Keeping company with the likes of Keith Valentine will keep you on your toes. While he revels in collaboration, if you’re on the other side of the table, watch out…he really likes to take market share.
Valentine, President and Chief Executive Officer of SeaSpine Holdings Company since May 2015, was instrumental in building NuVasive, Inc. into a billion dollar spinal implant supplier and before that cut his leadership teeth at Stryker Corporation and Sofamor Danek.
But before that, he was in high school…and he didn’t have just any teacher.
“My father was transferred to Michigan while I was in high school and one of my teachers was Rosemary Brown, who happened to be the husband of John Brown, the CEO of Stryker,” remembers Valentine.
“Several years later I graduated from Western Michigan University with a B.B.A. in Management and Biomedical Sciences and then went for an interview at Stryker. My last meeting that day was with John Brown, who ended up telling me, ‘You know, Keith. I think your best reference is waiting for me to come home for dinner.’”
Fascinated by the business world, Keith Valentine accepted an offer from Stryker and in 1990 moved from Kalamazoo to San Jose, California to work in the company’s endoscopy division. “It was a great introduction to general surgery and orthopedics with the fastest growing division of Stryker.”
Early in Valentine’s career, an executive who left Stryker, Rogan Fry, reached out for Keith Valentine to join him at Danek. “I began in the company’s spine business in January 1992. Those were the days when the size of the market opportunity was unknown, and the growth was incredible. I came aboard eight months after Danek went public and was on board as we acquired the largest OUS [outside of U.S.] spine business—Sofamor.
“Rogan Fry, who directed Stryker’s international business with me, was a great influence on me. He emphasized the value of establishing clear accountability with distributors and having honest conversations with people. He was able to walk the line between being a manager and being a friend.”
“While at Sofamor Danek my team and I were responsible for the successful completion of clinical trials for BMP [bone morphogenetic protein]. Looking back at my time with NuVasive, I can say that I am proud that a small group of individuals were able to bring the company from zero to almost one billion in sales. Presently, although I inherited a business with declining sales (some parts of the business were down 20%), we were able achieve double digit growth rates.”
Enduring the Crucible of the Pedicle Screw Lawsuit Era
One of Valentine’s most formative experiences was the Pedicle Screw lawsuit era which nearly destroyed Sofamor Danek and the nascent spinal implant industry.
“The mid-1990s was one of the hardest times in the industry because of all the pedicle screw litigation. The screws were only 510(k) cleared for use in the U.S. in the sacrum, not in the pedicle…but most spine surgeons were using them in the pedicle. But Sofamor Danek survived the onslaught.”
When times get tough, the tough lead.
“Over the course of the eight years in Memphis, Danek became Sofamor Danek and was then acquired by Medtronic, I learned to appreciate the nuances and value of excellent leadership.”
