Masimo Corporation Founder and CEO Joe Kiani Named Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year – 2012 Life Sciences Award Winner
IRVINE, California, November 20, 2012 – Joe Kiani, founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Masimo Corporation, has been named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year – 2012 Life Sciences Award Winner. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award is the country’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success and personal commitment as they create and build world-class businesses.
Kiani was recognized for revolutionizing the health care industry by taking risks to create and commercialize noninvasive patient monitoring devices, which include a wide array of sensors that lead to improved accuracy, a reduction in the overall number of false readings, and ultimately, reduced cost of care. Kiani was honored at the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards gala, the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum in Palm Springs, Calif. The Forum is the nation’s premier gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. Awards were given in nine additional categories. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges from 244 regional award recipients.
“We are pleased to honor Joe Kiani with this esteemed award and recognize him for his perseverance, passion, and innovative mind – all of which continue to make a positive impact on health care and patient monitoring technologies,” said Bryan Pearce, Americas Director, Entrepreneur Of The Year, Ernst & Young LLP. “Joe’s innovative approach, discipline and triumph over the years truly demonstrate the meaning of the entrepreneurial spirit we've come to celebrate over the last 26 years.”
The early rise and collapse
By training, Kiani is an electrical engineer, graduating from high school at the mere age of 15. Kiani’s entrepreneurial spirit sprouted early on at his first job, a smaller company with pulse oximeter technology, where he worked in exchange for stock – not cash. Kiani’s aptitude and contributions led to his swift rise to the top as president of the company, after its upcoming merger, at an early age. But as hasty as the rise, Kiani quickly learned an important aspect of ethics and integrity. As a result of his efforts in honesty, Kiani was blamed for the collapse of the company’s pending merger. This decision and outcome ultimately led to Masimo Corporation.
Passion & discipline: never settle for less
With Kiani’s developed passion for adaptive signal processing for noninvasive monitoring, he took the money he had saved and a $40,000 bank loan and began to develop noninvasive patient monitoring technology from his garage. Within three short years of maintaining a strong financial discipline, Kiani had raised substantial capital and was well on his way to creating medical technology that has transformed the health care industry today – technology that would not exist were it not for Masimo Corporation. Despite hospital administrators and clinicians embracing Masimo’s superior technology, Kiani still faced barriers. Larger, more established companies and group purchasing organizations (GPOs) were reluctant to let Masimo Corporation succeed in the market. Kiani stuck by his belief of always doing what is right for patient care and emerged victorious after Senate investigations into anticompetitive practices of GPOs and established companies, including his main rival, where Kiani testified twice in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and a seven-year patent infringement legal battle – a battle that threatened to bankrupt Masimo.
Giving back and thriving
As Masimo emerged as a success story in the medical industry, many advised Kiani to buy out his existing shareholders. But instead, he distributed much of his profit in a special dividend and offered a substantial appreciation bonus to employees. Soon after, Kiani knew Masimo could achieve bigger and better things, and in order to do so, he took the company public. In its first five years as a public company, Masimo Corporation product revenues increased by more than 100 percent, and net income increased by more than 175 percent. Throughout it all, Kiani never stopped taking risks to grow what is now a multi-million dollar public company with more than 2,700 employees.
About Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur Of The Year
is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in 50 countries.
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SOURCE Ernst & Young
