Jeffrey O’Donnell Jr. grew up watching his father’s entrepreneurial efforts, and he witnessed the excitement, risk tolerance and passion required to lead and succeed in the business world. Inspired by his father’s career in healthcare, O’Donnell Jr. embarked on his own journey, gaining valuable experience and knowledge in the industry.
With a solid foundation established through his early career at renowned companies like Medtronic, AstraZeneca and Synthes, O’Donnell Jr. developed a strong commercial perspective and a desire to build something significant. In 2013, he seized the opportunity to join Trice Medical, a local orthopedic startup in Philadelphia. As the company’s second associate, O’Donnell Jr. played a crucial role in its growth, contributing his sales and marketing expertise to shape Trice Medical into a successful organization. This experience ignited his passion for entrepreneurship and provided him with insights into building and growing a company.
Over the past 10 years, O’Donnell Jr. has made a name for himself as a serial entrepreneur, co-founding multiple early-stage medical device companies. In addition to his role as the chief executive officer of Runway Healthcare, O’Donnell Jr. serves as the chief executive officer of Waypoint Orthopedics, a pioneering spine company that has developed an intelligent pedicle probe called the Waypoint GPS. This technology enables physicians to achieve higher precision in pedicle screw placement while potentially reducing ionizing radiation in the operating room.
“Entrepreneurship takes enormous risk,” O’Donnell Jr. said. “Leaving the large corporate environment with large teams, resources and security with a young family was a risk that was calculated and supported by my unbelievable wife.”
O’Donnell Jr. is also the chief executive officer and co-founder of Toetal Solutions, a foot and ankle company focused on innovative solutions for forefoot deformities. Toetal Solutions addresses clinical needs while also considering cost and site-of-service issues by creating sterile-packed procedure kits tailored to each implant. He also serves as the CEO and co-founder of Pace Medical, an early-stage foot and ankle trauma company dedicated to creating implants designed specifically for patient anatomy, improving outcomes for complex fractures.
O’Donnell Jr. is also president and general partner of Mast Labs, a national surgical training and bio-skills company. Mast Labs fosters innovation and facilitates better patient outcomes by providing comprehensive training programs for medical professionals.
With so many endeavors to manage, complexities are sure to come up. O’Donnell Jr. said he follows a set of guidelines to tackle those challenges.
“Complex problems are solved through candid collaboration across our entire team,” O’Donnell Jr. said. “Ensure ego is absent and all the right parties are involved enables us to make controlled decisions. In the event the decisions are wrong, quickly correcting without belaboring the mistake is the fastest way to a solution. Don’t be afraid to be wrong.”
