Cerapedics Hires New CEO & COO

Westminster, Colo.-based Cerapedics Inc., which makes osteobiologic products, has named Glen A. Kashuba as the company’s new CEO, effective June 1, and has appointed Jeffrey G. Marx, Ph.D., as its new president and chief operating officer (COO).

Kashuba formerly served as worldwide president of Spine & Bone Healing Technologies Inc., a Biomet Inc. company, while concurrently serving as senior vice president on Biomet’s worldwide operating board, encompassing Biomet’s orthopedics, spine, trauma, biologics and sports medicine businesses.

“Glen is a well-known and respected leader in the spine and orthopedics industries,” said Jonathan Silverstein, chairman of Cerapedics and general partner at OrbiMed. “He had many opportunities available to him and we are delighted that he has chosen to join Cerapedics to lead the company through several upcoming major value inflection points.”

Kashuba’s tenure at Biomet also included the role of worldwide president for Biomet Spine and Trauma, where he had profit and loss responsibility for all functional areas, including sales force management and supply chain optimization. Kashuba’s commercial responsibilities included managing sales of greater than $400 million, driven by more than 500 direct and independent sales representatives. He also was responsible for launching more than 25 new products into the market during his tenure at Biomet.

Prior to his leadership roles at Biomet, Kashuba held a number of division president roles at Johnson & Johnson, where he served as worldwide president of Cordis Endovascular and Neurovascular and as worldwide president of Codman Neuro Sciences. Kashuba also served as U.S. president of DePuy Spine. Kashuba received his B.S. in industrial engineering from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“I am honored to join Cerapedics as CEO and work with the group of individuals who have built this company and brought its products to market,” Kashuba said. “Our goal is for Cerapedics to be a leader in the global bone biologics market by providing a powerful and safe orthobiologics solution to the clinicians and patients we serve. I look forward to leading the Cerapedics team to that goal.”

Kashuba succeeds Paul Mraz, who earlier this year announced his retirement. During Mraz’s tenure, Cerapedics launched the i-Factor bone graft—biologic bone grafts intended to replace or augment the use of autograft bone commonly utilized in certain spine, trauma, and orthopedic procedures—and began its U.S. investigational device exemption trial.

Marx, Cerapedics’ new COO, formerly served as vice president of corporate development at Orthovita Inc. Marx had numerous other responsibilities as part of the senior leadership team during his 13-year tenure. Orthovita was an orthobiologics and biosurgery company that was acquired by Stryker Corp. for $318 million in 2011.

Following the acquisition, Marx led the integration of Orthovita into Stryker and served as vice president of corporate development at Stryker Orthobiologics. Marx received his B.S. in ceramic science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa., and his Ph.D. in ceramic engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo.

“I look forward to leading Cerapedics through the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration submission process and future product pipeline development,” said Marx. “Rarely do you have the opportunity to introduce a whole new category within an established market like bone grafting, especially one with such potential to help doctors and patients achieve better outcomes with safety and reliability.”