Bob Vaters has been recognized and promoted for his good work at Orthofix International.
Vaters Promoted, Rewarded at Orthofix
2 min read Premium comments
Orthofix President and CEO Alan Milinazzo announced on January 10 that Vaters is, effective immediately, the company’s new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
“Since joining Orthofix, Bob has had a positive impact on key drivers of the company. This promotion recognizes his contribution to our success over the last two years and we look forward to his continued success with his new responsibilities, ” said Milinazzo.
The recognition came with some concrete rewards. An SEC filing on January 14 stated that the company’s Board of Directors approved a one-time promotion bonus of $115, 000 and increased his base salary to $456, 500 per year. Vaters will now be responsible for the operations of the company and continue to report to Milinazzo.
When Vaters joined Orthofix in September 2008, the company had experienced a challenging year in the financial markets and saw its stock downgraded by some analysts. In addition, the company’s spine division had failed to meet management’s expectations. At the time of his hiring, Milinazzo told OTW that Vaters’ experience in providing financial leadership for global companies and his knowledge of the medical device industry “will be valuable assets as we continue to focus on strengthening our legacy businesses while executing the strategy for our emerging spine business.”
Today, Orthofix sits atop the OTW Power Rankings. Said OTW Publisher Robin Young, “So interesting how Orthofix tamps down expectations then routinely exceeds them each quarter.”
Brian McCollum, Interim CFO
Vaters was the company’s Chief Financial Officer. That position has been filled, in the interim, with the promotion of Brian McCollum to the CFO spot.
McCollum has been with Orthofix since 2001, most recently as Senior Vice President of Finance since August 2010. From December 2008 until August 2010, he was VP International Finance and Group Treasurer; from July 2006 to December 2008, he was VP Finance, The Americas; and from May 2001 to July 2006 he held various other finance-related positions at the company.
McCollum will be responsible for all financial activities of the company including investor relations. His salary is being increased to $300, 000 per year.
The company also announced that Eric Brown, who had previously held the position of President, Spine Stimulation will “cease to serve as an employee of the company on January 31, 2011.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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