Glaukos Hires Chief Financial Officer/Senior Vice President of Corporate Development

Glaukos Corporation, an ophthalmic medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of breakthrough products and procedures to treat glaucoma, has hired Joseph E. Gilliam as chief financial officer (CFO) and senior vice president of corporate development in May. Gilliam will replace the company’s current CFO Richard Harrison, who is retiring later in 2017.
 
Gilliam joins Glaukos from J.P. Morgan, where he was managing director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group and focused on the life sciences industry, including the medical technology, diagnostics and biotechnology sectors. Since 2000, Gilliam has held various positions of increasing responsibility at J.P. Morgan, Chase Manhattan, and The Beacon Group, prior to these firms being combined in 2001. Gilliam began his career in the audit services division of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, Bloomington.
 
Over the course of his nearly 20-year career, Gilliam has gained broad experience across capital markets, strategic advisory and other banking services. He also has significant experience in ophthalmology, having executed numerous medical device and biotechnology transactions, including leading the Glaukos initial public offering (IPO) for J.P. Morgan in June 2015.
 
“Joe brings an extensive range of healthcare experience, financial acumen and market perspective to our organization and we believe his contributions will be invaluable to Glaukos as we continue to expand our business and implement our growth strategies,” said Thomas Burns, Glaukos president and CEO. “In addition, we are extremely grateful to Rich for his many contributions and years of dedicated leadership at Glaukos, as well as his willingness to postpone retirement for several more months to assist in a smooth and orderly transition of his responsibilities.”
 
Harrison, who has been the company’s CFO since January 2008, will remain with Glaukos in a transitional advisory role to Gilliam. Harrison notified the company in July 2016 of his plan to retire in 2017 in order to dedicate more time to family and personal interests.
 
“Joining Glaukos represents an extraordinary opportunity for me to be part of a dynamic and pioneering company that is deploying truly disruptive technologies that benefit practitioners, patients and the healthcare system,” said Gilliam. “Moreover, having worked closely with Glaukos in recent years, I have gained tremendous respect for the organization.”

Glaukos pioneered micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, or MIGS, to revolutionize the traditional glaucoma treatment and management paradigm. Glaukos launched the iStent, its first MIGS device, in the United States in July 2012 and is leveraging its platform technology to build a comprehensive and proprietary portfolio of micro-scale injectable therapies designed to address the complete range of glaucoma disease states and progression. The company believes the iStent, measuring 1 mm long and 0.33 mm wide, is the smallest medical device ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company is based in San Clemente, Calif.