Rubin Spann

International Marketing Expert

Resilient and Driven

Rubin Spann is many things: driven, focused, and a strategic leader with an innovative eye that has helped transform him into the global marketing expert that he is today. For more than 15 years, Rubin has worked as a Senior Commercial Marketing Leader managing the process on how medical device, pharmaceutical, and healthcare technology companies move closer to their customers through “the brand diplomacy process” – delivering on the company’s brand promise to their customers with a careful eye on flawless execution. His unique insights and knowledge of several healthcare industries, as well as his cultural understanding of different global markets, distinguishes Rubin Spann as a cutting-edge global marketing leader ensuring healthcare companies maximize their brands and products.

Throughout his career, Rubin Spann has proven himself time and time again to be a forward & innovative thinker and an exceptional executioner of both strategy and tactics to meet top-line revenue corporate objectives. Beginning in 2001 at Alcon Lab – now Novartis Ophthalmics – as a Specialty Sales Representative, Rubin quickly worked his way up to Global Brand Manager, where he engineered and executed the first ever fully integrated physician & patient commercial marketing program at Alcon Labs sparking growth for the glaucoma product portfolio.

Early Career

From Alcon, Rubin moved to New York City and stepped into the role of Director of Client Services for Rx Brands at Omnicom Global Group, Healthcare Division, where he was identified by management as a strong marketing leader with reliable go-to market experience to help Novartis’ Cardiovascular Division reposition its industry-shattering hypertension portfolio.

In 2008 Rubin accepted an opportunity in Basel, Switzerland to become Head of Global Marketing for Digital Technology at Straumann Dental Implant Company, the largest dental implant company in the world. While there, Rubin Spann led an initiative to digitize and commercialize the manual workflow of restoring patient’s missing teeth utilizing CADCAM Technology. This highly successful initiative was the first of its kind in the dental implant industry and significantly contributed to Straumann’s expanded global market share growth.

Wherever he works, Rubin Spann makes a substantial impact on the processes and operations at these medical device and pharmaceutical companies. By using his expansive experience paired with a drive to innovate and improve, he’s able to provide these companies with the assistance they so desperately need and set them up for long-term success. While working with ConMed Corporation, an Orthopedics and Sports Medicine company, as their Group Director of Global Marketing for Capital, Consumables, and Service Equipment, he implemented a streamlined product launch strategy reducing the time to market of new products by 30% — a first at ConMed. Later, while working at Acelity Corporation (formerly KCI Inc.), a $1.4 billion global medical device wound care company in which Rubin oversaw a $500 million “Negative Pressure Wound Therapy” hospital-based capital and consumable portfolio, he successfully implemented an innovative go-to-market strategy.

Global Marketing Squared

Currently, Rubin Spann owns and operates Global Marketing Squared (GMS²), a virtual boutique branding and product launch firm for healthcare companies, which he founded in 2015. Built on a global platform, Rubin Spann created Global Marketing Squared to help global marketing teams at healthcare companies focus on strategic planning and building brands. Rubin is currently working with a small dental startup in Memphis, TN to commercialize a proprietary diagnostic technology, an exciting venture for Global Marketing Squared.

When it comes to the healthcare sector, Rubin Spann envisions a future where global marketers embrace and utilize cutting-edge

technology and data to better meet the needs of their customers through more efficient healthcare delivery and seamless connection between doctors, patients, caretakers, and consumers.

Rubin Spann earned his MBA of General Management & International Marketing from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas in 2001. Prior to this, he was a candidate at the Masters of Science of Foreign Service program at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Rubin earned his BA in Organizational Psychology and Business at Catholic University of America also in Washington, DC. In his free time, Rubin enjoys spending time with his family, is an avid racquetball player, and enjoys contemporary jazz music.

Rubin Spann – Unlocked

Q: How do you plan and execute a global product launches successfully across regions, countries and customers, each with unique needs?

A: Global companies through their marketing teams often develop exceptional products and services, but fail they to launch them successfully worldwide: revenue targets are missed, future product & customer investment dollars are lost or deferred, and market share is flat or declining. I have led very successful product & service launches across regions, countries and customers with different needs by organizing global cross-functional teams including Marketing, R&D, Sales, Quality, Regulatory and Finance around shared global objectives, expectations and outcomes. Frequent global webcasts with the cross-functional team, regional heads and country managers are excellent communication tools to confirm ongoing alignment and progress.

Q: How do you balance current customer needs with their future needs, while simultaneously applying the appropriate resources to each?

A: Global marketing teams often miss growing worldwide revenues due to poor understanding of their customers’ current needs, poorly anticipating customers’ future needs, and failing to apply appropriate resources to each. As a result, customer retention declines and global market share shrinks. The key to balancing current and future customer needs, while applying appropriate levels of resources to each, is developing an effective R&D Global Product Portfolio Road Map tied to the corporate financial objectives. Semi-annual advisory boards, global customer needs assessments and market trend monitoring are required to secure long-term financial success. In summary, understanding your customer is the key to success.

Q: How do you create a “high performing marketing team” who consistently reach their stretch goals?

A: The global financial success of a corporation is most at risk when their global marketing teams underperform: they are slow to respond to competitor threats, changing customer needs and changing market dynamics. I have motivated groups to become “high performing” marketing teams by aligning their daily tasks with corporate objectives measured by short-, medium- and long-term milestones. Professional development plans, KPIs, shared values and frequent communication encourages a high-performing marketing team to consistently meet their stretch goals.