Danek Medical Founder Leading SpineGuard Board

There’s a new chairman on board at SpineGuard. Alan Olsen, founder and president of Danek Medical Inc., has been chosen to lead the startup company’s board of directors.

Olsen currently is CEO and board chairman of Atlas Spine, a Jupiter, Fla.-based spinal implant company. He has been an active investor and director in six privately held companies primarily in the medical device industry, according to a news release from SpineGuard. Olsen also has served as chairman or a board member with charitable organizations dedicated to spinal cord injuries, foster children, advocacy and the arts.

Olsen formed Danek Medical in 1980 as an orthopedic soft-goods company, using the names of family members for the moniker. He sold the company five years later, a move that eventually transformed the firm into the larger Danek Group Inc. In 1993, Danek Group shareholders approved a merger with a privately held French company called Sofamor S.A., headquartered in Rang-du-Fliers, France. The new company bore a new name—Sofamor Danek Group Inc.—and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1999, Sofamor Danek Group merged with Medtronic Inc., and called itself Medtronic Sofamor Danek until 2006, when it became better known as Medtronic’s Spinal and Biologics business unit.

Olsen has been a member of SpineGuard’s board since November 2009.

Headquartered in Paris, France (with U.S. offices in San Francisco, Calif.), SpineGuard was founded last year by Pierre Jérôme and Stéphane Bette, former executives at Medtronic Sofamor-Danek and SpineVision, a company that develops and markets spinal implants and instruments. Last spring, the pair used part of the $11 million SpineGuard received in first-round funding to acquire the PediGuard unit from SpineVision.

Secant Medical Beefs Up its Management Team

Secant Medical LLC is undergoing a growth spurt.

Having expanded its manufacturing capacity, executives at the Perkasie, Pa.-based biomedical textiles manufacturer have now added to the firm’s management team. In a formal news release, officials announced the hiring of Kenneth Ross as business development director, Tony J. Troiano as Lean “champion” and Joan M. Anthony as marketing manager.

In his new position, Ross will handle accounts in the soft tissue and general surgery device market. He joined Secant from Dew Technologies Inc., a Fairborn, Ohio-based implant manufacturer that was acquired by TriMas Corporation in August 2007.

Ross spent seven years in senior-level positions at Dew Technologies. Prior to that, he worked for Architects Associated Inc., a Dayton, Ohio-based full-service architectural firm, and DePuy Orthopedics Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson company) in Warsaw, Ind.

Troiano has more than a decade of experience in manufacturing and transactional continuous improvement, manufacturing operations, and product and process design in various organizations. He was a project manager at The Vanguard Group, an investment management company; and an engineer for Whirlpool Corporation.

Secant officials hired Troiano to develop and implement a Lean manufacturing program. He already has spearheaded such projects at the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center in Philadelphia, Pa., and Samsung Electronics.

As marketing manager, Anthony will supervise all marketing, communications, and business development support programs. She spent more than a decade with Hewlett-Packard Company gaining experience in marketing programs management, product marketing, integrated marketing communications, customer relationship management, direct and web marketing, and closed-loop demand generation.

AAOS Names New Medical Director

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) has appointed a new medical director. The Rosemont, Ill.-based organization that provides musculoskeletal education to orthopedic surgeons worldwide named William R. Martin III, M.D., to the post. He assumed his new role on June 1.

Martin’s appointment is not a complete surprise—he has been affiliated with the 77-year-old organization for at least six years. He was a member of the Academy Leadership Fellows Class of 2004, and served on the Healthcare Delivery Committee. Martin also has served on the Council on Advocacy and the Diversity Advisory Board. According to an online biography, Martin helps provide orthopedic services for crippled children throughout Arizona, as well as the poor and medically indigent people living in inner cities and on Native American Indian reservations.

Martin is an orthopedic surgeon at Copper State Orthopedics Ltd., and the medical director of Urgent Care Plus, LLC, both in Pheonix, Ariz.

Martin graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts and received his medical degree from Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University. He earned a general surgery internship and an orthopaedic residency at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, according to an AAOS news release. Martin completed an adult foot and ankle reconstruction fellowship and post graduate work in public health at the University of North Carolina.