NEW YORK, Feb. 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Small Bone Innovations, Inc. (SBi), a single-source provider of innovation, products, technology and education for the small bone & joint sector of the orthopedic industry, has strengthened major areas of its operation, as key members of its world-class management team have been promoted to new roles.
Jean-Jacques Martin
Senior Vice President, International Sales,
Managing Director, SBi International, SAS
Jean-Jacques Martin has been promoted to the position of senior vice president, international sales, where he will focus his full attention and energy on managing all SBi sales outside of the U.S. Martin will also retain his position as managing director, SBi International, SAS. He joined the company in March 2005.
Before joining SBi, Martin was the director and president of Fixano, SAS, a privately-held French orthopedic company based near Lyon, France. Martin founded Fixano, SAS in 1987 with an external fixation product line of ring fixators and in-house manufacturing. During Martin's 18 years of experience with Fixano, he was responsible in developing, manufacturing, and marketing technologies in orthopedics, trauma, and spine.
Martin has more than 20 years of experience in orthopedics and attended Universite in Lyon, France.
Christopher Frederick
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, Reimbursement
& National Accounts
Christopher Frederick, vice president, worldwide marketing, has been promoted to the position of senior vice president, worldwide marketing, reimbursement & national accounts. In addition to leading the company's marketing and public relations efforts, managing the product portfolio, market development, product introduction, product packaging and corporate image, he will now also be responsible for SBi's global reimbursement issues and national accounts. Frederick joined SBi in November 2005.
Before joining SBi, Frederick spent 16 years with Johnson & Johnson in the Medical Device Division at Ethicon Endo-surgery and Cordis Endovascular. He was vice president of marketing for Cordis Endovascular, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, and led an interdependent team integrating market development, U.S. marketing, global marketing and marketing communications. Prior to Cordis, Frederick held senior management-level positions at Ethicon Endo-Surgery in Ohio and in the Pacific Northwest.
Frederick has more than 20 years experience in medical device marketing and sales, and holds a B.S. in business administration and marketing from Bloomsburg University.
Nicholas M. Pachuda, D.P.M.
Vice President, Worldwide Medical Education & Clinical Studies
Dr. Nicholas M. Pachuda, vice president, medical education, has been promoted to the position of vice president, worldwide medical education and clinical studies. He now leads SBi's company-wide medical education efforts around the globe, while also creating a structured clinical studies strategy that addresses SBi's needs and serves to complement and advance all levels of our operations.
Prior to joining SBi in June of 2005, Dr. Pachuda was a small joint product manager for Arthrex, Inc., a company dedicated to the development of innovative arthroscopy products for sports medicine. Before Arthrex, Dr. Pachuda owned and managed a private foot and ankle surgical practice, which was among the top income grossing private practices in the U.S. Dr. Pachuda was also board certified in foot, rearfoot, and ankle reconstructive surgery as well as podiatric orthopedics.
Dr. Pachuda has more than 19 years experience in small joint surgery and holds a B.S. in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and a DPM from Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine. He completed his surgical training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ, followed by an Orthopedic Trauma Fellowship in Germany. Dr. Pachuda was also part of the AO (Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Osteosynthesefragen) International teaching faculty, and has authored several publications and textbooks.
Thomas B. Loring
Vice President, Worldwide Product Development & Technology Development
Thomas Loring has been promoted to the position of vice president, worldwide product development and technology development, where he will add the natural, synergistic complement of technology development to his duties in product development.
Loring came to SBi from Osteotech, Inc. where he was senior director of product development and orthobiologics. In this role, Loring led all research and development efforts on bone/polymer composite biomaterials.
Prior to working at Osteotech, Inc., Loring was employed by Stryker Orthopaedics for eleven years where he held senior management positions in product and business development. While in the business development role at Stryker, he put together a plan to create a dedicated business unit focused on the small bone market.
Loring received his B.S. in management/industrial engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and his MBA from Dartmouth College, The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.
Additionally, Small Bone Innovations has announced the following Management promotions:
Thomas Mezzio has been promoted to the position of director of investor relations, and adds this role to his current position as chief of staff. Mezzio is now responsible for SBi's investor relations, investor meetings and communications, in addition to his existing company and board of director relations duties.
Matt Tilley has been promoted to the position of North American Western Regional Sales Manager. Tilley now oversees the entire Western region, including the Los Angeles area, where he had served SBi as a direct sales representative.
Fred Bandel has been promoted to the position of international upper limb project manager, a position focused on technical training and education, surgical consulting and sales. This is a sales-based marketing role and he will work closely in conjunction with surgeons outside the U.S. Bandel will be based out of SBi's Bourg-en-Bresse, France office.
SBi has also announced three new recent additions to their operation:
Bruce Berman has been hired as North American Eastern Regional Sales Manager.
Jacques Nicolini has been hired as a new Direct Sales Representative, covering France. Nicolini was formerly with Mitek Surgical Products, a Johnson & Johnson Company.
Francoise Saintilan has been hired as a new direct sales representative in France.
SBi Chairman and CEO, Anthony G. Viscogliosi, commented on the management team enhancements, saying, "I take great pride in having assembled the most talented and dedicated management team I have ever worked with, in my more than 20 years in the musculoskeletal/orthopedics field. They have demonstrated their great strengths and abilities, as shown by SBi's success in 2006, and I have every confidence that they will embrace their new roles and promotions with the same level of energy and drive in 2007."
He added, "SBi hires, and looks to promote those who share the same vision, mission and goals. Each of us as individuals, and the company as a whole, continually strive to be the global leader for small bone & joint arthroplasty and reconstruction, serving small bone & joint surgeons and their patients, worldwide."
About Small Bone Innovations, Inc.
Small Bone Innovations, Inc. (SBi) was founded in 2004 by Viscogliosi Bros., LLC, (VB), the New York-based merchant banking firm that specializes in the musculoskeletal /orthopedic sector. VB created SBi as the first company to focus purely on small bone & joint science. By integrating established companies and professionals in the field, SBi today offers a broad, clinically proven portfolio of innovation, products, technologies and education to treat trauma and diseases in small bones & joints.
In establishing SBi, VB acquired several prominent U.S., Canadian and European orthopedic device companies and product technology licenses focused on small bone and joint treatment, including arthroplasty, internal & external fixation, trauma, and tissue technology.
SBi completed a Series B financing, raising a record total of $42.2 million, announced in January, 2006. Based on data provided by Venture Source, this was the largest venture capital investment ever recorded in the field of orthopedic devices.
SBi was a 2006 recipient of Red Herring magazine's annual "Red Herring 100 North America" award, recognized as one of the nation's leading technology companies and the only orthopedic device company selected among an initial entry of more than one thousand firms.
Additionally, SBi's Artelon CMC-I Spacer, developed for patients with thumb base osteoarthritis, was featured on the cover and highlighted within Medical Design Technology magazine's "Year of Innovation" issue as one of the most fascinating technologies influencing the medical device industry.
For more information on SBi, please visit: www.totalsmallbone.com
The Small Bone Innovations, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3091
Forward-looking statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties impacting the Company's business including increased competition; the ability of the Company to expand its operations and to attract and retain qualified professionals; technological obsolescence; general economic conditions; and other risks.