California aesthetics devices maker Solta Medical (NSDQ:SLTM) engaged an executive recruiting firm to help fill the empty seat left behind by former CEO Stephen Fanning.
Solta’s still looking for a new chief executive after Fanning resigned last month amid the company’s mixed earnings release, which preceded a 16% drop in SLTM shares in subsequent days.
Shares continued to drop through August, down 26.6% from an opening price of $2.74 on August 1 to a August 15 close of $2.01. SLTM shares have clawed their way up to open at $2.10 yesterday morning, still down 23.4% since the start of last month.
During the 1st week of August Solta posted adjusted per-share earnings that blew away analysts’ expectations, but the company also lowered its full-year guidance and announced the unexplained departure of Fanning. Board member Mark Sieczkarek stepped up to hold the corner office as interim CEO, but the device maker called in some bigger guns to find a permanent chief, contracting CTPartners Executive Search to lead the pursuit.
"During the past month, the Board of Directors has conducted an aggressive process to determine the best resource for our CEO search process," nominating & corporate governance committee chairperson Linda Graebner said in prepared remarks. "Our primary goal with this process is to conduct a thorough effort in a time-efficient manner to identify and recruit the best possible candidate to lead Solta while concurrently improving the company’s performance."