Her Story
About Denice
I have spent about 12 years in the medical device industry, beginning in 2014 when my daughter was just 6 weeks old. I was recruited into this field while pregnant and moving back to Minnesota from California, where my husband had been working in Silicon Valley. I started with a 20-hour-a-week position working for the chairman of the board at a cardiac device company, even though I had no prior medical device experience - I had previously worked at Facebook. My first boss, Scott, was incredibly patient and took the time to teach me about the industry, drawing out diagrams of the heart and explaining how our devices worked. I followed him for about 9 years through different companies, including Cardiovascular Systems, where I supported him as CEO and managed his 10 LLCs and multiple board roles, including 2 international boards. Throughout my career, I have primarily served as an executive assistant to CEOs, and I was also Executive Administrator at 4C Medical, another cardiac device company, where I supported the CEO and acted as board liaison. My responsibilities have included managing executive calendars and international travel, attending medical device conferences to coordinate meetings with key opinion leaders, and ensuring these important relationships are handled with care and professionalism. Currently, I serve as Executive Assistant to the Chief Medical Officer at Solventum (formerly 3M Healthcare), where I manage complex international travel, oversee a major office relocation from Maplewood to Eagan, Minnesota involving labs and clean rooms, and continue to learn about new areas beyond cardiac devices including dental and wound care. What truly drives my passion for this work is the patient impact - hearing real stories from patients whose lives have been changed by our devices is what keeps me engaged and proud of what we do. During COVID, I created an Administrative Engagement initiative that brought together 12 assistants across the company for monthly professional development meetings and weekly 'Connecting Over Coffee' sessions, which helped build strong relationships and turned us into a well-oiled machine when we returned to the office.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Denice
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, it's about the team, and that's a really hard thing to say as an assistant because generally you're just focused on the person you support, so oftentimes that means you don't exactly have a team. But what I found really worked for all of us was bringing the assistants together. During COVID, I started this initiative called Administrative Engagement where once a month I would get all 12 assistants in the company together to meet virtually and talk about personal and professional development, with speakers or webinars. We also had a check-in roundtable where each person would explain what projects their department was working on. Then every first Friday of the month, we had Connecting Over Coffee - just a 30-minute open house where people could join for even 5 minutes to talk about nothing work-related, like 'my daughter took her first steps' or weekend plans. It really helped foster those conversations you normally have at the water station or passing in the hall that we lost during COVID. From there, we built such a strong relationship with each other that when we were brought back into the office, we were a well-oiled machine. We knew who to go to, we didn't hesitate. That's really important to me - to lean on your peers and work together, it's amazing.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The most important thing for me, honestly, is your relationship with your boss. Take the time, really get to know the person that you're supporting. That's so important. Even if you know your job, it's a trust builder. For example, if my boss mentioned his son has a track meet at 4:30 and he really needs to be there, I would find out where it is, what city, so I could be ahead of it and knock on his door at 3:15 to remind him he needs to leave to make it. It's about letting your boss know that they matter and their time is important too. The other major thing is to learn your company. Don't just learn that it's a cardiac device - know how it works. When family asks what you do and what the device does, being able to talk knowledgeably and confidently about the specific ins and outs of the device gives me a sense of pride. It makes me feel like I'm more than just an assistant. I've networked with actual cardiac surgeons in the field, and when my own physician was telling me about his wife's stroke, I could say 'by any chance, is her doctor so-and-so?' and when he said yes, I could tell him 'he's the best in the business.' That felt like pride, you know.
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