Tenacity, trailblazing & tech: Robin Menchen’s vision for future of HME

WATERLOO, Iowa – Robin Menchen, the 2025 HME Woman of the Year, became the first female president and CEO of Rotech Healthcare in 2019. Her advice to other aspiring leaders in the HME industry: Adopt a can-do attitude. 

Menchen has worked at Rotech Healthcare for more than 30 years, starting at the company as a compliance officer and working her way up the ladder to chief administrative officer and then COO, before replacing Tim Pigg as president and CEO. 

“We spend a whole lot of time on what we can’t do and not enough time on what we can do,” she said in a packed Ballroom B at the Waterloo Convention Center during a ceremony at the Heartland Conference, VGM Group’s annual event. “To find solutions to all that we face today, we need to think outside the box.” 

Menchen was joined by two other finalists at the ceremony: Autumn Kline, director of sales and marketing for NuCara Home Medical, and Ginger Walls, director of clinical and technical education for Permobil Americas. A fourth finalist, Jennifer Jordan, vice president of the Mom and Baby Division at Aeroflow Health, was unable to attend. 

During a short Q&A during the ceremony, Menchen said one of the industry’s biggest opportunities is using tech advancements to evolve patient engagement, billing and collections and other parts of the business. 

“We’re behind from a tech standpoint,” she said. “We need to level set ourselves to where other health care companies are.”  

Embracing change was a big theme during the Q&A. Kline said it’s important “to meet patients where they’re at with their care.” “Adaptability is huge,” she said. “Customers are looking for new ways to engage and their expectations for service are high.” 

 Walls said, “Digitization is a big trend.” “We have access to more data,” she said. “That data can help us drive decisions that we can make with our consumers to drive outcomes and can show our value as part of the (health care) network.”  

Kline and Walls also offered advice to aspiring leaders. Kline said they should “always speak up,” not only individually but also collectively as an industry, and Walls said they also need to listen. “Another thing is always be learning and curious,” Walls said. 

Now in its ninth year, the HME Woman of the Year Award, presented by VGM, recognizes one woman in the industry who has made significant contributions throughout her career to her company, community and the HME industry.  

Past winners: 

Dana McLaughlin 
Medical Services Company 
2023 

Sherry Krug 
Binson’s Medical Equipment & Supplies 
2022  

Katie Stevens 
Reliable Medical Supply 
2021  

Patty Mastandrea 
MedCare Equipment Co 
2020  

Wendy Russalesi 
AdaptHealth  
2019  

Georgie Blackburn 
Blackburn’s 
2018 

Barbara Smith 
Healthline Medical Equipment 
2017  

Dr. Kirsten Davin 
Precision Seating Solutions 
2016