Ted Mosler

Ted Mosler applied what he learned from his undergraduate engineering program at the University of Toledo in Ohio and his MBA program at North Carolina State University to cofound Gilero Biomedical in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina, soon after graduating in 2002. By 2011, Gilero had appeared twice on Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies in America. In March, 2011, Mosler was named one of the Top 50 Catalyst Entrepreneurs in RTP, an accolade shared with other prominent RTP entrepreneurs like the CEO of SAS Institute, Inc.

The middle child, growing up in an Ohio town of less than 10,000 people, Mosler has said he always wanted to “do something.” Lacking entrepreneurs, inventors, technologists, or engineers nearby, Mosler said his father was his ultimate role model who showed him “how to work hard and how to care for family.”

In 1998, soon after he graduated with his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toledo, Mosler and his future wife moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he began working as a design engineer at Alaris Medical Systems, Inc. He enjoyed the company and the company appreciated him; in 2000, they paid for him to pursue his MBA degree at NC State in the Poole College of Management’s part-time MBA program, focusing on technology entrepreneurship and commercialization as his concentration.

That course of study taught him how to apply his engineering and technology skills to his own startup venture, to write strong business plans, and to approach projects as a team. He learned the importance of choosing teammates brighter than he was, and he found excellent contacts. Since graduating with his MBA, Mosler has carved out a viable space for himself in the dynamic medical device industry known for technology and innovation by cofounding and leading a company that basically streamlines and simplifies the “productizing” of biomedical innovation for its customers.

In building his company, Mosler draws on his wide-ranging experience in device development, with noted expertise in drug access and delivery systems, infection control, wound care, and urology products, as well as the entrepreneurial skills gained through the Jenkins MBA program. He has been recognized for his expertise, having received a Medical Design Excellence Gold Award and being listed on the Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry magazine’s 100 Notable in 2004.

Mosler is an inventor with 30-plus U.S. patents and more pending. As an MBA student, he learned how to take technologies and find solutions. As an entrepreneur, he finds problems and applies technologies to solve them.

Entrepreneurship has not always been easy. It requires continually balancing a very full work life and family life with his wife and four children. “You have to find your way,” he says. Mosler says he loves the thrill and challenge of his work and he insists that his MBA helped him achieve his life goals.