Former Medtronic and Edwards Lifesciences Veteran Joins Chinese Innovator Pulnovo Medical as International Marketing Director

Recently, Giuliano Pompadoro, a former veteran of Medtronic and Edwards, announced on his personal media platform that he has officially joined Pulnovo Medical, a Chinese innovative medical device company, as the International Marketing Director.

Giuliano Pompadoro

According to the publicly released resume,Giuliano Pompadoro's medical device career spans four companies: Medtronic, Edwards Lifesciences, St. Jude Medical, and Sorin Group.Among them, the tenure at MedtronicNearly 10 yearsThe last position before leaving was the head of the Mechanical Circulatory Support Program for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); subsequently served as Marketing Director at Edwards Lifesciences for a term of 7 years.

Pompadoro wrote simultaneously on self-media platforms,He will report to Mathias Bouzereau. Bouzereau was previously disclosed as the global commercialization leader of Pulnovo Medical.Pompadoro also mentioned in his remarks that he "looks forward to building strong international marketing capabilities and expanding global influence."

Notably, this personnel news coincides with the timing of Pulnovo Medical's public disclosure of completing a $100 million Series D financing round.

On April 20, Pulnovo Medical announced through multiple media channels the completion of its Series D financing round, raising US$100 million and achieving oversubscription. The round was led by Medtronic, Pompadoro’s former employer of nearly 10 years. At the same time, Medtronic and Pulnovo Medical signed a commercial cooperation agreement, under which the two parties will focus on...Pulmonary Artery Denervation (PADN)The system launches commercial collaboration. Regarding the specific terms and coverage of the agreement, neither party has made further disclosures.

Pulnovo Medical stated at the time that the funds raised from this round of financing would be used for "continuous clinical research and development, global regulatory submissions, and advancing international commercialization." The company's executive director and CEO, Lian Jia, used the phrase "upgrading from clinical innovation-driven to a global operational system" to summarize the strategic direction of the current phase.

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The lead investor in the D round is Medtronic, which belongs toCapital Operations; the simultaneous signing of a commercial cooperation agreement falls underCommercial Arrangement; This time, a person who has深耕nearly 10 years in the field of mechanical circulatory support at Medtronic and spent 7 years overseeing international marketing at Edwards Lifesciences, has chosen to join Pulnovo Medical at this point in time, which belongs toPersonnel Arrangement。

The financing reflects Medtronic's judgment, while the contract represents the intersection of both parties' commercial interests. However, when a seasoned professional like Pompadoro chooses to bet their next career move on a Chinese innovative company still in the early stages of commercialization, what perspectives does this offer us?

First, this reflects that the attractiveness of the PADN track to international talents has reached a critical point.

An international executive with market operation experience in four cardiovascular subfields—mechanical circulatory support, structural heart disease, cardiac rhythm management, and cardiopulmonary bypass—has a wide range of options. The fact that Pulnovo Medical was able to bring such an executive on board at this stage indicates that, beyond the company's valuation and technological barriers, its commercial prospects already have the persuasive power to convince seasoned industry professionals to "bet" on it. For readers within the industry, the direction of talent flow at this level often reflects changes in a track’s position within the practitioner's cognitive coordinate system more accurately than financing news.

Second, this person's composite resume happens to correspond to the most challenging department interfaces to打通 during the internationalization of PADN.

PADN is an interventional procedure, with a surgical pathway that intersects with cardiac electrophysiology and structural heart disease interventions; the target patient population includes pulmonary hypertension and heart failure, which significantly overlaps with the evaluation criteria for mechanical circulatory support devices; preoperative assessment and postoperative management also involve the heart failure team and doctors with a background in extracorporeal circulation.Pompadoro in Medtronic Mechanical Circulatory Support, Edwards Structural Heart Disease, and St. Jude(Cardiac Rhythm Management & Electrophysiology), SuoThe market insights and expert network accumulated through Lin Xinpfei's four-stage experience almost cover all the relevant department entrances that PADN needs to access in overseas markets.

Third, the synchronization between his EMEA experience and Pulnovo Medical's current internationalization timeline is noteworthy.

Pulnovo Medical obtained the EU CE-MDR certification in May 2025, completed the Saudi registration certificate in January 2026, and performed the first commercial surgery in Europe at the University of Padua Hospital in Italy in March 2026. The company explicitly stated its commitment to advancing the "commercialization process in the EU, Middle East, and Chinese markets."Pompadoro's previous jurisdiction over the EMEA market happened to cover this entire territory. In other words, he is not coming to "break new ground," but rather entering a battlefield where he already has a mature market map.

When viewed together, the financing, contracts, and this personnel change do not form a linear narrative dominated by a single entity.But they pointed in the same direction during the same period—international commercialization of PADN, where money and business are mutually conditional, and people are also accelerating towards this juncture.

The establishment of financing ensures the capital channel, the contract locks in the industrial synergy framework, and the positioning of a key operator signifies the growth of executive muscle. For industry observers, the frequency with which these three elements appear simultaneously is itself a kind of judgment material.