Spinal Elements is a privately held technology-driven company headquartered in Carlsbad, California. A leading designer, developer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative medical devices used in spinal surgical procedures. Spinal Elements combines leading medical device technologies, biologics and instrumentation to create positive surgical outcomes that exceed surgeon and patient expectations. The company markets a complete portfolio of advanced spinal implant technologies.

 

Vision

Spinal Elements will deliver innovative and differentiated technologies that enable fundamental shifts in solutions for spine surgery.   We will continue to surround our core differentiated technologies with supportive adjacent products and services to provide a complete surgical solution.

 

Mission

Spinal Elements helps improve the lives of those who rely on our technology by being a trusted provider of innovation, quality, service, and value to medical professionals responsible for delivering care to spine surgery patients.

 

Culture

At Spinal Elements, we are passionate about improving the quality of life for patients, their families and our community. Spinal Elements believes that all of our employees contribute to the success of the company. Our employees have shared attitudes, goals and practices. The four tenets of our culture are Community (Respect, Teamwork, Integrity), Commitment (Customer Focus, Excellence, Accountability, Perseverance), Creativity (Innovation, Working Smart, Artistic) and Curiosity (Solution Finders, Lifelong Learners).

 

History

Spinal Elements, founded as Quantum Orthopedics in 2003, focused on developing technologies utilizing advanced design and high-performance materials that could then be sold to (or distributed by) strategic corporate partners. Spinal Elements was one of the first companies in the early 2000’s to use PEEK as a material for interbody devices. The company was also the first to get PEEK interbody clearance, the first with a stand-alone cervical device, and the first to apply a Titanium surface coating onto PEEK interbody devices (Ti-Bond®).

 

In 2004, the Company established its corporate headquarters in Carlsbad, California and received its first product clearances for Lucent® and Crystal®. The business model helped propel PEEK to be viewed as a standard for interbody products throughout the spine industry and the company soon became one of the world's largest users of the material in medical applications.

 

In 2006, the company officially changed its name to Spinal Elements, Inc., to reflect its spine technology focus and began efforts to develop and sell products featuring the Spinal Elements brand. Later that year it commercialized the world’s first polymer stand-alone cervical implant, Mosaic®. Since then many other products; Lucent®, Mercury®, Magnum+®, Ti–Bond® and more, have been successfully launched, and a robust product pipeline is constantly being filled.

 

Spinal Elements and Marietta, GA-based Amendia, Inc. (founded in 2008) joined to form one company in April, 2017.  The previously independent companies were consolidated into a single entity through separate transactions in 2016 and 2017 by private equity firm Kohlberg & Company. In late 2017, Spinal Elements’ Carlsbad campus was designated Corporate Headquarters under the name Spinal Elements and in 2019, all operations were consolidated into the Carlsbad, California facility where the business continues to grow and flourish.

 

Corporate Responsibility & Compliance

Spinal Elements is committed to conducting business with integrity and to pursuing excellence in all that we do. Our management team and our Board of Directors are committed to honesty and compliance with all of the laws, rules, regulations and corporate policies that apply to our business, and we expect the same commitment from our employees, consultants, business partners and service providers.

 

Spinal Elements launched its national Hero® Allograft program in 2012. Spinal Elements has chosen to honor tissue donation as a gift of life by paying that gift forward and donating proceeds from the sale of its Hero Allograft line of products to charities benefitting children with serious medical conditions. To date, Spinal Elements has donated in excess of $1.5M through the Hero program to charities such as the Make-A-Wish® Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.

 

Leadership Team

 

Jason Blain

President & Chief Executive Officer

Jason Blain, a founder of Spinal Elements, has over 25 years of experience in orthopedics, including hip replacements, knee replacements, trauma and spine products. He has extensive experience in product development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs, and quality assurance from his roles with Smith & Nephew, Alphatec, and NuVasive, Inc. Mr. Blain earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

André Potgieter

Chief Commercial Officer

With over 25 years of medical device experience, André is a proven leader with a strong sales background in spinal implants and spinal instrumentation.  From 2007-2016 André served as Executive Vice President, US Sales for LDR Spine, Inc. where the company executed a US clinical IDE trial leading to the approval of Mobi-C (the first 1 and 2 level artificial disc in the US for the treatment of degenerative cervical disc disease).  LDR was acquired by Zimmer Biomet in 2016.  Prior to LDR, André held various sales and sales management positions with increasing responsibility at Kyphon, Inc. from 1999-2007. Kyphon was acquired by Medtronic in 2007.  From 1993-1999, André spent 8 years in the operating room as a sales professional with Synthes Spine, Inc.  André earned his degree in Business & Finance from University of Tennessee.

