Stryker must face class action employment claims
May 15, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Stryker failed to convince a California federal judge last month that it had no employment relationship with a former sales rep working for its Howmedica subsidiary.
Tanner Trosper, the sales rep, sued Stryker and Howmedica last year, alleging failure to reimburse employees for business-related expenses and failing to have a reimbursement policy in place, as required by California law, according to court documents. Stryker asked Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for Northern California to dismiss the putative class action, arguing that ” Trosper has failed to produce evidence demonstrating the existence of an employment relationship between Trosper and Stryker,” according to the documents. Read more
Staar Surgical hires consumer marketing expert to move Visian lenses
May 16, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
Staar Surgical is looking to take its direct-to-consumer marketing to the next level, hiring commercial branding expert David Choromanski to boost the public profile of the Visian ICL implantable lenses.
Staar named Choromanski its new senior director of consumer marketing for the ICL line, touting his past tenures at companies such as Red Bull and Coca Cola where he launched “effective consumer marketing programs which drove market share and profitable growth.” Read more
Hologic taps J&J vet McMahon as new CFO | Personnel Moves
May 14, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Hologic said it tapped the former finance vice president at a Johnson & Johnson spinout to be its new CFO.
Robert McMahon was worldwide vice president of finance & business development at J&J’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics business, according to a press release. McMahon is slated to take the finance reins at Hologic May 26, according to the release. Read more
Echo Therapeutics battles 'dissident' stockholder and pool-industry board nominee
May 20, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
Embattled Echo Therapeutics issued a series of letters in recent weeks urging its shareholders not to vote in favor of activist investor Platinum Group’s nominee for the board of directors, saying that the candidate was chosen based on nepotism rather than merit.
Echo claimed that Platinum nominee Shepard Goldberg is the 1st cousin of the firm’s current board designee, Michael Goldberg. Echo further noted that Shepard’s background is primarily in heating and swimming pools, saying that “Shepard Goldberg brings to the Board no relevant medical device experience.” Read more