Turning Over a New Leaf

One day about 20 years ago, a 3M medical products sales rep named Rodney Young and his boss, Bob MacDonald, a regional sales manager, were walking through the University of Chicago Hospital when they heard a supply director carping to a colleague about a sterilizer made by a competitor.

Young crossed the hall, introduced himself, and inquired about the equipment in question. “I’m not responsible for that product line, but we have a good one,” he said. “Let me get the information to the right person and my colleague at 3M will get in touch with you.”

“It wasn’t Rod’s sale, but it was going to be a company sale,” recalls MacDonald, now 3M’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. “He was comfortable if not fully competent in that product area, and he didn’t go beyond the bounds of what he knew. We eventually got the sale.”

"Rod is honest and he gives you a straight answer, even if that means, 'I don't know,'" says Angeion board member Mark Sheffert.

MacDonald was a mentor to Young, who eventually was promoted to a corporate marketing job in St. Paul. “He’s a larger-than-life character with a great personality,” MacDonald observes. “He would listen, learn from people and situations, and get better. He’s a sponge. And he’s got that upbeat personality that makes work interesting and fun.”

A generation later, Young is CEO of Vadnais Heights–based Angeion Corporation. It manufactures the MedGraphics line of cardiorespiratory diagnostic equipment, used worldwide to diagnose shortness of breath and lung diseases such as asthma and emphysema, and to help determine who needs surgery or who can be cured with medication, diet, and exercise. Angeion’s related New Leaf products are used in fitness centers to measure calorie consumption and prescribe effective exercise for rehabilitation, weight management, and improved health, right down to setting the best exercise pace for maximum fat burn. Both lines of Angeion equipment base their calculations and diagnoses on the patient’s breathing, heart rate, and lung function, both at rest and after exercise; both can pinpoint disease and often lead to alternative therapies to expensive lung or heart surgery.

Under Young, who became CEO in November 2004, Angeion had its first profitable quarter, ending in October 2005. In its fiscal 2006 (which ended October 31), Angeion had $1.4 million in income on $33.7 million in revenues, compared to a $919,000 loss the year before. What’s more, Angeion (Nasdaq: ANGN) was Minnesota’s best-performing stock in 2006 on the strength of the company’s newfound profitability and strong revenue growth. (It has, however, seen its price drop in recent months, despite good numbers in its latest reported quarter.)

True, the company had good equipment before Young arrived. But his supporters say the dynamic, affable Young has helped turbocharge the operation.