Owens & Minor Appoints Carrie Childress as First Chief Marketing Officer in Company History
Owens & Minor has appointed Carrie Childress as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, marking a significant development in the company’s long history and creating its first dedicated senior marketing leadership position. Effective immediately, Childress will oversee the company’s marketing strategy, brand development and efforts to strengthen the positioning of its product portfolios in the healthcare market.
The newly created role reflects Owens & Minor’s focus on building on its established reputation while continuing to evolve its business for changing customer expectations. With more than 140 years of history in healthcare, the company is using the addition of a dedicated chief marketing officer to bring greater strategic focus to its brand, commercialization activities and customer engagement efforts.
Childress brings nearly two decades of experience across healthcare marketing, product management and brand development. Her background includes leadership roles involving U.S. and global markets, commercialization strategies, portfolio development and team building. Most recently, she served as vice president of Americas marketing at Cordis, where she played an important role in developing and launching large-scale marketing initiatives designed to support sustained business growth.
A New Marketing Leadership Role for Owens & Minor
The appointment of Childress represents the introduction of a dedicated marketing executive role at Owens & Minor for the first time in the company’s more than 140-year history.
In her new position, Childress will be responsible for helping shape how Owens & Minor communicates its value to customers and the broader healthcare marketplace. Her responsibilities will include supporting the company’s brand strategy and strengthening the way its product portfolios are positioned and commercialized.
The creation of the position comes as healthcare organizations continue to face changing operational, financial and clinical requirements. Healthcare providers and other industry partners increasingly expect suppliers and service providers to deliver not only products and distribution capabilities but also solutions that address broader challenges.
For Owens & Minor, a stronger centralized marketing function can provide an opportunity to connect its established brand with its evolving portfolio and business strategy. Childress’ experience across marketing and product management is expected to support that effort.
Her appointment also brings commercialization expertise directly into the company’s senior leadership structure. This can help align product development, customer needs, brand positioning and market opportunities as Owens & Minor continues to develop its business.
Carrie Childress Brings Extensive Healthcare Experience
Childress joins Owens & Minor with nearly 20 years of experience working across healthcare marketing, product management and brand development.
Her professional experience includes leadership positions at several healthcare organizations, including Cordis, Smith & Nephew, ConMed and AcuityMD. Across these roles, she has worked on strategies intended to strengthen healthcare brands, develop products and support commercial growth.
At Cordis, where Childress most recently served as vice president of Americas marketing, she was involved in developing and launching large-scale marketing initiatives. Those efforts contributed to sustained growth and provided experience that aligns closely with the responsibilities of her new role at Owens & Minor.
Her career has also involved building high-performing teams and developing commercialization strategies. These experiences are particularly relevant to Owens & Minor as the company seeks to strengthen its brand while continuing to serve hospitals, healthcare organizations and other partners.
Marketing leadership within healthcare can involve considerably more than traditional brand promotion. It can include understanding customer needs, identifying market opportunities, supporting product portfolios, developing commercial strategies and ensuring that communications accurately reflect the value delivered to healthcare organizations.
Childress’ background across these areas gives her experience that spans both strategic marketing and the commercial side of healthcare businesses.
Focus on Brand Strength and Product Portfolios
One of Childress’ central responsibilities at Owens & Minor will be helping strengthen the company’s brand and product portfolios.
Owens & Minor has operated in healthcare for more than 140 years, giving the organization a long-established presence and a recognizable name within the industry. The company’s leadership has emphasized the importance of maintaining that legacy while adapting to the needs of modern healthcare customers.
The addition of a chief marketing officer creates a dedicated leadership position focused on this challenge.
A key part of the role will be determining how Owens & Minor can communicate its capabilities and portfolio more effectively across the healthcare market. As healthcare continues to evolve, companies serving hospitals and healthcare partners must continually evaluate how their products, services and brands are perceived by customers.
Childress will therefore have an opportunity to connect the company’s long-standing reputation with its current business priorities.
Her experience in product management and commercialization may also help the organization establish stronger connections between its portfolio and customer needs. Effective portfolio marketing can help healthcare companies communicate the applications, benefits and differentiators of products while supporting broader commercial objectives.
Leadership Perspective on the Appointment
Owens & Minor Chief Executive Officer Jim Marshall highlighted the importance of strengthening the company’s brand while continuing to build on its established reputation.
“Our name is one of the most recognized in healthcare, and our continued success depends on building on what makes Owens & Minor great while evolving to better serve our customers,” Marshall said.
He added that Childress’ strategic vision, portfolio commercialization experience and record of building high-performing teams would bring additional perspective and capabilities to the company’s leadership team.
