Implanet Elects Board Advisor

Implanet, a French medical technology company specializing in vertebral and knee-surgery implants, has nominated Paula Ness Speers as a new advisor to the board of directors.

Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in strategy development for global companies, Speers brings a wealth of specific expertise in the healthcare sector. During her seven years at Bain & Company (Boston, Mass.), she led strategy consulting projects for numerous Fortune 100 companies involved in a variety of technology-based product development and sales. While at Bain she also created and led the R&D practice area, focused on helping younger and more innovative companies develop creative commercial strategies, as well as successfully address a variety of manufacturing, operational and cost challenges they faced in their early stages.

In 1992, Speers co-founded and led Health Advances, a 100-person strategy consulting firm with offices in Boston, Mass.; San Francisco, Calif.; Washington D.C.; and Zurich, Switzerland, focusing completely on the healthcare sector. The firm’s clients range from entrepreneurial start-ups to the largest public and global companies in the healthcare sector. During the past 22 years, Speers has consulted to a broad range of healthcare product and service companies, as well as financial investors in the sector. She has developed particular expertise in the orthopedics and spine sector, working with a range of clients from OEMs to materials and component manufacturers servicing the orthopedic and spine sector. She also leads many of the firm’s cost-effectiveness studies and market access strategies for these and other clients in the healthcare sector.

“I share management’s and the board’s vision to establish Jazz as a worldwide brand in spinal surgery addressing some of the most complex spine cases around the globe,” said Speers. “The team assembled on the board and in the management team distinguishes Implanet in its capacity to rapidly expand its strong EU-based successes into the U.S. spine market and beyond.”

“Speers’ multiple successes in the establishment and execution of complex growth strategies in the healthcare industry, from product concept to launch and commercial optimization, will be a major asset that allows Implanet to push forward its international growth plans,” said CEO Ludovic Lastennet.