Thomas M. Loarie

Affiliations:
Chairman and CEO, Mercador MedSystems, Inc., experienced turn-around and medical technology start-up executive, avid reader and writer

Thomas M. Loarie
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mercador MedSystems

Tom Loarie's reviews rank highly on Amazon.com's reviewer list. Perhaps that's a throw-back to his childhood, growing up in a media/communications family.

Mr. Loarie's grandfather, Richard J. Finnegan, co-founded the Chicago Times (today's Chicago Sun-Times). And his father, Willard J. Loarie, was executive vice president for J. Walter Thompson advertising agency.

The Loarie family home in Deerfield, Illinois, was often filled with reporters, editorial cartoonists (including Herblock), politicians, TV stars, and other media personalities.

Tom spent his college years at the Universities of Notre Dame (BSME), Minnesota (grad school), and Chicago (grad school). His passion centers on improving/saving lives through the global commercialization of innovative medical products.

An accomplished healthcare executive and medical technology entreprenuer with more than 34 years in the field, Tom is responsible for bringing more than 20 medical devices to market. But that is not all. He is also a published writer, a sought-after speaker in the field of medical technology and entrpreneurialism, and an accomplished cartoonist and oil painter. Today, he serves as Chairman and CEO, Mercator MedSystems, Inc., in San Leandro, California. (www.MercatorMed.com)

Mr. Loarie also serves as a Trustee of the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley, as a board member for several privately-held medical technology companies, and on the advisory board to the University of California's (Berkeley) School of Mechanical Engineering. He has lectured at the Anderson School of Management (UCLA) and the Haas Business School (UC Berkeley). He is active in the Catholic Church playing active roles in his Diocese (Program Chairman for Catholics@Work) and in his parish (Pastoral Council President).

Previous achievements include: co-founder and chairman of CardioProfile, Inc.; CEO and chairman of KeraVision, Inc.; COO of Novacor, Inc.; and president of American Heyer-Schulte (Division of American Hospital Supply, now Baxter, Inc.). Mr. Loarie also served as assistant professor of Surgery, Creighton University Medical School; chairman-elect, board member, and executive committee member for AdvaMed (the Advanced Medical Technology Association); and as a board member of the California Healthcare Institute.

Accessible and direct, Mr. Loarie is quick to acknowledge—first by action, then by words—the profound anchor of his life, his Catholic faith.

Tom may be reached at TLoarie@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz