Adam Sharkawy, PhD

In the second half of his career, he has run large global teams and businesses which have acquired earlier stage companies and globally commercialized them. Adam’s leadership experience spans US, international, and emerging markets.

Prior to founding Material Impact, Adam was a member of the executive team as Sr. Vice President of The Medicines Company and Head of their Surgery and Perioperative Care Global Business Unit where he led the acquisition and integration of four companies in deals totaling in excess of $1B. Before that, he helped establish Smith & Nephew’s Emerging Market division in Dubai where he served as a member of their executive leadership team. There he developed the product portfolio across all of Smith & Nephew’s businesses (orthopedics, sports medicine, and advanced wound care).

Adam was a member of the Abbott Vascular executive leadership team and served as their Vice President of Research and Advanced Development and New Ventures where he helped launch the world’s leading Drug-Eluting Stent, the Xience/Promus system, and led the development of interventional site-specific therapies the creation of platforms for novel stents/scaffolds, catheters, biomaterials, and controlled bioactive delivery. In addition, Adam co-led the integration of Guidant Vascular Interventions and Abbott upon their merger in April 2006, when Guidant was acquired by Abbott and Boston Scientific for $28B.

Prior to that, Adam helped start Ventrica, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic), a privately held medical device company, Ventrigraft GmBH, and served in several technology development roles for Heartport (acquired by Johnson and Johnson) and Advanced Cardiovascular System which had been acquired by Eli Lilly and then spun out to the publicly traded Guidant Corporation.

Adam has also consulted in industries such as aircraft (F-16 tail wing design), oil drilling (deep-sea drill design), and medical. Adam serves as a member of the Investment Committee of the Italian investment management company, Fondaco’s Sustainable Real Assets Fund, as Chief Mentor for NYU Stern’s Endless Frontiers, an Executive in Residence at Columbia University, a Board Member of University of Delaware’s Private Equity Club, and as Board Member of Duke University’s Graduate School.

When Adam is not helping entrepreneurs, he likes to spend time underwater as a passionate SCUBA diver, enjoys playing several sports including soccer, tennis, and ultimate frisbee, and tries to dabble in cuisine.