Experienced Orthopedics and Spine Executive,
Terry M. Rich, joins as CEO and Board MemberMortimer Berkowitz III
appointed Chairman of the BoardNew Commercial Leadership Team Hired
Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATEC), the parent company of
Alphatec Spine, Inc., a provider of spinal fusion technologies,
today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Terry M.
Rich as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective December
10, 2016. Mr. Rich, who has also been appointed to the
Company’s Board of Directors, will replace Leslie H. Cross, who has
served as interim Chief Executive Officer since September 2016. The
Company also announced today that its Board of Directors has
appointed Mortimer Berkowitz III, a current member of the Company’s
Board of Directors, as Chairman of the Board effective December 10,
2016, replacing Mr. Cross, who will step down as Chairman, but will
remain on the Company’s Board of Directors. As a result of
this transition, the Board will no longer have a Lead Independent
Director. Finally, the Company announced new members of its
commercial leadership team and equity inducement awards being
granted to three new key employees.
Terry M. Rich Named CEOWith over 25 years of
orthopedic, spine and medical device business experience, Mr. Rich
has a successful track record of leading global business units,
driving sales execution and commercial turn-arounds. In
addition, Mr. Rich has demonstrated experience managing both direct
and distributor sales channels. Most recently he served as
President, Upper Extremities at Wright Medical Group N.V.
(Nasdaq:WMGI), following Wright’s merger with Tornier, N.V. Prior
to this, Mr. Rich served as the Senior Vice President, U.S.
Commercial Operations, at Tornier and prior to Tornier, Mr. Rich
held senior sales leadership positions in the spine industry at
Nuvasive and DePuy Spine.
New Sales Leadership AppointedIn conjunction
with Mr. Rich’s appointment, the Company also announced the
following additions to the Company’s commercial leadership
team:
- Jon Allen has accepted a newly created position as the
Company’s Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations. In
this role, Mr. Allen will be responsible for all aspects of sales,
sales training, national accounts, healthcare economics and value
creation.
- Amy Ables, Ph.D., has accepted a newly created position as the
Company’s Vice President, Corporate Education &
Performance. In this role, Dr. Ables will be responsible for
all aspects of training and development for surgeons, sales
representatives, distributors and employees. Dr. Ables will
also drive efforts for an integrated process to involve and align
Alphatec’s teams to accomplish the Company’s strategic goals and
objectives.
With these appointments, the Company is investing in
strengthening its sales leadership in order to improve sales
execution and drive future revenue growth.
Tim Berkowitz, Chairman of the Alphatec Board of Directors,
said, “This leadership transition is the next step in connecting
surgeons and patients in the U.S. with Alphatec’s new and robust
spinal fusion products. We are excited to bring in Terry Rich as
CEO to lead the next phase of the Company’s transformation and
drive superior performance for Alphatec. Terry’s deep experience in
the U.S. spine and orthopedics markets and his demonstrated history
as an executive leader make him ideally suited for the CEO
position. We are equally excited about the additions of Jon
and Amy to the commercial leadership team. Together, Terry,
Jon and Amy were senior executives at Tornier and were instrumental
in repositioning Tornier’s U.S. commercial business and positioning
the company for a successful merger with Wright Medical in
2015. Their combined experience and exceptional leadership
will be invaluable as we move to unlock the potential of our
product portfolio across the U.S. spine market.”
Mr. Berkowitz added, “The Board offers our sincerest thanks to
Les Cross for his dedication and contributions to Alphatec as
Chairman of the Board for the last five-plus years. We
appreciate his guidance and leadership and we are very pleased that
he will continue to serve on the Company’s Board.”
Mr. Rich said, “I am thrilled with the opportunity to lead
Alphatec through this pivotal point in the Company’s transformation
and aggressively pursue the large U.S. market opportunity we have
in front of us. With a new, robust portfolio of spinal fusion
products, an improved capital structure and a strengthened senior
leadership team, we are well positioned to drive towards future
profitability and growth. I look forward to engaging with the
talented Alphatec employees, our surgeon customers, our
distributors and sales agents, our suppliers and our shareholders
as we embark on this new chapter.”
Terry M. Rich Background
With over 25 years of experience in the orthopedic and spine
industry, Mr. Rich, 49, is an accomplished leader with a breadth of
experience across a variety of commercial roles. Mr. Rich was most
recently with Wright Medical Group and Tornier and held multiple
roles with increasing responsibility since 2012 in the areas of
U.S. sales, global product delivery, sales training, global
marketing, commercial operations, research and development,
healthcare economics, business strategy, finance and human
resources. Most recently, since 2015 he served as President,
Upper Extremities of Wright Medical, where he was accountable for a
~$200M annual revenue business unit. Prior to Wright, he held
senior executive leadership positions at Tornier. Within the
spine industry, Mr. Rich has held sales leadership roles at
Nuvasive, where he was responsible for annual regional sales of
~$250M, and was a partner in a DePuy Spine distributor in northern
California. Mr. Rich received a B.A. in Labor Relations from
Rutgers University.
