A Smooth Transition:
From the board room to the operating room

Forester fans remember Gabe LaGrange as a smooth operator on the basketball court. He was voted to the all-conference team each of his four years at Huntington. Gabe was a second-team NAIA All-American in 1999, and as a senior in 2000, was dubbed a first-team All-American for leading the Forester squad that set a school record for wins while advancing to the NAIA Final Four.

But as impressed as you might have been with his moves on the hardwood, you’d probably be nonplussed to find Gabe hovering over you in the operating room—and it wouldn’t be just the anesthetic talking. After all, Gabe was a business major, right?

After graduation, Gabe landed a position as a sales representative for Forest Pharmaceuticals in the Dayton, Ohio, area, selling antidepression, hypertension and asthma drugs to family practices, psychiatrists, pulmonologists and cardiologists. A job well-done quickly moved Gabe up the corporate ladder. After just 18 months, he was promoted to division manager and had 10 sales reps working for him.      

Dayton was fine, but Gabe and wife Judy (Fitch), also a 2000 Huntington grad, longed to return to family and friends in the Fort Wayne area. Then, while interviewing a prospective employee, Gabe saw an opening. The interviewee was working for Synthes, a company that manufactures orthopedic implants. Intrigued by the nature of Synthes’ work, Gabe applied for a job and was soon working for the company in northeast Indiana.           

This, however, was no door-to-door salesman’s job, closing the deal and moving on to the next customer. Gabe’s presence was required at the point of use, which meant being present for the implanting of titanium spacers and screws—or sometimes cadaver bones—during spinal-fusion surgery.          

“The relationship with the physician is completely different in this type of position,” Gabe says. “When a doctor uses the product you’re selling, you’re right there in the operating room serving as a consultant, answering any questions the doctor might have about the product. You also get there before the doctor arrives to help the scrub techs lay out the instruments in the proper order to ensure the surgery flows well.”          

Gabe says he was able to make a smooth transition from strictly business to the stitches business because of a well-rounded Huntington University liberal arts education that included a healthy dose of the sciences. “Being exposed to the sciences while majoring in business was very beneficial,” he says. “I had no idea at the time I was a student that I’d use science at all in my profession.”

Huntington business professor Dr. Ann McPherren says Gabe’s ability to change directions doesn’t surprise her at all. “As a student, Gabe took an interest in applying his energies across the curriculum and across campus,” she says. “He mastered business topics, got high marks from his English professors for his considerable writing and communication skills, and developed leadership and team-building skills on the basketball court. The versatility he gained from his liberal arts and business courses has allowed him to adapt in a fast-changing career environment.”

Gabe has since taken a similar position with Stryker, an international giant in the implant business. He now serves as salesman and operating room consultant to surgeons replacing hips and knees and using trauma products such as rods, plates and screws to mend broken bones.

“What I do is very technical, and I’m selling products to very educated people, which makes it even more challenging,” Gabe says. “Ultimately, I’m still doing something to help the patient, and I like medical sales because of that.”

During timeouts, Gabe still has his fingers on the pulse of the Forester basketball program and suits up himself in a couple of adult leagues. He and Judy, who’s earned a master’s degree in physical therapy from Andrews University, also lead a Sunday school class for young married and engaged couples at Pathway Community Church in Fort Wayne. And, Team LaGrange has an addition to its roster—son Luke was born in September 2003.