLP.  He counsels medical device and diagnostics manufacturers, laboratory testing companies, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and a variety of other health care and life sciences organizations on health care legal and regulatory matters.  He helps structure financial and remunerative relationships with customers and other health care providers, including strategic counseling on sales and marketing practices, innovative value-based arrangements, and discounting and pricing practices. He also conducts due diligence in the context of mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, and financing transactions.  Matt has extensive in-house experience in both the multinational setting and the start-up environment and works with life sciences companies to develop and implement effective compliance programs. This includes drafting policies and internal control documents; training employees and agents on appropriate customer interactions; conducting risk assessments and audits to help identify potential vulnerabilities or gaps; conducting internal investigations in response to allegations of wrongdoing; and offering strategic guidance on the evolution and growth of life sciences companies’ compliance programs.  Prior to joining Goodwin, Matt held a series of in-house positions, including serving as Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at GRAIL, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at AdvaMed, and Senior Counsel at Boston Scientific.  Matt chairs the Fraud & Abuse Practice Group of the American Health Law Association and co-chairs the AdvaMed PRIDE Leadership Network.  Matt holds a JD and a BA from Georgetown.