Speaker 1:

From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go-to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business. For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth.

Speaker 1:

Each week, we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism here at the NYSE and ICE's Exchanges around the world. Now, let's go Inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Lance Glinn.

Lance Glinn:

Structural heart innovation is revolutionizing cardiovascular care offering less invasive, high-precision procedures that deliver better outcomes and faster recovery. With powerful imaging, smarter device design and real-time data integration, physicians are now treating even the most complex conditions with greater accuracy and confidence.

Lance Glinn:

At the forefront of this transformation is Edwards Lifesciences. That's NYSE's ticker symbol EW, a global leader reshaping the future of heart health. Joining us today is CEO, Bernard Zovighian, who has been instrumental in driving the company's bold vision since 2015, and as CEO since 2023.

Lance Glinn:

Under his leadership, Edwards is pushing the boundaries of innovation to solve cardiology's toughest challenges and improve lives around the world. Bernard, thanks so much for joining us Inside the ICE House.

Bernard Zovighian:

It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Lance Glinn:

When you just look back at the milestone that is 25 years and everything Edwards has achieved since, what stands out most to you about the company's evolution and the journey it's taken to get to this milestone?

Bernard Zovighian:

Yes, I will say we have had amazing successes in becoming who we are today, one of the most iconic medtech innovators. But what I like a lot is about how we did it. We did it with having an amazing culture where we care about patient. We care about changing our patient care.

Bernard Zovighian:

As a matter of fact, this morning, we have two patient with us. To be a great reminder about what we do and why we do it, and to send clearly a message to everyone that the patient are at the center of all of the decision making we are making every day.

Lance Glinn:

And so you mentioned having two patients with you to ring the opening bell earlier this morning here at the New York Stock Exchange marking again this 25th anniversary milestone. Just take us inside that moment, what it meant to you and to the Edwards team and how it reflects the company's ongoing momentum and the company's mission as a whole.

Bernard Zovighian:

For us, it is important. We always are matching our cultures, our employees, our innovation strategy, all together. Everything is connected. And when we do that well, we are very successful as a company. We have been a leader in cardiac surgery for 65 years, the leader in TAVR for more than 20 years. And for the last seven to eight years, we are doing the same for mitral and tricuspid patients. So truly, it is about connecting the dots for anyone following the company.

Lance Glinn:

And you talk a lot about culture and you took over a CEO in 2023, joined the company back in 2015. But over the last two years, when you come into a company as a CEO, you want to spread your vision. You have a clear direction of how you want the company to go.

Lance Glinn:

What was your process in making sure that the company or that you were able to instill that culture within the company, that culture of patient first? And I guess just what was it like to breathe that out to all of the companies, thousands of employees?

Bernard Zovighian:

That's a good question because all new CEOs, they do the same. They assess the company where the company is at and making sure that there is a great vision for the next 10 years or more. And what I did was first, you're looking at what is key to our success long-term as a company. I call that our foundation.

Bernard Zovighian:

And for me, it was all about making sure that I was keeping our foundation the same, culture, patient at the center, innovation strategy. And then I went into how to make sure that Edwards is going to remain this very special company, this very successful company. Therefore, the decision to expand beyond the businesses we had and going into the full structural heart disease spectrum. And we made some investment last year internally and externally to be able to help more patients.

Lance Glinn:

So while Edwards Lifesciences listed here 25 years ago, its roots go back even further than that to 1958 when Engineer Miles Edwards and Dr. Albert Starr developed the groundbreaking Starr-Edwards mitral heart valve. So can you just take us back to that origin story and share how that innovation helped shape the company's mission and its culture from the very beginning?

Bernard Zovighian:

Yeah. And if this is where everything started 65 years ago. In 1958, an engineers and a cardiac surgeon partner to basically develop the first ever artificial heart valve. At the time, it was seen as impossible. And this is truly who we are as a company today.

Bernard Zovighian:

We like to go first. We like to take risk. We like to innovate when nothing exists. When you do these kind of things, you learn a lot. And we see that learning as you go is part of the innovation process.

Bernard Zovighian:

When we failed on a project, we look at the learning. We apply the learning. We see that as a way to accelerate our innovation process where engineer are used to do that. And we apply this process across the company. We apply this process 20 years ago when we came up with the first TAVR technologies. And today, more than one million patients have benefited from our TAVR platform, SAPIEN, which is the most adopted, the most learned, and the most studied platform.

Bernard Zovighian:

So this is truly how we do things. We start with basically a very large amount of patient need. We put our best mind behind it, and we start the learning process, the innovation process. And again, it is truly remarkable that for a company like ourselves, a very mature company, since 65 years leading in the space, we are still able to innovate the way we are doing today.

Lance Glinn:

Over the last 10 years, how has your perspective on the company evolved, and how have these experiences leading these different groups within the company shaped the way you now lead the company as a whole?

Bernard Zovighian:

My experience has been very helpful. When I came in 2015, I was leading the cardiac surgery division which is the historical business unit of a company. I learned excellence. I learned the importance of durability of a valve. I learned the importance of partnering with surgeons with customers in order to take care of patient the best way possible.

