Eric Milledge will occupy the corner office at Nfocus Neuromedical Inc.

The Johnson & Johnson Corp. (NYSE:JNJ) vet joined the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company in April 2009 as its board chairman, replacing Martin Dieck, who assumed the role of COO.

NFocus is developing a single-deployment embolization treatment for brain aneurysms called Luna that it hopes will replace detachable coils.

“We have made great progress since our founding including building a world-class team and developing the Luna product.  We now have major milestones ahead of us including Luna clinical efforts, CE Mark and US regulatory approval. Eric brings significant and highly relevant experience that will be instrumental as we enter this next phase of clinical studies, regulatory approvals and ultimately commercialization,” Dieck said in prepared remarks.

The company won 510(k) clearance from the Food & Drug Administration for its Acto Vessel Occlusion system in September.

Milledge spent more than 34 years at J&J, where he served as group chairman for the LifeScan division, which produces blood glucose meters, test strips and diabetes management software. The subsidiary employs more than 2,500 workers globally.

Milledge also holds a chairmanship at Switzerland-based CeQur SA, a position he’s held since October 2009, and has board affiliations with two other companies: Orthobond Inc., a North Brunswick, N.J.-based company that makes bio-interfaces for medical devices and  DFB Pharmaceuticals Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company out of Ft. Worth, Texas.

During his tenure at LifeScan, Milledge led the company through two major M&A deals, when the company bought out Animas Corp. and Inverness Medical Innovations, the latter a $1.3 billion deal. Milledge lists mergers and acquisitions as a specialty on his LinkedIn profile.