MIA changes name and leadership

September 7, 2004 ADEL, Iowa - Marilyn and Rusell Bird, co-founders of the nebulizer-based manufacturing and distribution business Medical Industries America, have turned over leadership of the company to a 39-year-old CEO who is planning an aggressive new approach to sales. “I am making the assumption that the traditional relationship between the manufacturer and the provider isn't optimal,” said the new CEO Bryan Hansel. “There's a better way, and we are trying to help create a different relationship and interaction that grays that line so we can do a more effective job.” Hansel plans to roll out this new vision as a product at Medtrade this year. Along with the change in leadership is a name-change for the company, now to be known as Evo (from the Latin evolvere, ‘to unroll') Medical Solutions. As MIA, Evo is best known as a manufacturer of compressor nebulizers and as distributor of Innomed's popular Nasalaire CPAP cannula. Founded in 1987, the company grew incrementally to reach the $10 million sales mark annually in 2000, but with the addition of the Nasalaire and the Aeroneb Go last January, sales are expected to hit $38 million this year. Earlier this year, Evo expanded its presence in the sleep market with the introduction a low-cost CPAP the RemRest. Evo fields a sales force of about 70 reps total. All but eight are independent sales reps. Prior to his appointment at Evo, Hansel was CEO of ReyHan PGF, a management and product consulting firm specializing in process improvement for the printing and graphic arts industry. Evo has also named Dan Bunting, 41, its chief financial officer. Bunting also worked at Reyhan after selling his business, Cedar rapids, Iowa-based Hamilton Medical, to Rotech.