John Elliot Simpkins Email Address

Senior Vice President Human Resources Administration

Drive Medical is one of the leading, privately held manufacturers and distributors of health care products in the United States. The company serves the medical and rehabilitation sectors. It markets more than 2,000 products throughout the world. Drive Medical maintains manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Taiwan, Romania and Canada. The company offers beds, wheelchairs, sleep surfaces, and pressure prevention and bariatric products. It also provides a line of personal care products, such as cervical collars, inflatable rubber cushions and male urinals. The company offers respiratory products that include regulators, suction machines and concentrators, as well as delivery services. Drive Medical provides aluminum rolattors under the R6BL, R6RD and R6SL models.

"To Sir with Love" remains my favorite movie. Perhaps it is my "old soul" that my grandmother said I have, but I think it goes much deeper than that. See, I am not your traditional Human Resources Executive. I spent half of my career in technology sales where I learned and developed a keen sense for engaging people, building trust and working with fast paced, collaborative and free spirit thinkers. While my pivot to HR had its share of twist and turns, like the movie I have learned that one can take an unconventional path throughout their life and find their career in a place they would have never looked. Sidney Poitier was an engineer who took a job at a London inner-city school to make ends meet, and through his experiences he learned that his passion was to teach and inspire others through innovative methods and to touch them in unconventional ways. My career is very similar. What I have learned is Talent Acquisition, Employee engagement and HR Operations in a broader sense is a passion and not a job. While Sales is what I did, It is HR that I love. I have learned to leverage my inherent sales skills, attention to details and deadlines as well as my comfort in engaging audiences from all levels to drive me each day. I strive to be thoughtful in my approach and never lose sight of the importance of empowering my team to bring about a successful end. It is my team's success that will ultimately define me and not my own. Just like the movie! I live by a few inspiring quotes: "In your career you get pushed up, not pulled up" "Focus on the 9 things you have, and not the 1 thing you don't" "It's always about the people" "Your network is your net worth" "The person who cleans your office is as important as the person who signs your check and you should know both by name" "Anyone can be a boss, but very few can be a leader; because leaders have to work at it every single day and in every single way"