Jim Mazzo talks with OSN about his new role as global president of Ophthalmology for Zeiss

Issue: September 25, 2016

James V. Mazzo has taken the reins of the ophthalmology and optometry business worldwide for Carl Zeiss Meditec. Having worked for more than three decades in the ophthalmic and medical device industries, Mazzo left AcuFocus, where he was chairman and CEO, and without skipping a beat, began acting in his new role as global president of Zeiss’ new consolidated strategic business unit Ophthalmology on Aug. 1. Ocular Surgery News talked with him about his plans.

James V. Mazzo

Ocular Surgery News : What made you decide to leave AcuFocus to join Zeiss?

James V. Mazzo: I wouldn’t call it leaving one to join the other. At AcuFocus, we accomplished a lot over the last 3 years: We got the FDA approval [of the Kamra corneal inlay], we got the [small-aperture IC-8] IOL, and we built a team that is extremely strong. The point is that the team and the products are in a great position, and I have always admired Zeiss. Zeiss is a powerhouse global organization, one of the best brands, and not just in ophthalmology and optometry. Everybody knows the name. This was an opportunity for me to work with a world-class organization, stay in the ophthalmic space and hopefully take Zeiss to the No. 1 position globally.

OSN: What are your responsibilities at Zeiss?

Mazzo: Anything related to ophthalmology and optometry on a global basis — that is our diagnostic, that is our refractive, that is our surgical business — is now under one responsibility, and that’s myself. I also have responsibility for sales and service of Carl Zeiss Meditec’s U.S. medical device business, but my primary responsibility is the ophthalmic business globally. It is what I have known for 36 years. It is what I love.

OSN: What are you striving for?

We have to get better. There is no doubt. There isn’t a company today that doesn’t need to get better. We have to get better coordinated, a little faster, quicker to market with products, quicker to providing services — that is what I am hoping to facilitate and to do it with a great team.

OSN: Starting on day 1, what will be your top priorities?

Mazzo: When I finally agreed to the position, my mind was already in the start mode. First, I want to meet as many of the people in the organization as possible. A company is built on great people, so I want to meet them. I want them to meet me. I want to make sure we are all on the same page that the customer is the most important person at Zeiss. And if they agree with that, how do we facilitate this?

My second priority, now that I have a new business card, is to hear from our customers. I have had the privilege of knowing these doctors over the years on a global basis, and I am going to talk to them directly and ask, “OK, tell me what you think about Zeiss. What are our strengths? What are areas for improvement? Where do we need to be tomorrow?”

Then over the course of time, starting in the next 3 months, let’s accelerate the strengths, let’s diminish the weaknesses, and let’s see how and where we can get faster. But you can’t figure this out until you talk to the customer. There are a lot of new technologies that we are working to bring across to the U.S. that have been leveraged outside the U.S. Everybody is waiting for the SMILE procedure. How to leverage technology is really the critical element. How do we leverage the strengths and minimize the challenges?

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OSN: What do you see as your biggest, most immediate challenges?

Mazzo: My biggest issue is that I want people to get to know me. When you have a global structure, you want to get everybody on the phone all at one time and say, “OK, here we are. Here’s who I am. Now let’s get moving.” But you can’t do that. It is not just about the time zones, but there is also the multitude of people. My biggest challenge is how to translate those priorities we just talked about directly to everyone. How do I get to the team really quickly? So that is my challenge because I am a let’s-get-it-done type of individual. The customer could care less how we are organized internally. We have to make sure the customer is not interrupted by any of the changes, so that is probably my biggest dilemma.

OSN: Do you foresee a change in the marketing philosophy for Zeiss?

Mazzo: The philosophy of Zeiss will not change. It was here yesterday, it is here today, and it will be here tomorrow. It has this tremendous strategy around building the brand. What you are asking is how do we articulate this brand, this message across our businesses? How do we market the strength of Zeiss? That is a big opportunity. I wouldn’t give ourselves all A’s there; clearly we have to be stronger, but we have pockets of strengths. Germany, China, parts of Asia are doing really well. We need to get stronger in the U.S. We will get there through new technology and customer focus.

I don’t know if it is marketing or sales or R&D, but I would say that we need to leverage the Zeiss brand across the industry. Everybody knows who we are; now I want them to understand that we are actually part of the solution to fix their issues.

In talking with doctors, what is communicated most to me is that they love and need technology, but where we need to move is efficiency. Even the top practices have to do more to just break even and continue. So, obviously, we need to translate that message, not just that we have superior technologies, but also that we make the doctor more efficient.

OSN: Regarding the medical devices offered by Zeiss, will you be expanding in the U.S.?

Mazzo: I will tell you that we definitely are working to expand in the U.S., but I am not saying that means we are going to have a new office building. I would rather our capital be used in R&D and in sales expansion. Buildings do not grow businesses. People grow businesses. Messaging grows businesses. I have an especially strong commitment to people outside the window — that means the people who are interacting with our customers day-to-day, not just sales representatives but people who are delivering services.

OSN: Do you have an established business philosophy or mindset that helps you navigate economic uncertainties around the globe?

Mazzo: Besides being in ophthalmology for 36 years, my main expertise as chairman of AdvaMed is in medical devices, so I have seen medical technologies, not just in ophthalmology. I have seen them everywhere. I don’t want to be ignorant and say that economic pressures don’t factor in to our industry, but I don’t allow those to limit how we grow. As long as you can provide the technology in an appropriate manner, the economic pressures that we all face should be secondary. I am not saying that we don’t need to watch our spending or that we should have egregious pricing. But we must continue to innovate. That is our requirement.

My philosophy is that every 18 to 24 months we must innovate upon an existing solution. If we have an inserter, I want to see that inserter get a little better in about 18 to 24 months. Then about every 36 to 48 months, I want to see a whole new design. Because you know what? Our competition is good. So the philosophy is more about the pace of innovation and, as I said earlier, that pace of innovation must complement efficiency. I don’t want to create the best device that makes doctors slower. I mean, for example, I am not going to knock femtosecond cataract procedure, but I think one of the challenges that physicians face — besides the economic pressure and the capital outlay — is it makes them slower. How can we introduce innovation in a more efficient manner? Because we all recognize that using femtosecond laser in a procedure is outstanding. How can we reduce the capital demand? How can we provide that service, but not make it economically almost intrusive for the practice and slow them down?

To answer the question, I don’t let the economy be our excuse. I am cognizant of it. We provide unbelievable resources, but we must have an extremely strong pace of innovation and we must present that to the customer on a daily basis.

Disclosure: Mazzo is the global president of Zeiss’ strategic business unit Ophthalmology.