Our Leadership Team
We are a diverse, talented team of marketing and commercialization experts with wide and deep experience in the medtech industry. Our expertise encompasses cardiac rhythm management, diabetes, neuromodulation, structural heart, peripheral vascular, infection prevention, obstetrics, respiratory monitoring, urology, and more. Meet our leadership team.
Peter Hager
Chief Executive Officer
Peter’s 25 years of thought leadership, passion, and business acumen are the driving force of Pointward’s transformation into a results-based Customer Engagement Agency. Pointward connects companies with their customers at a rate seven times greater than the industry average by focusing on online and offline relationships that are personalized, relevant and measurable.
Prior to Pointward, Peter achieved success in sales, marketing, and senior management roles in Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations, and entrepreneurial startups that he co‑founded.
Peter earned a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College and is an accredited practitioner of Insights Discovery®, a psychology-based personality, communications, and self discovery system.
In addition to advising numerous entrepreneurs and business leaders, Peter is actively involved in serving the community. Current and past involvement includes assisting various non-profits focused on helping youth locally and around the world. Peter advises or has served on the following non-profit boards: President Emeritus (Chair), The Sanneh Foundation; Senior Advisor, The All 4 Kids Foundation (formerly The TrentTucker Foundation); and Director, The Minnesota Adoption Resource Network (MN Adopt).
Marlene Nelson
Chief People Officer
Marlene’s focus at Pointward is to help clients connect with their customers by implementing relevant strategic marketing communication strategies and solutions. With over 25 years of marketing communications experience, Marlene has been able to build long-term, sustainable relationships with some of the nation’s leading companies.
Marlene received her education in Mass Communications/Journalism from Northwestern College. She has served on the Marketing Communications Special Interest Group for Medical Alley, a leading Minnesota-based trade association, which provides access to industry leaders, education and networking opportunities to organizations in the life science sector. In addition, Marlene has worked in collaboration with The Minnesota Adoption Resource Network and The Tony Sanneh Foundation.
Jeff Gravagna
Chief Marketing Officer
Jeff connects the dots. He engages with clients to discover their core essence and help them identify the objectives, strategies, tactics and people needed to bring their marketing initiatives to life.
Jeff joined Pointward in October of 2010 after working in marketing communications and marketing for 12 years at Medtronic, a leading global medical device manufacturer, and offers a total of over 20 years of experience. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame.