Our team for endoscopic minimally invasive spinal surgery
Innovative thinking and execution combined with longtime professional experience are the strengths of the operative senior management team of joimax®.
Wolfgang Ries – Founder, CEO & President
More than 38 years business experience, with 32 years in the health care and 6 years in the telecom industry. Prior to the foundation of joimax® in fall 2001, he held positions of growing responsibilities in sales, product and marketing management and VP Business Development Europe at Baxter CardioVascular Group, today Edwards LifeScience. At the German-French venture, Saphir Medical, he was the Managing Director and at HydroCision Inc., Andover, MA he was VP Marketing & Business Development. His educational background includes a telecom engineering and a degree in medicine (4 years) from the University of Vienna, Austria. Besides that he completed several business management programs and courses like the Baxter-IMD Lausanne Leadership 2000 MBA program.
Rainer Schmitz – CFO/COO
More than 36 years business experience in finance and controlling. Prior to joimax® he worked several years as a General Manager Finance/Controlling at TerraTec Electronic GmbH, a global acting consumer electronic company. Prior to that, he held the position of the Director Finance in Conceptware AG, a global acting consulting and IT company. His educational background is based on commercial education with graduation in business administration, a 1 year trainee program in Business Administration in South Africa and 4 years study of Business Economics at the University of Hagen, Germany.
Michael Roberz – Director of Sales and Marketing MEIA
More than 32 years business experience, with over 22 years in Medical Healthcare Technique. Prior to joining joimax in spring 2008, he held positions with increasing responsibilities in sales-, product- and marketing management, Vice President Business development EMEA and Asia Pacific in the fields of Medical Healthcare Technique, Gourmet Cookware, Watch and Jewelry, Swimming pool Technique. His education background is based on international Sugar Trade followed by academic studies as Economist at University St. Gallen, Switzerland. Various business management courses with Prof. Malik (Corporate Governance, Leadership etc.).
Rodolphe Dagnaud – Director of Sales and Marketing Europe
After 15 years in the spinal hardware and biologics industry, Rodolphe, aka Rudy, joined joimax® in September 2017 as Director of Sales for Europe. Prior to joimax®, Rudy held various sales and marketing management positions in spine companies such LDR Medical, Scient’X, Integra LifeSciences or more recently Medicrea International.
Rudy holds a BA (Hons) in Business studies and Hispanic studies from Queen Mary & Westfield College (University of London) and studied economics, strategic marketing and languages in Oxford, England.
Stephan Saelz – Director of Sales DACH
Stephan Saelz brings with him 27 years of professional experience, including 19 years in medical technology. Before joining joimax® in 2019, he held the positions of Managing Director Marketing and Sales in a leading company for the outpatient market. Stephan Saelz previously held senior management positions in sales, product and marketing management, in the DACH region and in medical technology at companies such as Covidien, DePyu Synthes and LivaNova. He has a commercial education which was complemented by further qualifications as a marketing and business economist.
Rainer Steegmüller, PhD – Senior Director R&D
More than 20 years leadership experience in the medical devices industry. Before he joined joimax® in July 2014 he hold the position as CTO at Admedes Schuessler GmbH, Germany, the global market leader for manufacturing of stent components and heart valve frames from shape-memory alloys. He has a long-time experience in structural buildup of development areas, implementing and optimizing of processes and establishing new business areas. His educational background is studies of mechanical engineering at the University of Stuttgart with a subsequent PhD thesis on the field of nondestructive material testing.
Silke Klingberg – Director QM/RA
Silke Klingberg began managing the team of QM & RA at joimax® in 2016. Her role includes international product approval and the implementation and monitoring of the QM system within the company. Silke has gained a qualification in Manager Regulatory Affairs in Medical Technology (University of Lübeck), Bachelor of Arts majoring in International Business Communications (AKAD University of Leipzig), Dipl.-Ing. (FH) European Civil Engineering Management (FH Oldenburg) and audited QM Representative. Over the past 20 years, Silke has gained knowledge and professional experience in various industries with the last four years being in the field of Medical Technology.
Ina Zimmermann – Executive Assistant
Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Business studies, Ina Zimmermann has been an Executive Assistant at joimax® GmbH since October 2016. Prior to this, she spent a year abroad in New Zealand, and she gained experience working in various roles in drugstore trade. Previous to this she worked in the ophthalmology field for the globally operating company Gebauer Medizintechnik GmbH, where she gained skills in partner management and in marketing
Kurt Alderweireldt – Director Marketing & Education
Kurt Alderweireldt has more than 20 years of experience in the medical industry, especially in the dental and spine business. He worked as a marketeer, created new projects and product launches and was in charge of organizing think tanks, events and fairs. Also led teams of medical professors and always saw it as a challenge to overcome difficult obstacles. Most of all he enjoyed creating teams of faculty members dedicated to scientific clinical studies, as well as organizing trainings and education programs.
Kurts free time is dedicated to endurance sports, such as triathlon and ultraraces. Here he finds his inspiration and motivation not only for himself, but also for the people working with him.
Roland Greil – Director Technical Services
Roland can look back on over 34 years of professional experience in the field of medical technology. Before joining joimax® in spring 2018, he held a leading position as Head of Sales & Marketing in the area of OEM suppliers for the medical technology industry. Prior to that, he was Regional Manager of the Service Division of Dräger Medical Deutschland GmbH, a leading international medical technology company. His technical experience and international competence are based on his many years of experience as a senior service engineer at Dornier MedTech GmbH, a medical technology company known for its revolutionary urology therapies. After an electromechanical education, his expertise includes the study of electrical engineering and computer science at the DAG Technikum in Munich, Germany. Various management programs, management courses and FDA quality certificates round off his professional experience. Among other things, he is certified as a safety officer in accordance with §30 of the German Medical Devices Act.
joimax® GmbH
Since joimax® was founded by Wolfgang Ries in fall 2001 in the Karlsruhe area, the number of employees has continued to increase. With this strong team of qualified people we acquired the status as “Expert in Endoscopic Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery”.
joimax® GmbH
Amalienbadstraße 41, RaumFabrik 61
76227 Karlsruhe, Germany
joimax®, Inc.
By founding a 100 % subsidiary in Irvine, California, USA, joimax® paved its way into the American market since 2006. The medical industry sector offers excellent opportunities for innovations which are globally researched and developed by joimax®.
joimax®, Inc.
140 Technology Drive, Suite 150
Irvine, CA 92618, USA