HealthQuest Adds BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) Executive Chairman Vince Forlenza to Its Board of Advisors

Forlenza brings over 40 years of experience in leadership roles at BD, a $70B market cap medical technology market leader, and will bring a wealth of knowledge in commercialization, scaling healthcare businesses, and improving patient outcomes

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HealthQuest Capital

Jan 06, 2021, 09:00 ET

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthQuest Capital, a growth capital firm investing in commercial stage healthcare companies that meaningfully improve patient outcomes and reduce costs in healthcare, today announced that Vince Forlenza, executive chairman, and prior CEO of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), has joined the firm's board of advisors. As an advisor, Forlenza will work with HealthQuest to identify, develop and grow transformative companies with the potential to fundamentally and dynamically improve the healthcare industry.

Forlenza joins an advisory board that includes leading executives representing Bon Secours Mercy Health, Humana, Johnson & Johnson, LabCorp, Mayo Clinic (Florida), Medtronic, and Procter & Gamble. In 2020, HealthQuest also recruited Regina Benjamin, the 18^thU.S. Surgeon General to the Board.

Forlenza has held multiple roles of increasing responsibility at BD. Key appointments included leadership roles as senior vice president of Technology, Strategy and Development; president of BD Biosciences; and executive vice president and president of BD Diagnostics. Forlenza was named president of BD in January 2009, assumed additional responsibility as chief operating officer in July 2010, became chief executive officer in October 2011 and chairman of the board in July 2012. During his eight years as CEO, BD built a powerful portfolio of solutions to advance the entire health care continuum, more than doubled annual revenue, and increased market capitalization by more than 300 percent.

Additionally, Forlenza served as chairman of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) Board of Directors from 2015 to 2017, where he significantly advanced the organization's innovation agenda collaborating with policymakers and industry partners to reinvigorate the innovation ecosystem and promote the value of medical technology in extending and improving patients' lives, enhancing population health, and supporting economically sound health systems. Forlenza serves on Moody's Corporation Board of Directors, is chairman of The Valley Health Systems Board of Trustees, and previously served as chairman of The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ. Forlenza is also a member of the Lehigh University Board of Trustees and a Board member of CECP, an organization of CEOs of purpose driven companies. Forlenza earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in 1975, and a master's degree in business administration from Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1980.

"I am excited to be working with the HealthQuest team which has a great track record of bringing innovative medical technologies to scale to broadly improve patient care and healthcare system performance," said Forlenza.

"Vince is an incredibly valuable addition to the HealthQuest advisory board," said Garheng Kong, founder and managing partner, HealthQuest Capital. "Understanding medical technology and the delivery of care at scale has never been more important in light of the pandemic in 2020, and Vince's deep expertise will elevate our insight and perspectives on the healthcare system at large. He has already added considerable value to our portfolio companies by connecting them with his expansive network of hospitals and health systems," said Kong.

Forlenza joins HealthQuest in sharing a passion to support and foster the growth of transformative companies that increase value in healthcare, either by improving patient outcomes, or by reducing inefficiencies and cost. HealthQuest invests across many sectors of healthcare, including medical products, diagnostics/tools, digital healthcare and innovative healthcare services. Examples include:

Amwell, a leading telehealth platform at the forefront of serving patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, that IPO'd in September 2020
Pulmonx, a breakthrough technology to treat severe emphysema and a pioneer and leader in outpatient addiction medicine, that IPO'd in September 2020
Bardy Diagnostics, a leading provider of ambulatory cardiac monitoring technologies and custom data solutions for arrhythmia detection

About HealthQuest Capital

Founded in 2012 and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, HealthQuest Capital is a growth capital firm investing in commercial-stage companies that meaningfully improve patient outcomes and reduce costs in healthcare. With more than $850 million in capital under management, the firm focuses on fostering innovation across the healthcare industry, including medical technologies, diagnostics, digital health and innovative services. The HealthQuest team combines decades of successful investing experience with deep domain expertise in all aspects of the healthcare industry. For more information, visit www.healthquestcapital.com.

SOURCE HealthQuest Capital