Global Leadership Team

Geoffrey P. Purtill

Geoff Purtill was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in November 2022. Prior to that, Geoff was interim President and CEO. He served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Company's European and Asia Pacific businesses since November 2021 and as Head of Global Strategy since September 2021. Geoff served as Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific since joining the Company in 2010.

Before joining Invacare, Geoff held various leadership roles in sales, category management and supply chain at Johnson & Johnson and Nestle. He served in the Australian Army for 14 years, where he started as an Electronics Technician and left as a Captain in the Intelligence Corps.

Geoff holds an MBA (Exec) from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Kai Zhu

Kai Zhu has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Company since July 2023. Prior to that, Kai served as Vice President Finance EMEA since joining the Company in April 2022.

Prior to Invacare, Kai served as CFO of the Fire Fighting Group at CNH Industrial N.V., a multinational agricultural machinery and transport vehicle company, since 2019. Prior to that Kai served in various financial leadership roles in Danaher KaVo Kerr Group, a dental equipment and consumables manufacturer, including Chief Financial Officer of its Emerging Markets Group, Vice President Finance Global FP&A and Vice President Finance Asia. Kai also previously held financial management positions at Britax Group and Avery Dennison. He has two decades of financial leadership experience.

Kai Zhu holds a Diploma in Business Informatics and Administration from the Technical University Ilmenau in Germany and had served as a Regent of the Board at the Institute of Management Accountants between 2012 and 2018.

Anthony C. LaPlaca

Anthony LaPlaca is responsible for all legal affairs of the company and handles corporate governance matters, serving as the corporate secretary. He oversees Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, corporate communications, data privacy, corporate compliance, and litigation.

Before joining Invacare, Anthony was vice president and general counsel of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, a member of the Knorr-Bremse Group from 2002 to 2008. Prior to that he served as vice president and general counsel of Honeywell Transportation & Power Systems. Prior to joining Honeywell’s predecessor, AlliedSignal Inc. in 1997, Anthony practiced law at a Cleveland-based national law firm for 13 years, the last 3 years of which serving as a partner in the firm.

He holds a B.S. in economics from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Brad Duff

Brad Duff was appointed Vice President of the Lifestyles North America business unit in August 2023.  He brings over 25 years’ experience in sales, commercial operations, corporate strategy, transformation, and business leadership.  Before joining Invacare, Brad spent 12 years at Medtronic where he held several commercial and corporate strategy roles and drove enterprise strategic transformation initiatives.  Previously, he spent time with Olympus (formerly Gyrus ACMI) and DHL (formerly Airborne Express).

Brad lives in the Kansas City area and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska.

Michael van der Breggen

Michael van der Breggen was appointed Chief Information and Technology Officer in December 2022. Before that, he was the Assistant Chief Information Officer.

Before joining Invacare in 2020, Michael spent over 25 years in the IT industry and held various leadership roles in consulting and IT practice management at Atos and Cognizant Technologies.

Michael holds an MBA from the Rijksuniversiteit in Groningen, Netherlands, a post graduate degree from the Glasgow Caledonian University and various ERP and Program Management certificates.

Eric Regis

Eric Régis was appointed as Vice President, Supply Chain, Operations and R&D Global in October 2023.

Prior to that, he was Vice President, Supply Chain and Operations EMEA since May 2022 and Managing Director of France Operations (Fondettes facility) since September 2019.  Before joining Invacare, Eric spent 17 years at Air Liquide where he held roles in business development and corporate marketing before taking on roles with increasing responsibilities in Supply Chain and Operations.

Eric graduated with a MSc in Executive Engineering from Mines ParisTech in 2001.

Favorite Quote: “Vision without execution is hallucination.” –Thomas Edison

Magda Stepniewicz

Magda Stepniewicz was appointed Vice President, Global Marketing in December 2022. Prior to this, Magda held the role of the Manual Mobility and Seating EMEA Head, where she managed the biggest product category and supported Invacare global company strategy development.

Before joining Invacare, Magda held numerous roles in Consumer Goods and Healthcare companies – Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, and Bayer Consumer Health leading marketing, communication, commercial operations, and strategic design for local, regional, and global markets. Worked and lived in different countries.

Magda holds an MBA Marketing and Management from the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland.

Life Motto: “Never stop exploring” and her biggest passion is diving.

Paul Lavin

Paul Lavin was appointed as Vice President, North American Commercial Operations in October 2022. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Sales for North America since September 2020. Previously, Paul served as Vice President and General Manager for Invacare Canada LP since 2013 and has held a variety of sales and marketing roles with Invacare since joining the company in 2008.

Before joining Invacare, Paul held a variety of progressive leadership roles in sales, customer service, project management, strategy and privacy at Dun & Bradstreet and Wolters Kluwer.

Favorite Quote: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” –Wayne Gretzky

Régis Opfermann

Regis Opfermann was appointed as Vice President Commercial Operations EMEA & APAC in December 2022. Prior to that, Régis held several positions since he joined Invacare in 1998 as Product Manager, Marketing Manager, Sales & Marketing Director and the latest one as Managing Director South Europe & International Sales since 2005.

Before joining Invacare, Régis established a leading wheelchair family dealer business in northeast of France.

Régis is a French Pharmacist and graduated with an MBA (Exec) from Neoma Business School in 1998.

Madeleine Gloy

Madeleine Gloy was appointed as Vice President Quality and Regulatory global in April 2024. Prior to that, she was Vice President, Quality and Regulatory EMEA APAC since August 2021 and Regulatory and Compliance Manager EMEA since April 2020.

Since she joined Invacare in September 2016, she has worked in different QA RA roles; QA RA R&D Manager EMEA and Regulatory Manager Nordics. Before joining Invacare, Madeleine spent 18 years in the Getinge group, a global medical technology company that provides equipment and systems within healthcare and life sciences, where she held different roles in Quality and Regulatory Management in the business unit Surgical workflows, Infection control. Madeleine holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Linnaeus University in Sweden and has different degrees in in the area of Quality and Regulatory Management.

Favorite Quote: “Quality is the best business plan.”

​​​​​​​Scott Hughes

Scott currently serves as the Vice President of the Lifestyles Business Unit at Invacare Corporation, a role he assumed in 2024. Prior to this, Scott was the Vice President of Supply Chain at Invacare from 2020 to 2024 and served as the Senior Director of Sourcing from 2017 to 2020.

Before joining Invacare, Scott held key leadership roles at AMRESCO, a VWR Company, where he was responsible for global procurement, sourcing, and production planning teams.  Scott’s earlier career includes pivotal roles such as Vice President of Business Development at Alliance Adhesives and Vice President of Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality at McNichols Company Corporate. He has a strong track record of driving operational efficiencies, reducing costs, and leading successful Lean transformations.

Scott holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Kent State University, with a major in Business Management and a minor in Rhetoric and Communications. He has furthered his education with an MBA program focused on International Business and multiple certifications, including a Certificate in Strategic Negotiations from Harvard Business School, Certified International Project Manager (CIPM) credentials from the American Academy of Project Management and Leadership certificate from Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business.