Jim Cloar isn’t just the Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Medical Products. He’s also a client.
In 2023, Cloar underwent rotator cuff surgery. Forced to sleep in a chair for several nights, he tested a product Aspen was testing that added therapy pads to the company’s flagship Vista Cervical Collar and Horizon 637 brace, allowing him to receive cold therapy without ice–and without getting up. Calling himself the “guinea pig,” he raved about the innovation, calling himself a “zealot” for the product.
Cloar joined Aspen in 2020, and has overseen the company’s expansion from its core business of spinal solutions designed for motion control, pain management, and postural alignment. In January. The Irvine, California-based company purchased Advanced Orthopaedics, a manufacturer and supplier of bracing solutions and orthopedic soft goods, following a similar purchase in 2019, when the company purchased UK-based ProMedics.
“We will soon bring the same innovative approach to the global bracing and supports market that we have successfully implemented in spine for decades,” Cloar said.
Founded in 1994, Aspen’s Vista Cervical collar has become an integral fixture in the majority of Level I/Level II Trauma Centers across the United States, while its VRTX System is the first off-the-shelf, cervical-to-sacrum modular spine system available on the market. Its reach is hardly limited to America’s shores: In 2024, the company signed a deal with Camp Scandinavia to distribute orthotics products in Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
Cloar’s focus on expansion isn’t strictly limited to acquisitions, with Aspen contributing to Greater Goods Charities, a shelter-pet rescue and care service, in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton in October 2024. “As communities begin to rebuild, we are proud to play a role in supporting them as they recover from the storms,” Cloar said.
It would seem that Cloar is not simply a CEO, but a researcher, a savvy dealmaker, an animal lover, and more–the exact type of person you’d want as your company’s backbone–pun, and admiration, intended.
