Dentsply taps new CFO after shaking up Moderna

Dive Brief:

Dental supplies maker Dentsply Sirona appointed Glenn Coleman, 55, as its new CFO, replacing interim finance chief Barbara Bodem, who has served in the position since May. Bodem will remain at the company and continue to serve as an advisor to Coleman until Oct. 24, the company announced Thursday. The changes are effective Monday.
The move comes just weeks after the company tapped a new CEO and four months after the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Dentsply disclosed publicly that its audit and finance committee began an internal investigation into whether its use of incentives to sell products to distributors were appropriately accounted for. The probe’s cloud extended to Dentsply’s former CFO, Jorge Gomez, who abruptly stepped down from his brand new finance chief post at vaccine-maker Moderna.
In the wake of its recent crisis, Dentsply is taking some positive steps by setting up a fresh leadership team to move the company forward, according to Shawn Cole, president of executive search firm Cowen Partners. “From a shareholder’s perspective, this looks great,” Cole wrote in an emailed response to questions. “Glenn has a very strong technical accounting background, [he’s a] GAAP expert, BIG 4 CPA…this is someone who understands leadership, financial reporting, internal controls, and processes, this is the type of CFO profile you want named after a scandal.”

Dive Insight:

Coleman comes from Integra LifeSciences Holdings, a global medical technology company, where he has been chief operating officer since 2019. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and subsequently held numerous financial management positions at Curtiss-Wright and Alcatel-Lucent.

In addition to giving Dentsply high marks for its succession strategy, Cole particularly liked that the company provided a period where Coleman and Bodem’s time at the company will overlap, as well as the fact that the company has a new CEO, an independent interim CFO and a new long-term CFO who are “all very qualified.”

“It means they are taking the transition very seriously and [it] gives Glenn a soft landing,” Cole wrote, of Dentsply’s moves. He also commended the company’s decision to bring an interim in Bodem who has benefited the company in the short term as an “agent of change” by assessing financial processes, internal controls, and operational efficiencies. “This is a good example of... bringing in an interim [that] has benefited the company in the short term,” he wrote.

But Dentsply, along with Coleman who will work alongside newly-minted CEO Simon Campion still have challenges ahead. The company in an Aug. 15 release reported that it had received written notification from NASDAQ that the company “remains out of compliance” with the exchange’s listing rules because it has not yet filed its quarterly reports for the periods ending March 31 and June 30 of this year.

Dentsply is one of a number of companies — including Bed Bath & Beyond and PayPal — recently facing various leadership crises that have ceded their financial reins to interim executives. Interim CFOs can cut through politics to help navigate companies through murky waters, CFO Dive reported.

Dentsply did not respond to requests for comment on the status of its internal probe.