Ray Swanson
Mr. Swanson has more than 20 years of senior commercial operations leadership experience in the US and abroad for medical technology and diagnostics such as TriPath Imaging, Dade Behring and Baxter. A recognized diagnostics expert, he has a highly successful track record in building value for growth-focused organizations through development and commercialization of new products in new markets.
Recently, Mr. Swanson was President and Founder of Blue Ridge Growth Advisors, a strategic consulting and hands-on management services company serving the medical products industry, and President and CEO of Centice Corporation, an early stage, venture-backed company, developing a drug authentication sensor system for the pharmacy and pharmaceutical markets.
Until 2006, Mr. Swanson was Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for TriPath Imaging, a publicly traded company focused on products for the detection and clinical management of cancers of the cervix, breast, ovary and prostate. At TriPath, he led a commercial turnaround that resulted in 19 quarters of consecutive sales growth and a 5X sales increase to over $100 million before TriPath’s acquisition by Becton Dickinson.
Mr. Swanson also held positions of increasing responsibility at Baxter International and its affiliates for over a decade. As president of the Japanese subsidiary, he integrated a newly acquired diagnostics company, grew the microbiology product line to 70% market share, and was a member of the management team that divested the global diagnostics business of Baxter and created Dade Behring, a broadly diversified $1.2B clinical diagnostics company, in 1995.
Mr. Swanson also served as Dade Behring’s General Manager for eBusiness, General Manager for a new platelet function line, and head of international sales and business development for microbiology, where he grew the business to profitability by partnering and launching new products in Europe, while opening up new markets in Asia, Latin and South America.
Mr. Swanson was named a 2007/2008 Impact Technology and Telecommunications Leader by Business Leader Media, currently serves on the Greater Raleigh Leadership Council for the American Cancer Society, and is a member of RTP Capital Associates. He holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Zoology from Eastern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Iowa.
