James V. Mazzo on Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Course V

Featuring James V. Mazzo
President and Chief Executive Officer
Advanced Medical Optics, Inc.

Location: McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium
Free and open to the public

The Entrepreneurship Course for Scientists and Engineers provides a real-world introduction to the theory and practice of entrepreneurship.  Through a series of presentations by prestigious entrepreneurs and industry leaders, participants will explore the various organizational, strategic and financial challenges facing successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs.  Topics include start-up strategies, business idea evaluation, business plan writing, and introduction to venture capital.

About the Speaker:
James (Jim) V. Mazzo is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Medical Optics (AMO). He assumed the positions of president and CEO in 2002 as part of AMO’s spin-off from Allergan, Inc. He assumed the position of chairman of the board in May 2006.  

Since taking the helm of AMO, he has formed a cohesive and experienced management team, and focused the energies of more than 3,800 employees around the globe on a common mission: improving shareholder value through the discovery and delivery of innovative vision technologies that optimize quality of life for people of all ages. Under Mr. Mazzo’s stewardship, AMO has set a new strategic direction, strengthened its core businesses, reprioritized its R&D pipeline, fortified its financial foundation, achieved profitable growth and positioned itself for accelerating performance in the years ahead.

Mr. Mazzo has also been instrumental in several major acquisitions worth nearly $3 billion. In June of 2004, AMO finalized the acquisition of Pfizer’s ophthalmic surgical business, solidifying its portfolio of intraocular lenses and enabling it to enter the glaucoma medical device market with a new product. In May of 2005, the company completed its acquisition of VISX, Incorporated for $1.27 billion. In January of 2007, AMO announced the acquisition of WaveFront Sciences and its intent to acquire IntraLase for more than $800 million. These major acquisitions work in combination with a number of smaller strategic partnerships, licensing agreements and other transactions that are supplementing AMO’s internal R&D efforts and establishing a robust platform for growth.

The company’s entrepreneurial spirit and success have been recognized by Wall Street, with a more than 500 percent rise in the price of AMO shares since the spin-off and a growth in market cap from approximately $429 million in 2002 to more than $2 billion today.

Mr. Mazzo honed his management skills during a 22-year career at Allergan, where he held a variety of executive-level positions and eventually became the company’s corporate vice president and president of the ophthalmic surgical and contact lens care businesses. He spent approximately 12 years working outside the as president of Allergan’s Europe/Africa/Middle East region, vice president and managing director, senior vice president (Northern Europe) and director of marketing. Mr. Mazzo actively works with federal, state and local elected officials to address a variety of issues that impact the eye care and medical device industries.

Mr. Mazzo is the only executive from the ophthalmic and eye care industry to serve on the executive board of AdvaMed, the world’s largest medical device organization. He serves on the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Dean’s Board of Directors’ Executive Committee, UCI Dean’s Board of Business and Engineering, and is a trustee for Chapman University, the University of San Diego, the UCI Foundation, member of the UCI Chief Executive Roundtable, and is the only non-ophthalmologist member of the International Intraocular Implant Club (IIIC). Additionally, Mr. Mazzo sits on the board of OCTANe, a private, non-profit corporation comprised of biomedical and technology companies, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, strategic service partners, private investors and universities, all working together to drive innovation and accelerate growth of the technology business in Orange County and surrounding regions.