Zimmer Biomet prez, CEO Dvorak unexpectedly resigns

Zimmer Biomet (NYSE:ZBH) said late yesterday its prez and CEO David Dvorak has resigned from his position at the head of the company, effective immediately, to be replaced on an interim basis by senior VP and CFO Daniel Florin until a permanent successor is named.

The Warsaw, Ind.-based company said it is retaining “a leading executive search firm” as it pursues a new candidate to permanently fill the CEO role.

“Serving alongside Zimmer Biomet’s dedicated employees over the past 16 years and leading the company as CEO for ten of those years has been a privilege and a highlight of my professional career. Our collective efforts grew employment from approximately 3,000 in 2001 to 18,000 today and built a Fortune 500 company. I am particularly proud of what we have accomplished working together with surgeons and clinicians to help millions of patients globally improve their quality of life,” Dvorak said in a press release.

“During David’s 10-year tenure as CEO, Zimmer Biomet has transformed into a truly global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare. Through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions, Zimmer Biomet’s revenue has doubled and the company has established a leading portfolio of technologies, solutions and personalized services. With this strong platform in place, there is tremendous opportunity for Zimmer Biomet. On behalf of the board, I thank David for his many important contributions to our company and industry over the years and wish him much success in the future. We are fortunate to have a leader of Dan’s caliber and experience to step into the CEO role on an interim basis while the board conducts its search process. Dan’s knowledge of Zimmer Biomet and his achievements here and at other medical device companies make him an excellent choice to support the company through this interim period. We appreciate his willingness to take on this expanded role,” board chair Larry Glasscock said in a prepared statement.

The move has elicited positive responses from industry analysts today. RBC Capital Market’s Glen Novarro said that the company has been “in need of new direction and better leadership for some time,” according to a RyOrtho report.

Leerink Partners analyst Richard Newitter saw the change as an inevitable one for the company, saying that the company’s “poor execution (i.e. supply issues, continued guidance re-sets) can only go on for so long before prompting a leadership change and ultimately renewing promise of improved execution & increased value creation potential for shareholders into the future,” according to the report.

A change in leadership could signal a shift for the company, which could use a turnaround according to Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen. Biegelsen said the company’s weak 2nd quarter results indicated the company’s supply issues “persist and recapturing sales lost to competitors over the last several quarters may not return as quickly as expected,” RyOrtho reported.

“We believe that investors would like to see an experienced CEO with a strong track record. We believe that the new CEO choice is critical to restore investor confidence in the company,” Biegelsen said, according to the report, noting that potential candidates could include former Biomet CEO Jeff Binder, former Stryker (NYSE:SYK) CEO Steve McMillan and ZBH board member Gail Boudreaux.

In the meantime, the position will be filled by Florin, who took his position as Senior VP and CFO in June 2015, and has 16 years in the medical device industry, Zimmer Biomet said.

Florin operated as senior VP and CFO of Biomet from June 2007 to June 2015, and operated as VP and corp controller at Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) from 2001 to 2007, and has also held positions at C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) and Deloitte.

“Zimmer Biomet has a talented and dedicated team and an unmatched portfolio. I am honored to assume the Interim CEO role and I look forward to working closely with the board, senior leadership team and our sales force as we strive to support our customers and enhance stockholder value,” Florin said in a prepared release.

Lumicell names ex-Accuray COO Londy CEO

Lumicell said today it tapped former Accuray (NSDQ:ARAY) COO Kelly Londy as its new CEO and board member, replacing founder W. Lee who has moved to take the role of prez & chief scientific officer.

Londy served as COO at Accuray previously, and operated in leadership roles at GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) and Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) prior to that.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Kelly to Lumicell. Kelly was chosen as CEO for her passion for innovation, ability to optimize business strategy, and her overarching desire to make the Lumicell technology available to patients around the globe. With over 25 years of experience in the medical device field, the Board is confident in her ability to lead Lumicell on their mission to change the landscape of cancer surgery,” board chair Dr. Andrey Zarur said in a press release.

“Our team at Lumicell is developing a truly revolutionary intraoperative margin assessment system that gives surgeons real-time visual feedback of residual cancer in the tumor bed. I am honored to lead this team as we strive to greatly improve surgical outcomes and possibly remove the need for repeat cancer surgeries. I am passionate about the battle against cancer, and especially breast cancer, where removing the whole tumor the first time can have dramatic impact to the patient, surgeons and health care system. I believe Lumicell will provide a new platform to surgeons around the world that will allow patients to have the highest level of care possible,” Londy said in a press release.

RenalGuard Solutions said on Monday it appointed former St. Jude Medical and Abiomed (NSDQ:ABMD) commercial exec Jim Dillon as its new CEO.

Dillon joined St. Jude in 2011 and held corporate strategic and sales leadership positions, Milford, Mass.-based RenalGuard said. Prior to his time with St. Jude, Dillon held senior exec sales and marketing positions with companies including Abiomed, TherOx and InfraReDx.

“Jim joins RenalGuard with a proven record of executive leadership related to innovative medical devices that serve the needs of the interventional cardiology, heart failure and cardiac surgery communities. His successes in driving both financial and strategic commercial operations, as well as clinical development, both in the United States and beyond, will serve our company well as RenalGuard continues to build sales in Europe and to prepare for U.S. market launch,” chairman J. Martin said in a prepared statement.

“RenalGuard Solutions has achieved significant success to date in the development and commercial introduction of RenalGuard, an innovative device that better enables patients with kidney problems to benefit from potentially lifesaving cardiac interventions. I look forward to working with the RenalGuard team to make this technology a standard of care for patients at risk for procedure-related acute kidney injury,” Dillon said in a press release.

Spinal Elements, which recently rebranded from Amendia, said yesterday it tapped Jason Blain as its president and chief operating officer.

Blain previously worked as president of former-separate company Spinal Elements, which Amendia acquired in April this year. Before joining Spinal Elements, Blain held roles in product dev, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and quality assurance with Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN), Alphatec (NSDQ:ATEC) and NuVasive Inc. (NSDQ:NUVA).

“Jason co-founded Spinal Elements in California and is chiefly responsible for their commitment to innovation of premium products and technologies for nearly 15 years. His track record of bringing best in class products to the marketplace will accelerate the combined company’s growth toward becoming the preferred spinal solutions provider to our clinicians and independent distributors. I look forward to working closely with Jason as we build a stronger connection with surgeons and the products we develop,” CEO Chris Fair said in a prepared statement.

“I look forward to taking on these expanded responsibilities as we continue to drive Spinal Elements toward being the preferred spine surgery solutions provider. We have a number of disruptive technologies that we will be bringing to the market in the coming months as we improve the operations of our recently-combined companies. This is an exciting time to be a part of the organization,” Blain said in a press release.

InVivo Therapeutics (NSDQ:NVIV) said on Monday it appointed Dr. Richard Toselli as its chief medical officer, effective July 5.

Prior to his appointment at Cambridge, Mass.-based InVivo, Toselli served as chief med officer at Cochlear Ltd. (ASX:COH). Before that, Toselli served for 5 years at Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) in various positions, and at Covidien Surgical and Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) DePuy Spine previous to that.

“We are pleased to welcome Rich to the InVivo team during this pivotal moment in the company’s history. His deep industry experience paired with his medical training as a spine trauma neurosurgeon make him an invaluable asset as we look to finish enrollment of our pivotal probable benefit study and file for marketing approval,” CEO & chair Mark Perrin said in a press release.

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