About
David Williams — Founder & Principal
More than 30 years of healthcare and MedTech leadership experience across Australia and New Zealand, now applied to a small number of focused advisory engagements.
I spent more than 30 years building a career inside healthcare and medical technology, in senior roles with organisations including Alcon, Roche, Medtronic, Becton Dickinson, Cardinal Health, Starkey, Allergan.
That work covered commercial leadership, sales, marketing, strategy, business transformation and sales force effectiveness, with responsibility for Australia and New Zealand alongside periods in Europe and Asia Pacific. I have carried the number, built the teams and had to make the calls.
It means I understand both strategy and execution. I know how the market works, how customers decide, and what a commercial organisation can realistically deliver.
I hold an MBA and am a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).
I am also Captain of the Milsons Passage Rural Fire Brigade, NSW Rural Fire Service — volunteer leadership in a small community, with the same responsibility for preparation, judgement and people.
Argo is a deliberate second chapter, built around experience, independence and contribution. I now bring that experience to a small number of organisations that need an experienced perspective on an important question. Clients work with me, not with a team assembled around them.
Experience spans
- Commercial leadership
- Sales
- Marketing
- Strategy
- Healthcare
- Medical technology
- Business transformation
- Sales force effectiveness
- Executive leadership
- Market development
Therapeutic & Product Markets
Markets I have worked in
Commercial responsibility across a range of therapeutic and product markets, each with its own customers, clinical setting and route to market.
Ophthalmology & Eye Care
Alcon · Allergan
Surgical ophthalmology and eye care portfolios, working with ophthalmologists and surgical theatres.
Interventional Cardiology
Medtronic
Coronary vascular and renal denervation, including cath lab customers and new technology launch.
Diabetes Care
Roche Diabetes Care
Commercial leadership of a diabetes portfolio across clinical, pharmacy and consumer channels.
Diagnostics
Becton Dickinson
Hospital and clinical diagnostics, including laboratory customers and clinical education.
Medical & Surgical Products
Becton Dickinson · Cardinal Health
Medical surgical systems and hospital product categories across multiple platforms.
Hearing Technology & Audiology
Starkey
Hearing technology and retail audiology clinics, spanning clinical and consumer decision making.
Device Distribution & Commercialisation
MediPro Technologies
Bringing medical devices to market through distribution into Australia and New Zealand.
The common thread
Across these markets the customers differ, but the commercial questions rhyme: who decides, how they buy, and what it takes to earn the business.
Geographic Experience
Where that experience was earned
Australia and New Zealand are the focus of the practice. Earlier regional roles inform how global strategy translates into local reality.
Australia
Country commercial leadership across public and private hospitals, clinics, specialists and distributors.
New Zealand
Included in country and trans-Tasman responsibility, with its own customers, funding and channel realities.
Western Europe
London-based regional marketing leadership across European and country teams and five product platforms.
Asia Pacific
Regional exposure through periods working with Asia Pacific teams and portfolios.
Career
Selected roles
1997 – 2003
Sales & Marketing Director, Eye Care — Allergan (Australia & New Zealand)
Commercial leadership across the eye care portfolio, including through the spin-off of AMO Advanced Medical Optics.
2006 – 2009
Business Unit Director, BD Diagnostics — Becton Dickinson (Australia & New Zealand)
Led hospital and clinical diagnostics sales, marketing and clinical education.
2009 – 2011
Marketing Director, BD Medical Surgical Systems — Becton Dickinson (Western Europe)
Based in London, leading European and country marketing and clinical teams across five product platforms.
2012 – 2016
Business Unit Director, Coronary Vascular & Renal Denervation — Medtronic (Australia & New Zealand)
Returned a declining interventional cardiology business to growth and launched Renal Denervation.
2016 – 2020
Managing Director — MediPro Technologies (Australia)
Full P&L responsibility for medical device distribution and commercialisation into Australia and New Zealand.
2017 – 2018
Managing Director — Starkey Australia
Country leadership of the hearing technology business and retail audiology clinics.
2020 – 2022
Head of Commercial — Roche Diabetes Care (Australia & New Zealand)
Led sales and marketing for the diabetes portfolio and served as Interim Country Head.
2022
Head of Marketing & Customer Experience — Cardinal Health (Australia & New Zealand)
Rebuilt the marketing team and refocused portfolio strategy across five priority categories.
2023 – 2024
Head of Sales, Surgical — Alcon (Australia & New Zealand)
Led the surgical sales team supporting ophthalmologists across Australia and New Zealand.
Present
Founder & Principal — Argo Advisory & Consulting
Independent MedTech advisory for Australia and New Zealand, with executive coaching and mentoring alongside it.
Let’s talk about the question.
If you have an important MedTech, commercial or leadership question that would benefit from an experienced perspective, get in touch.