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A company’s growth is predicated on how it treats employees and customers, says Jeffrey Johnson. Mr. Johnson founded and leads Zavation, a spine company, and Superior Polymers, a PEEK manufacturer. He credits the foundational business principle to his success in orthopedics, including running two companies.
The lesson has been imperative as Mr. Johnson has executed on the strategic plan for both companies. In the last two years, Zavation, for example, completed its first acquisition, expanded internationally and launched more than a dozen products. LongueVue Capital’s investment in Zavation in 2017 provided capital for growth. But sticking to his core message of doing right by people has helped accelerate the vertically-integrated spine company’s development, said Mr. Johnson.
Here, we recap our conversation in which we asked him to share his leadership philosophy and outlook on the market.
Before founding Zavation in 2010 and Superior Polymers in 2014, Mr. Johnson founded Spine USA, a subsidiary of Precision Spine, and worked at Stryker Spine.
What sets Zavation apart from other spine companies?
Mr. Johnson: For us, it’s a lot of things. Our management team – sales, engineering, quality, regulatory, operations and manufacturing, all of those folks – has at least 10+ years of experience in this industry. It’s unusual for a company our size to have that amount of experience.
We pay minimum Sunshine Act payments, which is also uncommon for the size of our company.
Our customer service is the best in the industry. We do what we say we’re going to do. We bend over backward for our customers.
Another thing is, when we’re developing products, we focus on keeping the instrumentation simple for the surgeons. We’ve been there. We’ve been in the surgeries. We know what the doctors want, and we have distributors’ feedback. For us, our focus is to keep it simple for these surgeons.
Zavation has seen significant strategic progress in the last two years. You acquired PanMed, logged your first international sales, launched a lot of products. What is your vision for the company over the next five years?
Mr. Johnson: We want to continue our growth and continue launching products that bring improvements to surgeon options. Then, acquiring new technology to help further our growth in the market, similar to the PanMed acquisition. We’re always looking for technology. We’re looking for different types of materials, maybe minimally invasive products.
Materials and surface technologies have been a significant conversation in spine in recent years. Do you think it’s still an important conversation?
Mr. Johnson: I think it’s important. Everybody is trying to find that magic formula. We’ve gone from titanium to PEEK, back to titanium, back to porous titanium. Now, you’re looking at porous PEEK, additives like HA-coated products, titanium-coated PEEK. I think this will continue. Folks will continue looking for that best formula.
What was the impetus for starting Superior Polymers, and how is that company evolving?
Mr. Johnson: I’ve been in the business for a long time, and there’s only been two companies out there to provide PEEK. It’s been difficult for smaller companies to work with the PEEK companies. There is a local company here with polymer expertise. We reached out and partnered with them, and they helped us create a PEEK polymer that we could put on the market.
PEEK is a difficult material to process, which is why there aren’t many companies in the market. It took us several years to perfect the material, but we have it down now, and we have it on the market. We feel that we’re able to be nimble and provide customers in the U.S. with quick service. We serve spine, orthopedic and dental companies.
Now that we have a base PEEK material, we’re looking at additives for the PEEK, like an HA or carbon fiber HA, for bony ingrowth.
Switching gears, what is the most important lesson you’ve learned in business?
Mr. Johnson: It’s simple. Whether it’s a tech in the hospital basement cleaning the instruments to the CEO of the hospital, you just treat everyone the same.
What is the most important advice you’ve received during your career?
Mr. Johnson: It’s similar to your previous question. You should treat others as you wish to be treated, because that tech in the basement cleaning instruments in the hospital might be a CEO one day, and they’ll remember how you treated them. Another thing, don’t burn bridges in the industry.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Mr. Johnson: Well, it’s less about me and more about our people. We have great people. Once you have people who are dedicated and getting after it, they often want the same things you want. It sure makes it easy for me. I’ve got the title, but it’s the people around you that make it work.
A company’s growth is predicated on how it treats employees and customers, says Jeffrey Johnson. Mr. Johnson founded and leads Zavation, a spine company, and Superior Polymers, a PEEK manufacturer. He credits the foundational business principle to his success in orthopedics, including running two companies.
