Orthofix’s new CFO takes seat after C-suite blowup

Dive Brief:

Medical device maker Orthofix Medical said Julie Andrews, 52, took the Lewisville, Texas firm’s finance reins Monday. The move comes one week after Massimo Calafiore, 52, joined the firm as CEO and president and about four months after the company ousted their predecessors, CFO John Bostjancic and CEO Keith Valentine, as well as Chief Legal Officer Patrick Keran, according to a release and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The new leadership follows in the wake of the company’s September termination of the three executives after Orthofix said an investigation found that they had engaged in “repeated inappropriate and offensive conduct that violated multiple code of conduct requirements and was inconsistent with the company’s values and culture.” A spokesperson Tuesday declined to provide more specifics on the conduct beyond the earlier company statement.
Andrews, most recently CFO of Smart Wires Technology, previously worked as senior vice president of global finance for Wright Medical Group, a device company acquired in 2020, and from 1998 to 2012 served in various senior roles including vice president of finance for the spine and biologics division at Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Medtronic. She succeeds interim CFO Geoffrey Gillespie who took the finance reins temporarily in September.

Dive Insight:

The shakeup after Orthofix completed a merger with SeaSpine Holdings in early 2023, creating a company with 1,600 employees and a product portfolio of biologics, spinal hardware solutions and growth therapies distributed in 68 countries. Founded in 1980 in Verona, Italy, the company is now ranked as the eighth largest orthopedic device maker globally, according to its website.

Looking ahead, Catherine Burzik, chair of the company’s board of directors and former interim CEO, said she remained “proud” of the team’s commitment to realize merger synergies, according to a Jan. 9 release in which the company reported that its preliminary unaudited fourth quarter net sales rose about 64% from the year-earlier period to $200.3 million.

Julie Andrews

Courtesy of Orthofix

Under Andrews’ offer letter agreement, she will receive an annual base salary of $475,000 and a target bonus opportunity of 70% of her base salary, according to the SEC filing. As an inducement to joining Orthofix, she will also receive a sign-on equity incentive award with a grant date fair value of $1.8 million and a $225,000 after-tax relocation payment.

The company’s new CEO, Calafiore, is a veteran executive in the orthopedic and spine device sector. He was most recently president and CEO of LimaCorporate S.p.A., a global orthopedic company that was acquired by Enovis this month and prior to that he held numerous senior roles at NuVasive, which makes products used in spinal surgeries, from June 2017 to September of 2022.

Calafiore, whose appointment was announced in November, will receive an annual base salary of $825,000 with a target bonus opportunity of 110% of his salary, according to a Dec. 1 SEC filing. Calafiore was also given a sign-on equity incentive award with a grant date fair value of $3.5 million and 2024 annual equity incentive awards with a grant date fair value of $4 million, according to the SEC filing.