Influencers: Traci Dralle

Fillauer Companies President Traci B. Dralle says that everything the Chattanooga-based orthotic and prosthetic device maker does is focused on patients in order to provide the best functional solutions for them.

"Everything we do is centered around them and their practitioners," says Dralle, who in March was named president of the 105-year-old company that last year received the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's Spirit of Innovation Award.

Dralle, a Decatur, Georgia, native who joined Fillauer in 2012 as director of marketing and moved up the ranks to vice president and now president, says the company has an acronym it uses - SLIC. It makes products Simple, Lightweight, and either Invisible or Cool.

Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter / Fillauer Companies President Traci Dralle poses on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"Everything we've launched in the last five years started with a practitioner or a patient request," she said. "That's one of the reasons we've seen such success over the last several years."

Fillauer employs about 130 people in Chattanooga, Dralle says. In addition to its headquarters and manufacturing functions, it has a patient care clinic, she says.

"We actually see patients, from children to adults," the company president says, noting that it works closely with Children's Hospital at Erlanger where it has a modification lab.

Looking ahead, Dralle says the company expects continued organic growth from its research and development activities. In addition, Fillauer is looking at acquisitions.

"We're always looking for opportunities of other manufacturers and product lines that extend our offerings," she says.

The company started across from Erlanger hospital in 1914. Now with offices worldwide, Fillauer was cited by the Chamber of Commerce for its Nexo system, an upper extremity prosthesis that has drastically changed options available for patients, technicians and prosthetists.