The lesson has been imperative as...
A company’s growth is predicated on how it treats employees and customers, says Jeffrey Johnson. Mr. Johnson founded and leads Zavation, a spine company, and Superior Polymers, a PEEK manufacturer. He credits the foundational business principle to his success in orthopedics, including running two companies.
The lesson has been imperative as Mr. Johnson has executed on the strategic plan for both companies. In the last two years, Zavation, for example, completed its first acquisition, expanded internationally and launched more than a dozen products. LongueVue Capital’s investment in Zavation in 2017 provided capital for growth. But sticking to his core message of doing right by people has helped accelerate the vertically-integrated spine company’s development, said Mr. Johnson.
Here, we recap our conversation in which we asked him to share his leadership philosophy and outlook on the market.
Before founding Zavation in 2010 and Superior Polymers in 2014, Mr. Johnson founded Spine USA, a subsidiary of Precision Spine, and worked at Stryker Spine.
What sets Zavation apart from other spine companies?
Mr. Johnson: For us, it’s a lot of things. Our management team – sales, engineering, quality, regulatory, operations and manufacturing, all of those folks – has at least 10+ years of experience in this industry. It’s unusual for a company our size to have that amount of experience.
We pay minimum Sunshine Act payments, which is also uncommon for the size of our company.
Our customer service is the best in the industry. We do what we say we’re going to do. We bend over backward for our customers.
Another thing is, when we’re developing products, we focus on keeping the instrumentation simple for the surgeons. We’ve been there. We’ve been in the surgeries. We know what the doctors want, and we have distributors’ feedback. For us, our focus is to keep it simple for these surgeons.
Zavation has seen significant strategic progress in the last two years. You acquired PanMed, logged your first international sales, launched a lot of products. What is your vision for the company over the next five years?
Mr. Johnson: We want to continue our growth and continue launching products that bring improvements to surgeon options. Then, acquiring new technology to help further our growth in the market, similar to the PanMed acquisition. We’re always looking for technology. We’re looking for different types of materials, maybe minimally invasive products.
Materials and surface technologies have been a significant conversation in spine in recent years. Do you think it’s still an important conversation?
Mr. Johnson: I think it’s important. Everybody is trying to find that magic formula. We’ve gone from titanium to PEEK, back to titanium, back to porous titanium. Now, you’re looking at porous PEEK, additives like HA-coated products, titanium-coated PEEK. I think this will continue. Folks will continue looking for that best formula.
What was the impetus for starting Superior Polymers, and how is that company evolving?
Mr. Johnson: I’ve been in the business for a long time, and there’s only been two companies out there to provide PEEK. It’s been difficult for smaller companies to work with the PEEK companies. There is a local company here with polymer expertise. We reached out and partnered with them, and they helped us create a PEEK polymer that we could put on the market.
PEEK is a difficult material to process, which is why there aren’t many companies in the market. It took us several years to perfect the material, but we have it down now, and we have it on the market. We feel that we’re able to be nimble and provide customers in the U.S. with quick service. We serve spine, orthopedic and dental companies.
Now that we have a base PEEK material, we’re looking at additives for the PEEK, like an HA or carbon fiber HA, for bony ingrowth.
Switching gears, what is the most important lesson you’ve learned in business?
Mr. Johnson: It’s simple. Whether it’s a tech in the hospital basement cleaning the instruments to the CEO of the hospital, you just treat everyone the same.
What is the most important advice you’ve received during your career?
Mr. Johnson: It’s similar to your previous question. You should treat others as you wish to be treated, because that tech in the basement cleaning instruments in the hospital might be a CEO one day, and they’ll remember how you treated them. Another thing, don’t burn bridges in the industry.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Mr. Johnson: Well, it’s less about me and more about our people. We have great people. Once you have people who are dedicated and getting after it, they often want the same things you want. It sure makes it easy for me. I’ve got the title, but it’s the people around you that make it work.
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Carolyn LaWell is ORTHOWORLD's Chief Content Officer. She joined ORTHOWORLD in 2012 to oversee its editorial and industry education. She previously served in editor roles at B2B magazines and newspapers.