New Commercial Leadership Background
Jon Allen has held numerous sales leadership and sales
operations positions in spine and orthopedics over his 27-year
career in medical devices, including most recently Vice President,
Healthcare Economics and Reimbursement, at Wright Medical where he
had oversight responsibilities for corporate accounts, product
positioning, and value creation. Prior to joining Wright
Medical, Mr. Allen held senior executive leadership positions with
Tornier starting as Vice President, Sales Operations, and serving
on Tornier’s executive committee. Additionally, Mr. Allen
held senior leadership roles within the DePuy franchise where he
was responsible for developing pricing and commercial strategy,
sales channel management and subsequently owning a multi-state
distributorship for DePuy Spine. Mr. Allen has a long
standing reputation being on the forefront of innovative and
differentiated initiatives in the spine and orthopedics
industries. In addition, Mr. Allen has served as a consultant
to leading orthopedic companies working with U.S. Senators and the
Senate Finance Committee in addressing anti-conflict of interest
legislation in healthcare.
Dr. Amy Ables most recently served as Vice President U.S.
Training and Education at Wright Medical, a position she has held
since 2014. From 2007 to 2014, she served a variety of senior
leadership roles at Tornier within medical education, clinical
education, sales training and product management. Prior to
this, she served as Assistant Professor for the Department of
Kinesiology at the University of Texas, Arlington. Dr. Ables
holds a Ph.D. in Biomechanics from Texas Woman’s University and has
published several articles, books and presentations in the area of
kinesiology, sports medicine and medical devices.
Inducement Awards Granted
As an inducement to entering into employment with the Company,
and in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) under
Alphatec’s 2016 Employment Inducement Award Plan (the “Plan”), on
December 10, 2016, the Compensation Committee of the Board of
Directors approved the following inducement awards:
- Terry Rich – 200,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) and an
option to purchase 200,000 shares of common stock; and
- Jon Allen – 75,000 RSUs and an option to purchase 75,000 shares
of common stock; and
- Amy Ables – 25,000 RSUs and an option to purchase 25,000 shares
of common stock.
The RSUs and stock options were granted pursuant to Alphatec’s
2016 Employment Inducement Award Plan (the “Plan”).
Collectively, the RSUs and options were granted as inducements
material to the new employees entering into employment with
Alphatec in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
The RSUs will vest in equal installments annually over four
years on each of the first four anniversaries of the grant date,
assuming in each case the employee remains continuously employed by
Alphatec as of such vesting date. In addition, the RSUs will fully
vest upon a change in control of Alphatec.
The stock options will have an exercise price equal to the
closing price per share of Alphatec’s common stock as reported by
NASDAQ on the date of grant. The stock options will vest over four
years, with 25% of the options vesting on the anniversary of the
date of grant and the remainder of the options vesting monthly over
the subsequent three years, assuming in each case the employee
remains continuously employed by Alphatec as of such vesting date.
In addition, the options will fully vest upon a change in control
of Alphatec.
The Board approved an amendment to the Plan to increase the
shares reserved for issuance thereunder by 600,000 shares,
effective December 10, 2016, to accommodate the foregoing
awards.
Alphatec is providing this information in accordance with NASDAQ
Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).
About Alphatec SpineAlphatec Spine, Inc., a
wholly owned subsidiary of Alphatec Holdings, Inc., is a medical
device company that designs, develops and markets spinal fusion
technology products and solutions for the treatment of spinal
disorders associated with disease and degeneration, congenital
deformities and trauma. The Company's mission is to improve lives
by delivering advancements in spinal fusion technologies. The
Company and its affiliates market products in the U.S. via a direct
sales force and independent distributors.Additional information can
be found at www.alphatecspine.com.
Forward Looking Statements This press release
may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks
and uncertainty. Such statements are based on management's current
expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
described in the forward-looking statements. Alphatec Spine
cautions investors that there can be no assurance that actual
results or business conditions will not differ materially from
those projected or suggested in such forward-looking statements as
a result of various factors. Forward-looking statements include
references to the Company's: product development pipeline and
product portfolio; ability to transform its operations and achieve
superior performance; ability to maintain and take advantage of an
improved capital structure; ability of the senior leadership team
to successfully implement the Company’s strategy; and ability to
accelerate its revenue growth or grow its revenues at
all. Please refer to the risks detailed from time to
time in Alphatec Spine's SEC reports, including its Annual Report
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, filed on March 15,
2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other
filings on Form 10-Q and periodic filings on Form 8-K. Alphatec
Spine disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events, or otherwise, unless required by law.
CONTACT: Investor/Media Contact:
Christine Zedelmayer
Investor Relations
Alphatec Spine, Inc.
(760) 494-6610
czedelmayer@alphatecspine.com
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