Hans Georg Näder, president and CEO of Ottobock, Duderstadt, Germany, received the honorary International Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) World Congress in Orlando, Florida, on September 20. AOPA President Thomas Kirk, PhD, recognized Näder’s outstanding commitment to progress in medical technology at the awards ceremony.
Näder, grandson of the company founder, has been leading Ottobock since 1990. Under his leadership, the international network was expanded with subsidiaries in 50 countries. Ottobock has been active in the United States since 1958, with headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“For me this honorary award from AOPA is the best confirmation I can imagine that the entire Ottobock family, with its 7,000 employees, is on the right track,” Näder said. “The challenges for our industry will continue to increase with worldwide demographic changes. Here we will find the best solutions through interdisciplinary cooperation between all the partners involved in the rehabilitation process.”
In addition to his responsibilities at Ottobock, Näder gives lectures as a guest professor in Beijing, China, and Göttingen, Germany. He was honored as Germany’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003, in 2005 he received the State Prize of Lower Saxony, and in 2011 he was given honorary citizenship by his hometown of Duderstadt.
