Alphatec Completes its Senior Leadership Team

Alphatec Holdings (Nasdaq:ATEC), the parent company of Alphatec Spine, Inc., a provider of spinal fusion technologies, announced today the addition of two new executives with proven track records in the spine industry, naming Brian Snider as Executive Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Product Development, and Chris Ryan as Area Vice President of Sales in the U.S. Central Region.  Drawing on their deep commercial spine experience, Mr. Snider and Mr. Ryan will focus on building brand awareness with surgeon customers and driving market demand for Alphatec’s differentiated product solutions.

As quoted in the press release:

Brian Snider Named EVP Strategic Marketing and Product Development

“I am pleased to welcome Brian to the Alphatec Senior Leadership Team,” said Terry Rich, Alphatec Spine’s Chief Executive Officer.  “Brian’s arrival completes our efforts over the past few months to restructure Alphatec leadership by adding individuals with significant spine and orthopedic experience. Brian brings an unquestioned track record of building strong surgeon relationships, product innovation, and commercialization, having brought to market over 30 innovative spine products and procedures.  We look forward to leveraging his energy and expertise, as we launch our new products, including Battalion™ Lateral and Arsenal™ Deformity, deepen our engagement with surgeons, and aggressively build our brand.  I look forward to partnering with Brian and believe his contributions will help take Alphatec to the next level of innovation and growth.”

As Alphatec’s Executive Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Product Development, Mr. Snider will lead all aspects of the Company’s go-to-market strategy, including product development, marketing, brand awareness and driving market adoption.

Mr. Snider has spent the past 11 years focused on marketing, brand and product development, and global product management in the spine and medical device industries.  Prior to joining Alphatec Spine, Mr. Snider spent nine years at NuVasive, Inc., where he most recently served as the Business Lead of Thoracolumbar Anterior, and had substantial responsibility over the anterior column business, including XLIF® and Anterior Column Realignment (ACR®).  Prior to NuVasive, Mr. Snider held marketing leadership roles at Alveolus, Inc., a medical device company focused on interventional stent technologies.  He started his career at KPMG consulting in various business units, including Life Sciences.

Mr. Snider holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from The George Washington University.

Chris Ryan Named AVP Sales, Central Region

“I’m excited to bring Chris onboard as the first of our new regional area sales vice presidents,” said Mr. Rich.  “Given the recent launch of our three new products— Arsenal Deformity, Battalion Lateral and XYcor® Expandable Interbody—this is a perfect time for Chris to join the Alphatec team.  Chris brings a combination of high-performing sales leadership and distribution channel transformation experience that will be crucial to leading our sales agent relationships and accelerating our growth.  His reputation for high integrity, his deep understanding of the spine industry and his proven ability to drive significant revenue will make him an asset to our organization.”

As Alphatec’s Area Vice President, Sales, Central, Mr. Ryan will be responsible for expanding the Company’s presence in the Central United States, including building dedicated sales agent relationships, targeting new customer and market opportunities, as well as providing service and support for existing surgeon customers.

Mr. Ryan brings more than 20 years of progressive spine sales leadership experience to Alphatec.  Prior to joining Alphatec, Mr. Ryan held multiple sales leadership roles over a six-year period with Zimmer Biomet Spine, including as its Vice President of U.S. Sales and a member of the Zimmer Spine Leadership Team. Under Mr. Ryan’s leadership, Zimmer’s U.S. Spine Sales channel underwent a substantial, strategic change in distribution, yielding significant annual revenue growth.  Prior to Zimmer, Mr. Ryan served in a number of leadership capacities during his 14-year career at Medtronic, including Regional Vice President of Medtronic Spinal and Biologics business unit, responsible for Medtronic’s Central Region.

Mr. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Western Michigan University.

Inducement Awards Granted

As an inducement to entering into employment with the Company and in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) under Alphatec’s 2016 Employment Inducement Award Plan (the “Plan”), on March 16, 2017, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved the following inducement awards:

• Mr. Snider: 75,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) (with the grant of such RSUs made subject to, and effective on, the date on which Alphatec files a Registration Statement on Form S-8 registering the shares of common stock issuable upon settlement of the RSUs, which filing is expected to occur later this month) and an option to purchase 75,000 shares of common stock.
• Mr. Ryan: 25,000 restricted stock units (RSUs) (with the grant of such RSUs made subject to, and effective on, the date on which Alphatec files a Registration Statement on Form S-8 registering the shares of common stock issuable upon settlement of the RSUs, which filing is expected to occur later this month) and an option to purchase 25,000 shares of common stock.

The RSUs and stock options were granted pursuant to the Plan.  Collectively, the RSUs and options were granted as inducements material to the new employees entering into employment with Alphatec in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

The RSUs will vest in equal installments annually over four years on each of the first four anniversaries of the first date of employment, assuming in each case the employee remains continuously employed by Alphatec as of such vesting date. In addition, the RSUs will fully vest upon a change in control of Alphatec.

The stock options will have an exercise price equal to the closing price per share of Alphatec’s common stock as reported by NASDAQ on the date of grant (March 20, 2017). The stock options will vest over four years, with 25% of the options vesting on the first anniversary of the date of grant and the remainder of the options vesting monthly over the subsequent three years, assuming in each case the employee remains continuously employed by Alphatec as of such vesting date. In addition, the options will fully vest upon a change in control of Alphatec.

Alphatec is providing this information in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

Click here for the full press release.