Dentsply Sirona (NSDQ:XRAY) yesterday cleared the deck of its upper management, ousting its chairman, CEO and COO, appointing an interim chief executive and promoting from within for the interim operating chief role.
That means chairman Bret Wise, CEO Jeffrey Slovin and COO Christopher Clark are out, replaced temporarily by Eric Brandt, Mark Thierer and Bob Size, respectively.
York, Pa.-based Denstply Sirona said its board made the moves “to position the company to achieve its potential as the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies.”
Thierer is the former CEO of OptumRx and Catamaran, the pharmacy benefit management business that merged with OptumRx in 2015. Size spent 10 years as an SVP with Dentsply Sirona, after spending three years as a VP and GM there.
“Dentsply Sirona’s board of directors strongly believes that the company is well-positioned to achieve its business objectives and deliver value for its shareholders, and that new leadership is critical to achieving success,” Brandt said in prepared remarks. “We are pleased to have someone of Mark Thierer’s caliber to lead Dentsply Sirona. He is a proven healthcare executive with a successful track record both in driving organic growth and transaction execution on a comparable scale to our company. In addition, as interim president & COO, Bob returns to our company with direct operational experience, having served as part of the senior leadership of Dentsply Sirona for 14 years.
“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Bret, Jeff and Chris for their years of service to Dentsply Sirona. We wish each of them the best in their future endeavors,” Brandt said.
“I am excited about the opportunity to lead Dentsply Sirona, the recognized market leader in the dental industry,” Thierer added. “We have a significant opportunity to create value for our shareholders, distribution partners and the dental professionals and patients that use our products every day. Our dedicated employees have an unwavering commitment to high-quality products, innovation and best-in-class customer support helping us empower dental professionals to provide better, safer, faster dental care.”
Dentsply Sirona reiterated its forecast for adjusted earnings per share for $2.65 to $2.75. The company said its board also approved a reduction from 11 to nine members and eliminated some provisions enacted for the $5.56 billion merger of Dentsply and Sirona in December 2015.
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