Bernard Zovighian:

And then a few years later, Mike, the CEO at the time, the first CEO, I'm just the second CEO, also showing a continuity of a company. So Mike came to me and said, "Are you up to an amazing challenge? It is not going to be an easy challenge, but what we want to do is basically change patient care again for a different kind of set of patients, mitral and tricuspid patients. Are you up of this challenge?" And I said, "Yes, Mike." And I did that for more than five years.

Bernard Zovighian:

I learned a lot here about how to take risk, how to think long term, how to have multiple bets to make sure that, at the end, you are successful. And this combination of leading our historical business, the cardiac surgery division, together with this new business unit at the time, TMTT, prepared me a lot for my role today as the CEO of a company.

Bernard Zovighian:

We always want to be having full technology, high quality of science. At the same time, we want to be innovator, be agile, being able to move fast to be first. And I hope that we will achieve that. And I trust our employees are behind who we are as a company. They want to do that.

Bernard Zovighian:

They want to be part of a company successful. They want to be part of a company taking care of patient. They want to be part of a company innovating every day.

Lance Glinn:

And so take us back to those early days of May 2023 as you take over the CEO. And again, I've spoken to a lot of guests on the podcast that our NCEO roles, whether they've been in them for five years, 10 years, five months, only a month, and oftentimes they come from different industries and have to learn an industry.

Lance Glinn:

But as I said before, you had the benefit of being with the company for a decade. How did that benefit you now taking over the whole company, already knowing the industry, already knowing the ins and outs of the company?

Bernard Zovighian:

I believe it helped me a lot. But also before coming to Edwards, I have been 20 years before Edwards, I was in the medical device industry. So I knew, well already the medtech industry.

Bernard Zovighian:

What my 10 years with Edward gave me is the understanding about how complex it is to develop a heart valve. It's not like any kind of medical device technology. This one goes into your heart, and it is beating 30 million times a year, 30 million time a year. And we want this valve to last for a long time, 10 years or even more.

Bernard Zovighian:

So think about the excellence in innovation. You need to have to do that. And my experience at Edwards gave me this deep understanding about what to do, how to do it at the same time, how to take risk, how to be thinking long-term to make sure that the company remains a very special company we are today,

Lance Glinn:

So 30 million times a year, you want the heart valve to last, you said 10 years, if not more. That's a lot of pressure. How does that pressure drive you to succeed?

Bernard Zovighian:

I will not say pressure. I will say commitment. We are confident about what we do, how we do things. Our engineers are amazing. Our clinical people are amazing. Partnership with physician are best in class. And all together, it is an ecosystem. We are all committed to change the practice of medicine for this patient. And there are so many patients in need. So it's not about pressure. It is about commitment.

Lance Glinn:

One of the most significant indicators of Edwards evolution was the sale of its critical care business last September. What was just first the strategic thinking behind that decision and how does it align with the company's, you said, sharpened focus on structural heart innovation moving forward?

Bernard Zovighian:

Yeah. The thinking was about making sure that the company was set for long-term success. And critical care was and it still is an amazing business, but not close to our core structural heart disease. So the decision was to find the best company to host critical care so the employees will be well taken care of, the patient and physician. Also at the same time for us, Edwards Lifesciences, to have a sharpened focus on structural heart disease. It is a huge opportunity, and it'll represent for us a growth opportunity and being able to sustain our growth trajectory in the next many years.

Lance Glinn:

So Edwards has a reputation for being mission-driven and relentlessly focused on innovation, some of what you touched on earlier, but with that comes the challenge of balancing long-term vision with, obviously, short-term business demands. So how do you navigate the tension between the two, and what have you learned about managing the relationship between the long-term and the short-term as CEO for the last couple of years?

Bernard Zovighian:

Managing both is critical. All CEOs are facing the same challenge. The way I do it is I never lose sight of a long-term. If you don't have a long-term planning, obviously, you are not going to be successful as a company.

Bernard Zovighian:

At the same time, part of this process, you need to take care about the current year, next year. And I also look at the next four years. So in my mind, it is always about long term, seven to 10 years, the next three years, and current the next year. And being able to balance that, looking at resource allocation, strategic decision, where are you are placing your best talent, what kind of capability you need short-term to enable the long term?

Bernard Zovighian:

Because if a short-term is not happening, you cannot enable the long term. If you don't have a long term, you have a short-term anyway, it doesn't matter. Having all of this in your mind and also bringing your leadership team with you, having the conversation about it, making sure everybody is aligned across the company about strategy of a company and what needs to be done this year.

Lance Glinn:

So Bernard, staying on the topic of innovation, from your perspective, how would you define the company's innovation philosophy and how does that ethos seamlessly translate from research and development in the lab to improving outcomes in patient care?

