CLEVELAND — Every business begins with a problem to solve. SPR Therapeutics started as Maria Bennett's master thesis: managing pain, not with drugs, but with peripheral nerve stimulation.
"We were treating [stroke] patients [who] had shoulder pain following their stroke," Bennett explained when we sat down with her recently about how SPR Therapeutics got its start. "And we thought if we could stimulate that shoulder put it back into places, in essence, and allow them to participate in their rehab, then that's going to improve their overall quality of life.
"And the most compelling result as we were studying," Bennet continued, "was this impact that we had on the reduction of pain."
Bennett's concept was shelved for several years as she worked for Boston Scientific. When she moved back to Cleveland in 2002, the beginning of the opioid crisis, her concept was given the green light.
"Our chairman came back to me and said, 'All right, I would love for you to run this company. I'll give you 48 hours to go home and talk to your family about it and let me know what you want to do on that Monday.' So I came back and said, 'Yes, absolutely.'"
The decision did not come without some worry and sleepless nights.
"Fear. I remember asking our chairman at the time I said, 'Well what happens if this doesn't work out?' And he said, 'I don't know, make it work.'"
That was in 2010 and turns out it did work. The Sprint system now treats over 30,000 patients in the United States and counting.
But it wasn't an easy climb.
"When I started I was told that I would have a difficult time building this company and especially attracting and board of directors because of my relatively young age at the time as well as my gender." I said, 'Well there's nothing I can do about either one of those things so I'm going to focus on our mission at SPR as far as being able to treat patients improve their lives again build this wonderful culture that will attract people that have that similar passion,'" Bennett shared.
As she started the company, she also had a family to raise.
"It was a lot of juggling for sure, but it was something that I wanted to ensure that I could be present obviously in my role as CEO but also more importantly in my role as mom and wife."
Married for 22 years and mother of two boys, Bennett says she always found a way to be on the sidelines at their games. And she served on the school board as well.
This experience aligns with her purpose in creating a work culture where employees are able to juggle life's demands.
"I really pride ourselves in investing and developing that talent, whether we hire those individuals right out of school and then give them the opportunities so that there is no glass ceiling," Bennet said.
Bennett says 50% of the team at SPR is female. The same goes for the executive team as well.
She shares this message with upcoming female leaders who also have families:
"I would say again don't sacrifice anything. It's not worth it," Bennett said. There is a way to balance those things and being present in the home, whether that's with your friends or your family or whatever it is, and then being able to do a job effectively, you're going to be more effective in your job if you're able to balance those two things."
Maria Bennett was recently named one of Crain's Cleveland's 'Women of Note.' She's also been recognized by the Cleveland Business Journal as a Woman of Influence Nominee and winner of the Ernst and Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2021.