Brainlab Reshapes Executive Board

Brainlab, a digital medical technology company, announced today a leadership transition within its Executive Board.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jan Merker concluded his tenure at Brainlab at his own request by the end of the company's fiscal year on September 30, 2024, to pursue new professional opportunities. During his seven-year tenure, he very successfully transformed the areas under his responsibility, including the development of crucial processes and resources as part of an insourcing initiative. Merker’s leadership spanned the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated supply chain disruptions, during which the company grew its sales by nearly 70 percent. He effectively advanced the strategic business areas of Robotics and Imaging, laying a future-proof foundation for the company’s continued growth through various digitalization initiatives. Brainlab CEO, Stefan Vilsmeier and the Supervisory Board expressly thank Merker for his many years of dedicated service.

Building on this foundation, yet shifting focus to developing deeper integration between different functional areas across the organization, Brainlab is leveraging the operational experience of long-standing executives and expands the Executive Board from three to four people. With immediate effect, the company appoints Tobias Schalkhausser as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to rethink its entire digital customer journey, and Florian Hoffmann as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with an adjusted scope to cover the full product life cycle, from R&D to production and installation to customer support. Both will work side by side with long-standing members of the Executive Board, Stefan Vilsmeier (CEO) and Rainer Birkenbach (CTO).

Florian Hoffmann has been responsible for major areas of Brainlab hardware development as Vice President R&D for the past four years and has been working for Brainlab in various functions since 2012. By closely linking the relevant areas of the Executive Board, Hoffmann covers the entire life cycle of hardware products and will coordinate processes even more closely. He is also responsible for the Facilities division. Florian Hoffmann is valued by all colleagues for his dedication, commitment, and personal involvement in the execution of important initiatives.

Tobias Schalkhaußer has been digitally transforming his previous area of responsibility as Executive Vice President Marketing since 2019. He brings in-depth expertise from two decades as Managing Director of his own digital marketing agency. He will digitally integrate processes in his new areas of responsibility, Sales Operations, Human Resources, Business Applications and IT, in addition to Marketing. Accordingly, Tobias Schalkhaußer will deepen and restructure the touch points with our products and processes for all internal and external stakeholders, thereby contributing to growth and profitability.

“While we’ll miss Jan Merker and his contributions to our success, we’re pleased to expand our Executive Board with accomplished internal executives who both bring a wealth of experience leading our business through times of pivotal growth,” said Stefan Vilsmeier, President and CEO, Brainlab. “We’re excited to fully leverage the expertise and experience of both Florian Hoffmann and Tobias Schalkhausser and look forward to their contribution to making an even greater difference for patients around the world.”