Navigating Earl Slee's Career Path

In this episode of MedTech Snapshot, neurovascular industry veteran Earl Slee reflects on the moment he realized medical device engineering was the right path for him. Starting with his early experience at Welch Allyn, Earl shares how that decision shaped a career that later spanned startups, product development, and multiple acquisitions.

“I realized I wanted to stay in the medical device industry,” he explained. That realization didn’t come from a title change or a big promotion. It came from simply being close to the work. Seeing how technology could directly improve patient care made the direction feel obvious.

That early clarity would eventually lead him through one of the more interesting career arcs in neurovascular Medtech.

Learning in the Startup Environment

After Welch Allyn, Earl moved into the startup world, joining Micro Therapeutics Inc., a young neurovascular company founded by Orange County entrepreneur George Wallace.

Startups, he explained, teach you quickly what responsibility really looks like.

“When you're a startup, there's no one around you to do whatever needs to get done,” he said. “That's what I always tell people who are interested in going to a startup who haven't been there before.”

In other words, there’s no large organization standing behind you. If something breaks, you fix it. If something needs to be built, you build it. That environment forces engineers and product leaders to think beyond their immediate role and understand how the entire business operates.

Growing Through Acquisitions

Micro Therapeutics would eventually be acquired by ev3, introducing a new environment shaped by private equity expectations.

“It’s very tough. You have to perform or you’re out,” Earl said. “But again, we were growing like a weed.”

The company continued to bring new technologies to market. Not everything succeeded, but enough products did to drive rapid growth.

“We had some incredible products. Not all of them succeeded. We had failures too, but more of them succeeded than did not.”

That momentum carried forward when ev3 was later acquired by Covidien and eventually by Medtronic.

With each transition, the nature of Earl’s work evolved.

“I tell people when we were bought by Covidien, my travel changed drastically,” he said. “I went from 95 percent customer-facing travel to probably 95 percent internal-facing travel.”

Instead of spending most of his time with physicians and clinical teams, much of the work shifted to internal strategy, budgeting, and long-term planning. It’s a common shift as organizations grow larger and more complex.

Innovation from Anywhere

Even inside large strategic organizations, Earl’s mindset around innovation remained consistent.

“I didn’t have a not-invented-here syndrome,” he said. “I didn’t care if we invented it or we acquired it. I just wanted the best technology.”

That philosophy allowed him to work across both internal R&D and external acquisitions, helping bring promising technologies into the portfolio regardless of where they originated.

Why He Stayed

Looking back, Earl sometimes jokes about the unusual path.

“Sometimes I ask myself, why am I still here?” he said.

But the answer is simple.

“I kept telling myself, it’s a different company.”

Each acquisition brought new teams, new strategies, and new challenges. For someone who enjoys building technologies and solving problems, those transitions created opportunities to keep learning.

Today, Earl has come full circle, spending more time supporting the startup ecosystem again and engaging with the local MedTech community through organizations like Octane.

After decades in the industry, the motivation remains the same as it was during those early days at Welch Allyn.

Find great technology. Build it. And get it to the patients who need it.

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