Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Thomas Holloran

Titles: Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project: Interview with Thomas Holloran (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Thomas E. Holloran was born and educated in Minnesota. He served as Medtronic's legal representative, a board member, and as a company executive. He worked for a major investment firm and at the time of the interview was teaching at a Minnesota university. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Conversazione: One in a series of informal talks on the medical device industry sponsored by the Bakken Library and Museum. Audio interview: Early life; Medtronic: experiences as Medtronic's legal representative, board member, and executive; company changes; strategy, building a distributor network; increasing manufacturing capability; growth; expansion; facilities expansion; attracting venture capital; capital sources, bank line of credit; infancy of the medical device industry; selling products and establishing distributorships in Europe; contracting distributors; development of line of coronary care units; mission statement; building sales network; acquiring distributorships; Food and Drug Administration and regulation of the medical device industry; transition from law background to managing a technical business; vertical integration; adding sales force; spinoffs from Medtronic; research and development; Governor's Commission for Health Care Promotion; why the medical device industry developed as it did in Minnesota; impressions of Earl Bakken, Palmer Hermundslie, Charlie Cuddihy, Les Kotval, and other leaders of the company.

Dates

• 12/17/1996 - 07/16/1998 (Conversazione (informal talk) recorded 12/17/1996 and interview with David Rhees recorded 7/16/1998.) (Creation)

Creation

• interviewer: Rhees, David
• interviewee: Holloran, Thomas

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 87
• Accession Number: AV2001.104.8

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Pioneers of the Medical Device Industry in Minnesota Oral History Project' <OH 87>

Quantity: 3.5 hours sound cassette 47 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 01:40:59 running time

Subjects

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