Marshall also connected Childress’ appointment with Owens & Minor’s broader effort to reimagine its legacy for the hospitals, healthcare partners and communities it serves.
The comments underscore the role that marketing is expected to play in the company’s next phase. Rather than focusing solely on communications, the newly created position is positioned as a strategic leadership function connected to brand development, portfolio commercialization and customer relationships.
Childress on Joining Team O&M
Childress said she was attracted to Owens & Minor because of the company’s combination of history, leadership, customer loyalty and focus on impact.
“Owens & Minor is one of the rare organizations that combines legacy, leadership and customer loyalty with a genuine passion for impact,” Childress said.
She added that she was excited to join Team O&M and build on the company’s existing foundation while helping shape its future for customers and the organization.
Her comments reflect the balance that will be important in the new role: preserving the strengths associated with Owens & Minor’s established identity while developing the brand and portfolio strategy for a changing healthcare environment.
With a long history serving the healthcare sector, Owens & Minor has an established foundation on which to build. Childress’ arrival provides the company with dedicated leadership focused on translating that foundation into a modern marketing and commercialization strategy.
Owens & Minor Begins a New Chapter
Childress’ appointment also comes during a broader period of transition for Owens & Minor.
On December 31, 2025, the company announced a new chapter in its history involving its medical distribution, products and technology services business, previously referred to as Products & Healthcare Services, or P&HS.That business became part of the Platinum Equity portfolio. Following the transition, the company continued operating as a private standalone organization under the Owens & Minor name.
The company has emphasized its intention to carry forward the legacy of excellence and service associated with the Owens & Minor name while moving into its next phase.
The creation of the chief marketing officer position fits into that broader evolution. As the company operates as a standalone organization, establishing a dedicated marketing leadership function provides an opportunity to further define and communicate its identity, portfolio and market proposition.
For a company with more than a century of history, maintaining brand continuity while adapting to a new business environment can be an important strategic consideration. A dedicated marketing executive can help coordinate those efforts across the organization.
Strengthening Customer Engagement
Customer relationships have long been an important component of Owens & Minor’s identity. The company serves hospitals, healthcare partners and communities, making its ability to understand and communicate with customers central to its business.
Childress’ experience in healthcare marketing and product management could support efforts to strengthen those relationships.
Modern healthcare customers often evaluate suppliers and partners based on a combination of product quality, reliability, service, technology, operational support and overall value. Marketing can play an important role in bringing those capabilities together into a clear customer proposition.
For Owens & Minor, this means the marketing function may increasingly serve as a bridge between the company’s portfolio, its customers and the wider healthcare marketplace.
Childress’ background in commercialization provides experience in translating product and business strategies into market-facing initiatives. Her work across multiple healthcare organizations has also exposed her to different market environments and approaches to brand development.
Building High-Performing Teams
Another area of relevance in Childress’ appointment is her experience building high-performing teams.
Healthcare marketing organizations increasingly operate across multiple disciplines, including brand strategy, product marketing, market research, digital marketing, communications and commercialization. Coordinating these capabilities requires leadership that can connect individual functions to broader business goals.
Childress has previously led teams and developed strategies across healthcare markets. At Owens & Minor, those leadership skills will be applied to a newly established executive function.
Building the marketing organization and defining its priorities will be an important part of establishing the role. The company can use this function to create greater alignment between its brand, products and commercial objectives.
The move also signals that Owens & Minor sees marketing as an important component of its future growth and organizational strategy.
The appointment of Carrie Childress gives Owens & Minor a dedicated executive responsible for marketing at an important point in the company’s history.
As the organization moves forward as a private standalone company, its brand and product portfolios will remain central to how it engages healthcare customers and partners. Childress’ responsibilities will involve helping the company build on its established reputation while ensuring that its marketing strategy reflects the needs of today’s healthcare environment.
Her nearly 20 years of experience across healthcare marketing, product management and commercialization provide a foundation for the role. Her previous work with organizations including Cordis, Smith & Nephew, ConMed and AcuityMD has given her experience across different healthcare businesses and market segments.
At Owens & Minor, she will bring that experience to a company with a unique combination of history and ongoing transformation.
The company’s more than 140-year legacy provides substantial brand recognition, while its current standalone structure creates an opportunity to further define its future direction. Childress’ appointment places marketing leadership at the center of that process for the first time in Owens & Minor’s history.
Her work will focus on strengthening the Owens & Minor brand, supporting its product portfolios, developing commercialization strategies and helping the company communicate its value to customers.
Ultimately, the creation of the chief marketing officer position represents a new chapter in Owens & Minor’s organizational development. With Childress joining the executive leadership team, the company is adding dedicated expertise in healthcare marketing and commercialization as it continues to evolve its business and serve hospitals, healthcare partners and communities.
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