Zimmer Biomet’s Spin-Off Debuts as ZimVie

In February, Zimmer Biomet announced its intention to spin off its spine and dental businesses into a new public company. That transaction process remains on track, with an expected close in mid-2022.

Now, the company has shared key appointments to the NewCo leadership team, including Richard J. Heppenstall as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Further, the company announced ZimVie as the name for the planned spin off.

Mr. Heppenstall brings more than 25 years of broad corporate and operational finance experience to ZimVie, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer of Breg, a global manufacturer and solutions provider of orthopedic braces, cold therapy and other medical equipment.

Mr. Heppenstall previously held senior leadership roles at Orthofix International, Solera Holdings, Flowserve Corporation and Coopervision Inc., among others.

In addition to Mr. Heppenstall, the following team members have been appointed to the ZimVie leadership team, reporting directly to Vafa Jamali, who was named CEO.

• Vincent Binetti, General Manager, Bone Healing
• Laura Driscoll, Vice President, Communications
• David Harmon, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Indraneel Kanaglekar, Senior Vice President, President, Global Dental
• Heather Kidwell, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer
• Mike Minette, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development
• Ann Vu, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance
• Rebecca Whitney, Senior Vice President, President, Global Spine

“I’m incredibly excited to bring on such a seasoned leadership team to drive ZimVie forward following the separation. With their collective experience, I know we have the right leaders in place to set ZimVie up for success,” Mr. Jamali said.

Zimmer Biomet’s spine business has long underperformed the company’s strategic growth goals. In 2018, company leadership likened fixing its spine business to driving a car while simultaneously changing the fan belt. Sweeping leadership shakeups meant more than 70% of those on the leadership team were new in the position.

We’ve repeated that the spine market rewards focus, and Zimmer Biomet’s leadership noted it over the years too. By mid-2020, Zimmer Biomet no longer considered spine a core part of its growth strategy but stopped short of saying it would divest the business. When the spinoff announcement did come, Zimmer Biomet CEO Bryan Hanson said the lack of synergy between spine and the rest of orthopedics was a factor. “We certainly haven’t seen that there’s a real benefit in having even a fulsome spine business in concert with large joints or S.E.T. We just don’t see a lot of contracting — large contracts that pull-through either one of those businesses,” he said.

Once spun off, ZimVie will be the sixth largest spine player, according to our estimates. The company reported its combined spine (including biologics) and dental revenues were $897 million in 2020 and $1 billion in 2019.

Source: Zimmer Biomet