Starkey Appoints Ruch, Mehl, and Aguilar to Operations Leadership Positions

Eden Prairie, Minn  – Starkey is committed to operational and manufacturing excellence in order to continue to serve its customers and countless patients around the world better than anyone else. As part of that commitment, Starkey has named three veteran industry leaders to key leadership positions within Operations.

“Starkey is dedicated to providing the best customer service in the industry, and that starts with operational excellence. Every order we receive represents a customer’s trust in us to deliver quality products on time, in order to help the end patient hear better and live better,” said Starkey President and CEO, Brandon Sawalich. “Serving our customers is job one, and together we will move forward to position Starkey for growth, exceed customer expectations, and keep our promise to deliver better hearing through quality products around the world.”

Heinz Ruch, a hearing industry veteran of more than 25 years, was named Starkey’s Chief Operations Officer. In this role, he leads Starkey’s global manufacturing, supply chain, and product and service delivery teams. Ruch’s leadership and industry expertise will further develop and align Starkey’s global Operations team to deliver better hearing through quality products and fulfill the company’s mission statement of serving customers better than anyone else.

Additionally, Starkey named Hans Mehl, a hearing industry veteran of 30 years, as the Executive Vice President of Global Operational Excellence. Mehl’s executive leadership experience and deep industry expertise will be instrumental in the critical areas of global supply chain, manufacturing engineering, and quality and regulatory affairs. As a member of Starkey’s Executive Team, Mehl will lead strategic projects in continuous improvement and operational excellence to help maintain Starkey’s position as a leader in product quality and on-time delivery.

Finally, Nathanael Aguilar was promoted to Vice President of Manufacturing and will be responsible for Starkey’s global manufacturing capabilities with a focus on improving customer and patient satisfaction. Additionally, Aguilar will help implement Starkey's renewed focus on custom product manufacturing as a strategic initiative, which has long served as one of the company’s core differentiators. Aguilar joined Starkey in 2019 and has extensive career experience in manufacturing, materials and production planning, manufacturing engineering, and supply chain.

For more information, please visit the Starkey website.