Swan EndoSurgical CEO Erik Todd
Courtesy of Swan EndoSurgical
Name: Erik Todd
New title: CEO, Swan EndoSurgical
Previous title: General manager of robotics and enabling technologies, Stryker
Swan EndoSurgical, an Olympus-backed robotic surgery startup, said this week it has hired Erik Todd as its CEO.
Olympus partnered with Revival Healthcare Capital to found Swan in July. The partners agreed to invest up to $458 million combined to develop a robotic system initially focused on gastrointestinal treatments. The planned endoluminal robot will have flexible arms to maneuver within the gastrointestinal tract to treat lesions or tumors.
Swan has hired Stryker veteran Todd to lead the company. Todd worked at Stryker for 26 years, starting as a design engineer in the late 1990s. Stryker named Todd as general manager of its robotics and enabling technologies division in 2021, according to the executive’s LinkedIn page. Todd revealed in a November LinkedIn post that he was leaving Stryker, but he did not disclose his next role at the time.
The appointment gives Swan a CEO with a background in robotics and endoscopy. Todd spent more than four years as general manager of Stryker’s European endoscopy division in the 2010s. In a statement disclosing the appointment, Swan highlighted Todd’s experience in scaling robotic platforms, building global engineering organizations and driving innovation across endoscopy and minimally invasive surgery.
The executive will apply that experience to the development of an endoscopic robot. Olympus and Revival have jointly invested an initial $65 million to support Swan’s project. The goal is to use robotics to make endoscopic procedures, which are currently performed manually, safer and more effective while shortening recovery times. Olympus has an option to acquire Swan at a predetermined value.
Todd left Stryker months after the company named Mike Carlin as its president of digital, robotics and enabling technologies. Robert Cohen, the former leader of the division, vacated the position to become vice president of innovation and technology for orthopedics at Stryker.
