Maria Shepherd

President & Founder

Maria brings objective, multifaceted medical device and life sciences experience and MedTech marketing and business strategy know-how to her clients.  Her expertise, gained in Marketing Leadership roles including Vice President of Marketing at Oridion Medical (now Covidien/Medtronic), Director of Marketing at Philips Medical, and Group Marketing Manager at Boston Scientific, has been further honed by close to a decade of consulting to start-ups, mid-market leaders and Fortune 100 companies, like Amgen and InfoBionic.

Knowing the immense market pressures influencing every MedTech investment, business plan and product strategy, Maria founded Medi-Vantage (formerly Data Decision Group. LLC) in 2007, intent on supporting informed MedTech executive decisions. She starts by asking the right questions, the ones that require targeted research to pinpoint authentic opportunities, minimize costly missteps, isolate growth impediments or avert patient risk.  Maria wants to do more, do it faster and never stop learning.

Maria's key strengths are in Marketing and Business Strategy and in Whitespace Innovation.  She has touched and impacted every phase of the product development lifecycle – from Concept Testing to Requirements Gathering, Prototype Evaluations and Product Positioning and Pricing. Very important is her leadership in developing Launch Plans for established and emerging markets.  As a strong proponent of Voice of the Customer, she has conducted countless physician interviews and observed hundreds of interventional and traditional surgical procedures.

Maria serves on the Investment Committee of Aligo Innovation, she co-chairs the Medical Device, Diagnostics and Life Sciences Corporate Relations Committee for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and has served on the corporate board of the Anesthesiology Patient Safety Foundation. Her undergraduate degree is in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA, magna cum laude, from Babson College.