NuVasive’s CEO Steps Down

The latest management news from San Diego, Calif.-based spine company NuVasive Inc. is no April Fools’ Day joke.

Longtime company head Alex Lukianov has stepped down as CEO and a member of the board.

Greg Lucier, a member of the company’s board of directors since 2013, has been appointed to serve as chairman of the board and interim CEO.

“The results of an independent investigation overseen by the board of directors revealed that Alex had not complied with certain of the company’s expense reimbursement and personnel policies,” Jack R. Blair, lead independent director of the NuVasive board. “Although the amounts involved appear to be immaterial to the company’s financial results, his actions in this regard were not representative of the high standards by which NuVasive operates. We believe this leadership transition is appropriate and in the best interests of the company and all of our stakeholders. We appreciate the positive contributions Alex has made to the company and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

From May 2003 to February 2014, Lucier served as chairman and CEO of Life Technologies, a global life-sciences company acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014.  During his 11-year tenure at Life Technologies, Lucier led the company from a small startup known as Invitrogen in 2003, directed the acquisition and merger of Invitrogen with Applied Biosystems in 2008 into the renamed Life Technologies, and then transformed the organization by 2013 into a global biotechnology firm with 50,000 products, 12,000 employees and nearly $4 billion in sales in more than 180 countries.  Prior to that, Lucier previously was a corporate officer of General Electric and served as an executive at GE Medical Systems. He received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a masters of business administration from Harvard Business School.  In addition to serving on the board of NuVasive, Lucier serves as the board chairman for Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute and is a former director of CareFusion Corp., now part of Becton, Dickinson & Co.

“I have great confidence in the Company’s senior management team, strategic direction and opportunities that lie ahead,” Lucier said. “NuVasive benefits from an experienced team, which shares a commitment to improving patient outcomes by providing our surgeon customers with the most innovative procedural offerings. The company’s strengths have enabled NuVasive to become the number-three player in the global spine market. Going forward, we will remain focused on market share-taking strategies that have been responsible for driving double-digit revenue growth. At the same time, we will continue to leverage meaningful scale and efficiencies in our business, which are translating to both accelerated profit growth and strong free cash flow. All of us at NuVasive are committed to executing against our strategic priorities to ensure we build on our record of growth and value creation.”