Tegra Medical Appoints New CEO

Tegra Medical has appointed Robert E Pietrafesa as its new president and CEO. Pietrafesa brings more than 16 years of experience as a president and chief operating officer (COO) in medical device manufacturing. Most recently, he served as president of the InterV Division of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals after the successful sale of American Medical Instruments (AMI) to Angiotech for $785 million. During the three prior years, while he was president at the InterV Division of AMI, the firm’s revenues tripled and operating income increased by 500 percent.

Previously, he was a group vice president of Medical for the Marmon Group. There, he served as chief strategist of the medical business and led the acquisition of five companies in six years. Pietrafesa then orchestrated a successful spinoff of most of the medical assets to create a branded device company principally owned by the private equity firm Roundtable Healthcare Partners, with Marmon continuing as an investor. Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and COO of B.G. Sulzle, which he joined in 1992. In five years, Sulzle grew revenue by $28 million by improving quality, reducing lead times dramatically and increasing exports of surgical needles from 25 percent to 65 percent of sales, becoming the world’s largest independent manufacturers of surgical needles. In 1997 the company was sold to the Marmon Group.

“We’re thrilled to have Rob join the organization to lead the Tegra team,” said David Belluck, chairman of the board at Tegra and general partner of Riverside Partners, the majority owner of Tegra. “Tegra is well positioned to serve the growing medical device outsourcing market with a terrific set of manufacturing capabilities and a dedicated workforce. Attracting a seasoned leader with Rob’s broad industry knowledge and operating experience is exactly what’s needed to ensure that our strategy and execution are well aligned.”

Pietrafesa has been no stranger to Tegra.

“I’ve known Tegra and some of its key principals for a number of years and have always admired the technical prowess, the focus on solving customer problems, and the character and integrity of the team,” said Pietrafesa. “I look forward to leveraging this strong foundation and ensuring that we build on past successes with an unrelenting focus on customer satisfaction. Tegra has a committed and talented workforce. With the Genesis Tech Center to prototype and develop manufacturing processes, a low cost country option with our operation in Costa Rica, and the sophisticated quality system and practices required today, Tegra has the right offering to meet the needs of the most demanding device manufacturers.”

Headquartered in Franklin, Mass., Tegra Medical provides machining and contract manufacturing services for the medical device industry. The company has 200,000 square feet of modern manufacturing space in four locations and is ISO 13485:2003 registered.