A need for speed, as epitomized by the Cheetah, has been in NuVasive, Inc.’s DNA since the days of Lukianov, Valentine and Miles.
NuVasive is still moving fast. After a short three and a half years on the job CEO Greg Lucier is stepping down as CEO but staying on as the company’s Board Chair, a post he’s held since 2013.
His replacement will be one of Medtronic plc’s star executives, Chris Barry. More on Barry later.
Period of Change
Some Wall Street analysts were surprised at Lucier’s relatively short tenure. Others, however, noted that executive suite changes have been fairly consistent since former CEO Alex Lukianov left the building in May 2015.
Lucier had a good run as CEO. During his 3½ year CEO tenure, NuVasive’s sales rose more than $300 million annualized and the value of the company jumped 41%.
Wall Street, however, recently described the company’s execution as “uneven” (BMO Capital Market analyst Joanne Wuensch). Lucier, however, said he felt the company was now on even footing and the time was right to look for a successor. The company said it had been searching for Lucier’s successor for several months.
This isn’t the first time the Cheetah (NuVasive) has raided Medtronic’s bench.
In 1999, two years after it was founded, NuVasive recruited Medtronic Sofamor Danek vet Lukianov, along with former Medtronic colleagues Keith Valentine and Pat Miles, to take charge of NuVasive, a sleepy little spine company in a San Diego suburb. It was a transformative decision. The three former Medtronic Sofamor Danek executives turned NuVasive into a $2.7 billion (market value) spine company.
When the trio first arrived at NuVasive 19 years ago, the company had no sales and was losing about $6 million a year. The next year NuVasive sold $52,000 of classic spine fusion products—and lost $14 million.
When Lukianov left in 2015, we reported that the culture that the original team fostered and built was characterized both internally and externally by such catch phrases as “Speed of Innovation,” “Performance Culture” and the image of the Cheetah. It resulted in a remarkable string of truly innovative products and a sales growth trajectory that placed NuVasive well on the way to $1 billion in sales.
Then in 2015, leadership transitions happened at Cheetah speed. Following Lukianov’s departure, Valentine left, also in 2015, to take over Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation spin-off, SeaSpine Holdings, Inc.
Approximately two years later, Pat Miles abruptly left NuVasive to join another Carlsbad, California, spinal implant manufacturer and NuVasive competitor, Alphatec Holdings, Inc. That departure is still being litigated between Miles and NuVasive.
