Medical industry specialist takes CEO role at Tristel

Matt Sassone will succeed Paul Swinney who has taken the Cambridgeshire business from infancy into the US and other global markets with the infection prevention products it manufactures. Swinney was founder and became CEO 30 years ago and is staying with the company to pilot the succession.

Sassone joins from Masimo Corporation, a global medical technology company, where he is Senior Vice-President Marketing. During his tenure at Masimo, he lived and worked in the US, gaining invaluable experience in the American healthcare market.

He has over 27 years' experience in the medical industry in various sales, marketing, business development and senior management roles. Sassone joined the board of AIM-listed cardiovascular monitoring company, LiDCO Group Plc in June 2015, becoming CEO in August of that year. LiDCO was bought for £31 million by Masimo in February 2021.

Sassone started his career in sales for Quintiles in 1996. He spent 12 years at Smiths Medical in various sales, marketing and business development roles achieving the role of Managing Director, Northern and Eastern Europe and Russia in 2010 where he had full P&L responsibility for 300 employees and £150m of revenue.

In 2012 he moved to ArjoHuntleigh, a division of the Getinge Group, as Senior Vice-President Global Marketing and was Chief Marketing Officer of Maquet (turnover £1.1 billion in intensive care, surgery and anaesthesia systems), also a division of Getinge.

He said: “My focus will be on building on Paul Swinney's strong foundation, capturing global opportunities and expanding our presence in key markets like North America. Together, we will continue to drive growth and deliver exceptional value to our customers and stakeholders."

Swinney added: “In our time on AIM we have succeeded in increasing our share price by almost 12 times and have returned over 75 pence per share in dividends to our shareholders. I think we have created a great UK success story.”