Medical robotics trailblazer CMR Surgical in Cambridge has reinforced its top team with two major hires as it continues its global expansion and commercial scale-up.

Chris Weatherall becomes Chief Quality and Regulatory Officer (CQRO) and Bertrand Weil Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO).

Weatherall is a regulatory and quality expert with over 30 years’ experience working at leading healthcare organisations. He joins from Phillips RDT where he was director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs and sat on the senior leadership team.

He has also held senior quality and regulatory positions at Meridian Bioscience International where he was VP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs for the lifescience division. As CQRO at CMR, he will lead global regulatory strategy and execution, as well as overseeing quality assurance across CMR’s products and services.

Weil is a highly experienced executive with a successful career in business strategy and corporate development for healthcare companies spanning almost two decades.

He joins from Mölnlycke, Investor AB’s wholly-owned medical solutions business, where he was most recently VP, Corporate Strategy and Business Development.

At Mölnlycke, he strengthened the company’s core Wound Care and Surgical Franchises through a series of acquisitions and partnerships, as well as creating platforms for new areas of future growth.

Prior to that he spent nearly a decade at GE Healthcare in finance and corporate development roles, as part of the group providing inorganic leadership for General Electric’s Healthcare business. As CBDO, he will lead CMR’s business development activities as Versius is introduced into new markets globally.

These appointments further broaden the expertise of CMR’s leadership team, following a number of hires including Barrington D’Arcy as Chief Operations Officer from Space X last year, and strengthens business and regulatory operations following the Company’s record $600 million (£425 million) Series D financing in June 2021.

Per Vegard Nerseth, CMR Surgical’s CEO said:

“The appointment of Chris and Bertrand is timely and a reflection of the maturity of the business as a global medical devices company. Such experienced individuals will help us to continue to deliver a high-quality system and meet our wider business objectives. Bertrand and Chris are executives with experience in companies across the life science sector, and we look forward to benefiting from their talents and insight as the company continues to grow.”

CMR’s Versius robotic arm for keyhole surgery has picked up huge global traction, and throughout the NHS in the UK, in a relatively short space of time.