As president of Upperville, Va.-based I.V. Technologies, Joe Cramer relies on more than three decades of experience in the medical equipment world and his reputation has earned him the distinction of being both a DOTmed 100 company and DOTmed certified user.


Since founding I.V. Technologies in 1986, the company has shipped over 40,000 remanufactured infusion pumps worldwide and Cramer is a recognized pioneer in the refurbished infusion pump market.

"When I started Salvage Masters, Inc. [the company's original name] in 1986, it was just for fun and hopefully the profits would pay for a nice vacation for my wife and I," Cramer says. "It did because I worked for the three best medical companies in the world and they taught me the three basic qualities anyone needs to be successful: dedication to ethics, professionalism and service."

Cramer received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Arizona in 1972 and began in the business as a sales rep in the pharmaceutical division of Travenol Labs.

"After I graduated from college I went to the veterinarian I worked for and asked him -- what do I do with a B.S. in Animal Science? He suggested medical sales," Cramer says. "He asked me what I thought of the guys that would come to his hospital pushing medical equipment with the nice suits and the Mercedes in the parking lot. The rest is history."

Cramer next went to work for IVAC Corp., where he was responsible for converting large competitive teaching hospitals to IVAC fluid delivery systems. He continued working in the industry and learning from the best.

"I got involved in medical equipment after five years of pharmaceutical sales on the coaching of the vice president of the company I was working for," he says. "He knew of the sales position and the wonderful opportunity it was and I went to work for IVAC Corp."

Cramer says that the four best companies to work for in the medical industry at that time were Baxter, Hewlett Packard, IVAC and Medtronic and he was grateful to work at three of them, spending five years at Baxter, 10 at IVAC and seven years at Medtronic.

Now at I.V. Technologies, a typical day for Cramer begins at 5:30 a.m. when he starts planning out his day. "It seems the only time I'm not thinking about work is when I'm sleeping and sometimes I dream about work," he says. "I cycle 20-30 miles, five times a week before work, and I do my best thinking then."

Administrative duties take up most of his morning and he'll answer as many phone calls as he can in order to stay focused on his customers and their needs.

"Communicating with our customers is the most important and enjoyable part of the job," he says. "Hopefully by the end of the day I have spoken to five to ten wonderful customers and have taken care of all their IV pump needs."

At this stage of his career, Cramer enjoys watching the company and his staff size grow.

"The way we grow is to take care of our customers by giving them a great product at the best price possible," he says. "The more happy customers we have the better off everyone here is. We all like job security and the way to get that is to take care of the customer.

I'm a very competitive person and this job offers competition of all sorts. If you are not competitive you won't be successful in any market."

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