Clark Barousse Joins FlexDex as Chief Executive Officer


BRIGHTON, Mich., May 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FlexDex, Inc. (“FlexDex” or “Company”), a medical device company that is developing a platform of articulating laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery, announced today that Clark Barousse has joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He is replacing James D. Geiger, MD who served as interim CEO since August 2017.  Dr. Geiger will continue as a member of FlexDex’s Board of Directors and as Chief Medical Officer and provide support to the Company and Mr. Barousse during this transition.

Mr. Barousse is a seasoned business executive with more than 25 years of experience in the medical device market. He has a proven track record of leading, developing and executing on commercialization strategies and driving market development initiatives.

"I'm excited to have Clark lead the FlexDex team. Clark's outstanding experience and leadership in a broad range of medical device technologies including endoscopic imaging, laparoscopic instruments and minimally invasive procedures is complimentary to FlexDex’s disruptive vision of enabling the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to more patients," commented James Geiger, M.D., Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer for FlexDex Surgical.

Mr. Barousse most recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer, Americas for Pentax Medical (“Pentax”). While at Pentax, he restructured and rebuilt a declining capital business, set new strategic direction, resolved numerous FDA issues and grew revenue at an above market growth rate after six consecutive years of decline. Prior to this time, Mr. Barousse served as Senior Vice President, Chief Sales Officer at Biolase, a manufacturer and distributor of dental lasers and President at Hybridge, a network of dental practices that works with clinicians to improve their practices. He also held senior sales, marketing, and research and development positions with Biohorizons, Smith & Nephew Orthopedics, Ethicon, Inc. and Genzyme. Under Mr. Barousse’s commercial leadership at Biohorizons, the business tripled its revenue in a four year period, prior to its sale to Henry Schein. 

"I look forward to joining this outstanding team and leading FlexDex to the next level," stated Mr. Barousse.  "FlexDex has a novel product platform that is already providing benefits to patients and has the exciting potential to redefine robotic surgery globally.”

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Clark as our President and Chief Executive Officer," stated Richard Hylant, FlexDex’s Chairman of the Board.  "Clark has extensive experience in product commercialization, developing strategic relationships, fundraising and acquisitions that we consider critically important for FlexDex to realize its full potential as a medical device company.”

Mr. Barousse earned his BA in Economics/Spanish at Hampden-Sydney College. He received his MBA from Georgia State University.

About FlexDex, Inc.

FlexDex is a medical device company that is developing the FlexDex platform to provide surgeons with high performance and cost effective minimally invasive surgical instruments. The Company’s focus is to enable advanced minimally invasive procedures with greater precision and less fatigue. FlexDex was developed at the University of Michigan by co-founders Shorya Awtar, Sc.D., James Geiger, MD and Greg Bowles. This platform technology enables highly intuitive, one-to-one mapping of the surgeon’s arm and hand motions to the articulating instrument inside the patient’s body. The patented “Virtual Center™” of the FlexDex platform is a simple mechanical design that, we believe, will greatly enhance the capabilities of all Minimally Invasive Surgical (MIS) instruments. The FlexDex Needle Driver, the first instrument of the FlexDex platform, has been granted the CE mark and is available for sale in the United States and internationally. FlexDex Surgical’s first product, an articulating needle driver, is being used by surgeons in the United States. FlexDex has an exclusive distribution agreement in the US with Olympus and distribution in over 15 territories internationally for many procedures including inguinal-ventral hernia repair, foregut surgery, bariatric surgery, partial nephrectomy, prostatectomy, and hysterectomy.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.flexdex.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements on FlexDex’s current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes,“ "estimates,” “indicates,” and similar expressions. These statements are based upon management’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. The information in this press release is provided only as of the date presented, and FlexDex undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this presentation on account of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contact information

Clark Barousse
President & CEO
info@flexdex.com
+1–810–522–9009 Office