Bernard Zovighian:

We have a very unique innovation strategy where, first, we like to look at large, complex, unmet patient needs within structural health disease only. And then we want to be first. We want to be first. We want to bring breakthrough technologies where the benefit of being first is you don't know, obviously, what to do, how to do it. But you partner with the best mind in the world, the best physicians, the best innovators, the best regulators, the payers. And also, you bring your engineers with you toward this journey.

Bernard Zovighian:

So by collaborating like this, you create a path. You learn together, and then you create a particular category, and people remember, and they are working with you. They trust you. You have a reputation. And at the end, what's key is what? Is to have best-in-class technology and having high-quality science. So physician can make the best decision to treat their patients.

Bernard Zovighian:

And this is really how we do it. I believe it is very unique in the medtech industry. For sure, it's bold. There is more risk. It's more complex, but we are very well-equipped to do that. If you look at the way we invested, making sure we have the best engineers, the best infrastructures, all of the labs, all of the equipment, the investment, the agility to be able to learn and change course when things are not going the way we want. So that's all part of our innovation processes.

Lance Glinn:

So best-in-class technology, high-quality care, that collaboration aspect as well. But talk to us just about now the process of determining when innovation is needed because I look at innovation as, "Oh, there's a problem." Someone needs to create something to then solve that problem. What's the innovation process for Edwards Lifesciences?

Bernard Zovighian:

We start with the need, the patient need, again within structural heart disease, because we have a very sharpened focus. And we are the only company only solely focusing on structural heart disease.

Bernard Zovighian:

So we know well structural heart disease. We look at what are the needs within structural heart disease. And then what are the issues that we are trying to solve? What kind of technology do we need to do that? And again, we have 65 years of experience in the space, and we put the best people behind it. We run large high-quality clinical studies to prove that this new technology is indeed solving the issue, is safe and effective for patient.

Bernard Zovighian:

And when we have this result, then we get an approval, and we launch the technology to many patients. As a matter of fact, I want to give you an example which is, in my mind, two amazing examples.

Bernard Zovighian:

The first one is about the one we already talk about, 65 years ago, the first artificial heart valve. This was not existing at the time. About 20 years ago, we had this very bold vision about can we deliver this valve to the heart with a catheter without opening the heart, without opening the chest.

Bernard Zovighian:

At the time, it was seen as a very crazy objective. People were telling us, especially our former CEO, that it was almost impossible to achieve. And they were trying to convince us against it. We remained committed. We were sure about the fact that we will be able to solve and crack the code, and we did it.

Bernard Zovighian:

And 20 years later, a million patient receive our amazing SAPIEN TAVR platform which has amazing outcome, great safety, great quality of life. And so this is the kind of things that drive us across the company, big complex needs going with big innovation to change patient care basically.

Lance Glinn:

So Bernard, as we begin to wrap up our conversation here at the NYC earnings typically focus on clear financial metrics that indicate whether a quarter's been strong or weak. But beyond those numbers that we see on a spreadsheet that people reference in an earnings call, how do you personally measure Edwards Lifesciences success and assess whether the company is truly fulfilling its mission and long-term goals?

Bernard Zovighian:

I would say I never start with numbers. Wherever I talk to investors, analysts, the finance community or patients or physicians, I always start with the company we are, how we do things, what we care about, the patient, our innovation, our commitment, our reputation, the trust that people have in us.

Bernard Zovighian:

And then, obviously, numbers are important. For us and for me, it is about making sure that Edwards remains this top tier growing company, leading company. For instance, market share is important, for sure. It is not what guides us. It is not the way we are driving company. We look at creating markets, impacting patient, and being able to be the leader and the leader for a long time.

Bernard Zovighian:

And if we do all of that, you will have high market share. By the way, we are leader in everything we do, and you drive value to patient care. We drive value to healthcare systems, and you drive value to society at the end of the day. So it is truly how we think about it and how we think about value creation to the entire ecosystem.

Lance Glinn:

So we spoke earlier about balancing, obviously, short-term business demands, long-term vision as well. But as you and your leadership team are positioning Edwards Lifesciences for the next five, 10, 15 years, how are you plotting the company to sustain the success its already has had, as well as build on, find these new opportunities, make these new investments and make sure that that success remains a decade from now?

Bernard Zovighian:

Exactly. And this is what we do. As a matter of fact, last week as a leadership team, we spent a week on looking at of the next seven to 10 years, and this is the way we did it. We did it about, "Hey, let's ensure that we are going to invest in area where we are not here today, and also making sure that the current technology we are, are well funded, and making sure that we are going to take care of a short term, 2025, 2026."

Bernard Zovighian:

What I said last year at our investor conferences for investors that they can expect Edwards Lifesciences to be a double-digit growing company, and at the EPS will grow faster in the top line. So in addition of doing good to society and to the world, also being a very profitable company, being a top-tier growing company.

Lance Glinn:

Well, Bernard, we appreciate all that you and Edwards Lifesciences does for the greater community. Thank you so much for joining us Inside the ICE House.

Bernard Zovighian:

Thank you so much, and have a great morning.

Speaker 1:

That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen, and follow us on X @ICEHousePodcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week Inside the ICE House.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.