Correction: A previous version of this article included comments stating that the Medical Imaging Technology Alliance (MITA) had left the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and joined AdvaMed. NEMA says the group MITA remains a division of its organization. Patrick Hope, former executive director of MITA, joined AdvaMed late last year to lead its newly created division, AdvaMed Imaging. Spokespeople for NEMA and AdvaMed gave CEO Update contradictory accounts of how many of MITA’s staff followed Hope to AdvaMed and how many MITA members have left to join AdvaMed Imaging. 

CEO Scott Whitaker came to the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) eight years ago with a growth mindset. 

Early in his tenure, he led the acquisition of The MedTech Conference, where attendance has grown by about two-thirds. 

Then, early this year, AdvaMed created a new medical imaging technology division, AdvaMed Imaging, with companies who were previously members of the Medical Imaging Technology Alliance (MITA), a division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). This decision, which several MITA board members supported, matched Whitaker’s desire for AdvaMed to represent the entire, rapidly advancing medical technology industry.  

Whitaker started in Washington, D.C., as an intern opening mail during his senior year in college and ultimately became a domestic policy adviser for the Senate Republican leadership. He rose to chief of staff of the Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2005, then became COO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, where he worked until he joined AdvaMed as CEO in 2016. 

Whitaker absorbed much from high-energy, visionary bosses such as former Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) and former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin. 

“I spent 10 years on the Hill. You learn a lot about politics and a lot about policy. I came to D.C. because I enjoy politics. I stayed because I love policy,” Whitaker told CEO Update during a video call.  

Following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity: 

CEO Update: Was bringing on (medical imaging) a longstanding goal of yours, or was it a surprise when (MITA) board members advocated it?  

Scott Whitaker: One of the long-term goals that I’ve had is to unify the medical technology industry. The industry has grown and evolved tremendously over the course of the last 10 years. Because of the diversity of companies, because of the diversity of technologies, and because of the different types of work that traditional medical device companies do now, it seemed better to have everyone aligned. But getting the imaging companies in here was really driven by the members themselves. 

CU: How many new members came to AdvaMed as a result?  

SW: We are up to 35 new members now. We’re six months into the full integration. I expect over the rest of this year we’ll have more than that.  

CU: How is the integration of MITA and its nine staff going? 

SW: It’s come together really well. The team is fully here at AdvaMed now. We’ve integrated them into the staff and the culture. Our companies are very happy with it as well, which is even more important. And we have a lot of work going on in that space. The reality is that the way the industry has diversified and grown in recent years, there was already a lot of activity and collaboration with us. To integrate them fully into the AdvaMed community was pretty easy.  

CU: How is this helping with your overall advocacy? 

SW: The value of unifying the industry is in one sense the ability to tell the story of the entire industry and harness the power of the entire medical technology community on issues that impact us all in the health care space. In this town, your influence is oftentimes dependent upon how well policymakers understand you as an industry and the depth and the breadth of work you do in an industry segment. With the imaging companies here, we’re able to tell the full story of medical technology versus telling the story of one aspect of medical technology. We’re really the backbone of the health care industry.  

CU: Early in your tenure, AdvaMed acquired The MedTech Conference. Has that been a success and why did you pursue that? 

SW: It’s been a tremendous success. Bringing it in-house brought two opportunities for us. One was to increase our revenues. That revenue helps us with our advocacy work. The second was to more fully integrate the association with the day-to-day activities of the conference and the education work that we do for those who attended it. We’ve grown the revenues about 50% since I got here. The conference attendance has grown significantly as well, to about 3,300 people from about 2,000.  

CU: That increases your relevance to the industry, right? 

SW: That’s right. We want to be known for what we are, which is more than just a lobbying organization or a trade organization. Whether it’s the education that we do, or the conference we run — which allows for businesses to showcase evolving technologies — or whether it’s the direct advocacy we do, we want to make sure we’re doing all those things. If you’re doing all those things, not only are you going to stay relevant, but you’re going to be a critical piece of the success of every company in the industry.  

CU: You mentioned culture. What kind of culture do you want to foster? 

SW: Culture is really important. I try to keep our team focused on a bold vision that delivers results that match that vision. We’re a very driven senior leadership group that is focused on delivering results that help our companies be successful. We don’t want to be an association that becomes a think tank. We want to think about big problems but move quickly to solve those problems so our companies can be more successful in the marketplace. We’re not focused on having conversations over and over but on delivering results, whether it’s new legislation, whether it’s a new regulation, whether it’s a new set of principles to define the future of health care, whatever it is. 

CU: What did you learn on the Hill and during your time at HHS?  

SW: On the Hill, you realize you have a real impact on the free enterprise system in this country, and it makes a difference in people’s lives. When I moved to HHS, it was a great experience because we were running a very, very large bureaucracy. And it was there that I began to understand the complexity of organizations and the power of a strong organization to make a change in people’s lives as well. At HHS, it was very difficult to move that ship far. And what you learned is that you had to use the tools of the organization that were established there to make some progress. But you also at times had to use the leverage of political strength to force change when the department might not want to move. 