 

Rick Simmons

Chief Marketing Officer

Rick has a long history with Spinal Elements, having served as one of the original advisory board members when the company was formed in 2003. Rick brings a unique blend of 30+ years of sales, marketing and business development leadership combined with a technical and analytic mindset. In his current role at Spinal Elements, Rick also leads the product development teams. Immediately prior to Spinal Elements, Rick served from 2014-2020 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Benvenue Medical, the assets of which were purchased by Spinal Elements in early 2021. Prior to Benvenue, Rick served in an advisory capacity to many organizations within the industry, including DePuy Synthes Spine and SafeWire. Rick held several executive commercialization roles at TranS1 (VP & General Manager, 2003-2010), NuVasive (Vice President of Sales & Marketing, 2000-2003), Innovasive (Vice President of WW Sales & Marketing, 1997-2000), and more. Rick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Kinesiology from California State University, Northridge.

 

Steve McGowan

Chief Financial Officer

Steve McGowan, a founder of Spinal Elements, has over 25 years of experience as CFO of medical device companies. Prior to founding Spinal Elements, he spent three years as the CFO for NuVasive, Inc., a spine products company. He gained extensive experience obtaining equity and debt financing and establishing financial and operating systems working for medical device companies including Novatrix Inc. and Intramed Laboratories Inc. Mr. McGowan also previously worked at Science Applications International Corporation and Ernst & Young. A Certified Public Accountant, he received a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Science degree in accounting from San Diego State University.

 

Eric Krinsky

Vice President, Business Development & Sales Operations

Eric is an accomplished commercial sales leader with 20+ years of experience in medtech including leadership roles at Samsung Healthcare, NuVasive, Benvenue Medical, GE Healthcare and CareFusion. He combines his strong business acumen and deep understanding of medical devices, imaging, advanced surgical systems and healthcare information technology to drive measurable growth and operational excellence. His prior roles include, Vice President, Surgical Intelligence at NuVasive, Vice President, Sales Operations at Benvenue Medical and General Manager at GE Healthcare.

 

Matt Copp

Vice President, Marketing

Matt Copp brings to Spinal Elements over 20 years of global medical device marketing experience with a heavy concentration in developing and providing systems for the effective, safe, and reproducible treatment of spinal disorders.  Before his most recent position with Santa Clara-based Benvenue Medical, Mr. Copp served as Vice President, International Marketing and Development for NuVasive, Inc. During his 13 years at NuVasive, Mr. Copp served in a number of US and global marketing capacities. Over the course of 10 years prior to that at Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Mr. Copp served in a number of roles as both a generalist supporting global market expansion and a specialist in product management working with then-emerging MIS and navigation technologies. Mr. Copp earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan while competing as a student-athlete in baseball.

 

Julie Lamothe

Vice President Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance

Julie Lamothe brings over 10 years of experience in medical device regulatory affairs and Quality System compliance. Prior to joining Spinal Elements, Mrs. Lamothe spent 6 years in progressively senior positions at Zimmer Biomet in regulatory affairs and quality assurance strategic roles. Mrs. Lamothe holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Western Ontario and a Master in Business Administration from UCSD Rady School of Management.

 

Yang Pak

General Counsel

Yang Pak has nearly 20 years in the medical device industry, beginning first as a Design Engineer, then as an Intellectual Property Attorney. Mr. Pak now serves as Spinal Elements’ General Counsel. Prior to joining Spinal Elements, Mr. Pak was an associate at the law firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear in Orange County, CA, and an in-house Intellectual Property Attorney for Fisher & Paykel Healthcare in New Zealand. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and his Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law.

 

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Carlsbad, CA