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 35 years business experience, with 29 years in the health care industry and 6 years in the telecom industry. Prior to the foundation of joimax® in fall 2001, he held in 9 years positions in sales, product and marketing management, followed by the position of VP Business Development Europe in the Baxter CardioVascular Group, today Edwards LifeScience. In the German-French venture, Saphir Medical, he held for 2 years the position of the Managing Director and in the HydroCision Inc., Andover, MA VP Marketing & Business Development. His educational background is based on telecom engineering and a degree in medicine (4 years) from the University of Vienna, Austria. He finished several business management programs and courses like the Baxter-IMD Lausanne Leadership 2000 MBA program.
Rainer Schmitz – CFO/COO
More than 33 years business experience in finance and controlling. Prior to joining joimax® he worked several years as a General Manager Finance/Controlling in 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 – International Sales Director AASAP
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.
Dirk Dedecke – Director of Sales Germany and Austria
Dirk Dedecke has 28 years experience in Sales, 17 years in medical technology, specializing in Orthopedics and Spine. He worked for Kyphon and Medtronic in the Sales field, holding various management positions, as well as trainer for surgeons in Europe for several companies in Spine and Pediatric Surgery. He joined joimax® as Director of Sales for Germany and Austria for direct Sales in February 2017. He was previously serving as VP Sales Europe for Premia Spine Inc. and GmbH, introducing spinal implants to the dynamic stabilization market. Dirk is holding a degree for business administration and was trained in several management trainings by Prof. Malik, Switzerland.
Rainer Steegmüller, PhD – Director R&D and Production
More than 15 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.
Maximilian Ries – General Manager
Joined joimax® in 2009 officially. Since 2015 he is the Integration and Operations Manager of joimax GmbH and since 2016 General Manager of joimax® Inc. He holds degrees in Technical Management and Business Management. Maximilian’s diverse education and experience over multiple departments helps the company to adopt quickly to new challenges and is supporting the growth of the company.
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.
Monika Gensert – Senior Workshop & Education Manager
Monika joined joimax® in 2008, initially in sales, followed by product management as well as education and training – both internally and in the joimax® CM3 program for physicians. She can look back on 18 years of experience in medical technology and adult education. Before joining joimax® she worked in the field of Radioimmunoassays (CIS Diagnostik GmbH) and Interventional Radiology (optimed GmbH, Ettlingen). Additionally, she did freelance work as lecturer.
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
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