CU: Who was Secretary of Health and Human Services during your time there? 

SW: Tommy Thompson. A great guy. He used to say that if you’re defending the status quo, you’re taking up too much space. And there’s a lot of truth in that. People can just defend the status quo to the point of not doing anything. 

CU: I would think that a lot of trade associations spend a lot of time defending the status quo.  

SW: It’s not always bad. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. The trick is moving your members. If you’re not satisfied with the status quo and you want to make some change, you have to influence the members. And you have to lead toward an outcome. Consensus doesn’t mean don’t do anything. Consensus means find a pathway so everyone can get behind an idea in concept.  

CU: A lot has changed in politics since you were a top aide to Sen. Don Nickles. 

SW: Politics has changed more outside the Beltway than it has inside the Beltway. What you see on TV and what you see on social media leaves you with the impression that absolutely nothing ever gets done and it’s only fighting. But there are still things that get done in this town. There are a lot of consensus policies that get done under the radar. We’ve been able to focus on issues that really matter to our industry and drive bipartisan consensus. You just have to adapt. I can spend all day complaining about politics in D.C. That does no good. It certainly doesn’t help my companies.  

CU: You were finally able to get the medical device tax repealed in 2019. It was supposed to help fund Obamacare, but you won repeal with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.) as Speaker of the House. 

SW: We began to make the case before I got here and then built on it. It was not about Obamacare. The issue was, that was bad tax policy and had a direct impact on job creation, which then had a direct impact on the health care system and people’s lives. It became very clear what was going to happen: It was going to be decided by four people (the leaders of the House and Senate). We focused all our time and attention on those four individuals and their offices and made the case and we ended up being successful. 

CU: Are you planning any other acquisitions? 

SW: We’re always looking to grow and we’re always looking to unify. So, other industries that touch ours, or other associations that are in our space, we always look for ways to work together. We have built what we call our Digital Health Tech division, which we launched this year. It’s a new function of the organization to capture the traditional consumer technology and information technology companies and align them with the traditional medical device and medical technology companies to focus on artificial intelligence and digital work in health care. We now have Google and Amazon and Microsoft and Apple who have come joined our membership to make it even broader. 

CU: How are the advances in artificial intelligence affecting your industry, and how are you navigating the public policy aspect of it? 

SW: In the imaging space, it’s going to lead to better diagnoses, better understanding of disease states earlier, allowing doctors to intervene and either cure or treat diseases and save the health care system, potentially, a lot of money and save a lot of lives along the way. It’s going to be dramatic. It’s going to require us working with other associations and other industries to make sure we’re getting it right. There’s the privacy aspect of it, then there’s interoperability. We need to work with other industries, including hospitals, doctors’ groups and the consumer technology industry, as well, to make sure we’re all aligned on what those standards are. What happens with the information, how do you collect the information, how is it protected? And how do you use that information to improve patient outcomes? We cannot do it on our own. We will lead much of that and try to establish what those standards are. But the whole health care community has to rally around this and try to get it right. 

UP CLOSE WITH SCOTT WHITAKER 

A different court: As much as he demonstrates a can-do attitude, Whitaker’s career in Washington, D.C., began after he realized what he couldn’t do: Play as a starter for Palm Beach Atlantic University's basketball team. After his coach informed the 6’1” point guard he’d likely ride the bench the following season, Whitaker, a political science major, took a semester in the nation’s capital. 

Follow the bouncing ball: While Whitaker didn’t make it in college hoops, his eldest son has reached the pro level working in the front office for the Detroit Pistons. Yes, Whitaker gets good tickets out of it, but unfortunately, the Pistons have one of the worst records in basketball. 

Another era: Whitaker interned on Capitol Hill for Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., then rose from mail clerk to legislative assistant. He then followed Nickles when he became Assistant Senate Majority Leader and advised him on health care. Though Nickles was a conservative, Whitaker quipped, “By today’s standards, he may be a leftist.” 

Words of wisdom: Whitaker advises fellow association leaders to be humble and authentic, to have vision but be results oriented, and be great listeners. “In this town and in this business, you need to listen to understand and not listen to respond.” 

Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) 

Members: AdvaMed represents global companies that make everything from surgical gloves and masks to artificial-intelligence-enabled diagnostic machines. Membership has grown to more than 500 from just over 300 companies in Whitaker’s tenure as CEO.    

Headquarters: The association’s main office is at 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 400, between the White House and the Capitol. It also has offices in Europe, India, China, Brazil and Japan. 

Staff: More than 90.  

From IRS 990 ending Dec. 31, 2022 

Revenue: $48 million  
Net assets: $17 million 

Salaries: $24 million 

For additional information, including salaries, visit Association Insight, powered by Association TRENDS and CEO Update.