Purge at Orthofix

In a shocking move, Orthofix’s board of directors announced today that they have terminated for cause three of the top executives in the world of spinal implant manufacturing: Keith Valentine, John Bostjancic and Patrick Keran. Valentine was also asked to resign from Orthofix’s board of directors.

Keith Valentine was President and Chief Executive Officer at Orthofix. Over the course of his more than 30 years in the spine industry, Valentine rose from Vice President of Marketing at Medtronic Spine & Biologics to President and Chief Operating Officer at NuVasive, Inc. to President and CEO of SeaSpine. He is one of the most respected and admired executives in the industry.

John Bostjancic has spent more than a quarter century in key executive positions in healthcare starting as Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, then Manager of Accounting Standards for Merck, followed a long career at Integra LifeSciences where he started as the Senior Director of Finance and progressed up through the ranks to Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain. He joined the SeaSpine spin off as its Chief Operating and Financial Officer and then was Chief Financial Officer at Orthofix.

Patrick Keran is a 20-year industry veteran who was Orthofix’s chief legal officer and before that SeaSpine’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel.

The announcement from Orthofix was released this morning and said, in part:

“Catherine Burzik, Chair of the Orthofix Board of Directors, has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer; Geoffrey Gillespie, Orthofix Vice President, Corporate Controller, has been appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer; and Puja Leekha, Orthofix Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, has been appointed Interim Chief Legal Officer. The appointments are effective immediately and follow the unanimous decision by the Board’s independent directors to terminate for cause Keith Valentine, John Bostjancic and Patrick Keran from those respective roles. The Board also requested that Mr. Valentine resign from the Board. The Board will immediately begin a search for permanent successors.”

“The Board’s decision follows an investigation conducted by independent outside legal counsel and directed and overseen by the Company’s independent directors. As a result of the investigation, the Board determined that each of these executives engaged in repeated inappropriate and offensive conduct that violated multiple code of conduct requirements and was inconsistent with the Company’s values and culture. These matters are unrelated to and do not impact the Company’s strategy, results of operations or previously filed financial statements.”

We, like everyone, are shocked and wait for more explanations and information.