Permobil recently announced that Charles ‘Chuck’ Witkowski, II has been named its Executive Vice President (EVP) Business Region (BR) Americas. Sweden-based Permobil will look to Witkowski – an entrepreneurial leader with a strong healthcare background and passion for applying life sciences to product development that improves people’s lives – to advance its mission of moving people forward, literally and figuratively, without regard to society’s definitions of ability.
“We are delighted to welcome Chuck to Permobil,” said CEO Bengt Thorsson. “His customer-first focus with a background in creating and growing life sciences start-ups into settled companies; his track record of strong growth within established corporate environments across functional leadership roles; and his deep commitment to become an integral member of our team makes him the ideal candidate to lead Permobil’s business in the Americas.”
Witkowski is a strategic and operation executive with diverse experience building and leading medical device, healthcare service and life sciences businesses. Witkowski comes to Permobil from Hillrom (NYSE: HRC), a mission-driven medical device company with approximately $3 billion in sales and 10,000 employees, where he was a corporate vice-president and global general manager for the past four years. During that time, Witkowski led the creation of Hillrom’s high growth Vision Care business and most recently added responsibility for its global Diagnostic Cardiology business. Prior to Hillrom, he was the founding president and CEO of Hubble Telemedical, a national telemedicine provider and medical device start-up focused on eradicating diabetic vision loss and blindness. Hubble was acquired by Hillrom in 2015.
“The opportunity to advance Permobil’s continued strong growth in the America’s means a great deal to me professionally and personally,” said Witkowski. “Permobil products are the gold standard in the complex rehab industry. Everyone in the Americas who faces mobility challenges deserves the gold standard to meet their functional, social, and medical needs. As the new EVP of BR Americas, I intend to dedicate myself to making Permobil both ubiquitous in this market and its unquestioned innovator.”
Witkowski, a Tennessee native, holds a degree in economics from the University of Montana, Missoula, and an MBA from the Haslam School of Business at the University of Tennessee.
Witkowski replaces Larry Jackson who retired from Permobil earlier this year after years of dedicated service to establish Permobil in the Americas.
About Permobil
Permobil founder Doctor Per Uddén believed that helping people achieve the greatest level of independence is a basic human right. For over 50 years, Permobil has held fast to that belief. Permobil is proud to be the global leader in advanced medical technology, forever striving to understand our users' needs and improving their quality of life through state-of-the-art healthcare solutions. Today, these solutions include power wheelchairs, seating and positioning products, and manual wheelchairs. Permobil is part of Patricia Industries, a subsidiary of Investor AB and is headquartered in Sweden. Permobil has 1,600 team members in 17 countries around the world. For more information regarding the company's storied history and complete product line visit permobilus.com.