Southern Spine, LLC, an ISO 13485:2003 certified manufacturer of implants and instruments for spinal surgery, announced that John E Hart has been named as President and Chief Executive Officer to lead the company.
Hart has more than 35 years of executive leadership experience in the medical device, life science and biologics fields serving in general management, marketing, sales, business development and operational management roles. Most recently, Hart served as a member of the turnaround team at Conmed Corporation, where he led the Cardiology and Critical Care Division to double digit revenue and profit growth. He also led the Healthcare Solutions team which was responsible for corporate, national and government accounts. Prior to that he served as Chief Operating Office for ISTO Technologies, Inc. for 3 years and President and CEO of Vidar Systems Corporation for 5 years. Both companies achieved successful exits.
“John is the right leader for Southern Spine,” said Hugh F. Smisson, III M.D., Southern Spine’s Chairman of the Board. “John’s extensive background in management, sales, marketing and business development should help strengthen our partnerships, develop strategic alliances, expand our sales presence and grow our profitability in the spine and pain markets.”
“I am very excited to be joining the Southern Spine team,” said John Hart. “I believe that Southern Spine’s great products and talented team will be key factors in leading the company’s next chapter for success and growth with the exciting Stabilink® MIS Interlaminar Spinal Fixation System.
John has also held senior executive positions in Fortune 500 companies, including Stryker Orthopaedics (Stryker Corporation) and U.S. Surgical (Covidien – now Medtronic).
John holds a BS degree from The College of New Jersey and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Virginia Bio.