Omni Components Appoints New Senior Executive

Omni Components Corp. has found itself a new task master. Company executives have named Frank Stone chief operating officer and senior vice president, a position that entails managing the firm’s daily operations and its finances. Stone reports to Omni President and CEO Rick Holka.

“Frank Stone is a respected, hands-on leader who brings organizational experience, financial leadership, energy and knowledge to Omni,” Holka said. “Frank will make a significant and positive impact to Omni’s competitiveness, manufacturing strength and future success. I look forward to working closely with him as he undertakes his responsibilities.”

Some of those responsibilities are bound to be similar to the duties he assumed in past positions. He has experience as both a senior manager and controller, having worked as vice president of cost management at Noble Environmental Power and vice president of financial controls and compliance at La Petite Academy Inc., according to Stone’s LinkedIn profile. Noble Environmental, based in Essex, Conn., is a renewable energy company that built wind parks in New York state, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Texas.

La Petite Academy is a Novi, Mich.-based educational childcare firm that operates more than 500 schools nationwide.

In addition to his positions at Noble Environmental and La Petite Academy, Stone was a division controller at Saint-Gobain Corporation, a Paris, France-based company that designs, manufactures and distributes building materials. The multinational firm’s healthcare products business includes a medical division that provides molding, extrusion and custom fabrication services for device OEMs.

Stone states in his LinkedIn profile that he served as corporate cost manager at Freudenberg-NOK and plant controller at Freudenberg Nonwovens. Freudenberg-NOK is the Americas joint venture partnership between Freudenberg & Co. in Germany and NOK Corp. in Japan. Created in 1999, the combined company (headquartered in Novi, Mich.) produces elastomeric seals and custom molded products.

Freudenberg Nonwovens Limited Partnership, based in Weinheim, Germany, produces nonwovens for the textile and clothing industries.

Based in Hudson, N.H., Omni Components provides multi-axis, precision turnkey machining services and engineered solutions to customers through CNC Swiss, mill/turn, vertical milling and EDM technology.

Orthofix Fills Senior VP Post by Promotion

Orthofix International N.V. looked within its ranks to find the newest member of its executive team. The company has promoted Jeffrey M. Schumm to senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Schumm joined the Netherlands-headquartered provider of trauma and spinal fusion products in January 2007 as vice president and assistant general counsel.

“Jeff has provided invaluable guidance and support since joining the company,” Orthofix Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Bob Vaters said. “We have benefited from his international and litigation experience, and his promotion to general counsel further strengthens Orthofix’s senior management team.”

Schumm has more than 25 years of experience in the business and legal worlds, having worked in both private industry and government. Before he joined Orthofix, Schumm was vice president and general counsel for RTI Biologics Inc., an Alachua, Fla.-based provider of sterile biological implants. Earlier in his career, Shumm was assistant attorney general for the State of Florida and also was affiliated with the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP.

Schumm received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and he earned his law degree at Florida State University College of Law. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Florida and North Carolina State Bar Associations, the Association of Corporate Counsel and the American Health Lawyers Association.

TranS1 Hires VP of R&D from Within

TranS1 Inc. has promoted Stephen Ainsworth, Ph.D., to vice president of research and development.

Ainsworth has worked for TranS1 for eight years, having started in 2002 as a senior R&D engineer. Since 2008, he has been the director of product development at the Wilmington, N.C.-based firm.

“Steve’s promotion recognizes his contributions to TranS1 from our beginning as a small startup company through commercialization and expansion of our AxiaLIF products,” said Ken Reali, TranS1 president and chief operating officer. “His thorough understanding of our products has helped us expand our offerings over the past year and his experience will continue to be invaluable as we further develop products.”

Ainsworth has more than 15 years of experience in medical device R&D. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and his Ph.D. in bioengineering from Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.

Ainsworth came to TranS1 from Raleigh, N.C.-based Closure Medical Corporation, where he worked as a senior biomedical scientist. He held similar positions at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Coalescent Surgical Inc., and Guidant Corporation (before it was purchased by Boston Scientific Inc.).

TranS1 designs, develops and markets products that treat degenerative conditions of the lower back.