NuVasive CEO Resigns After Probe Finds Policy Violations (WSJ)
NuVasive Inc. said Chairman and Chief Executive Alex Lukianov resigned after an investigation overseen by the medical-device company’s board found he didn’t comply with some of its expense reimbursement and other policies.
Shares fell 5.4% to $43.52 in recent premarket trading.
The company also said it expects its first-quarter revenue will exceed $190 million, above estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $189 million. NuVasive added that it remains on track to meet its profit guidance for the year.
Greg Lucier, a member of NuVasive’s board since 2013, was appointed as chairman and interim CEO. Mr. Lucier’s previous experience includes serving from May 2003 to February 2014 as chairman and CEO of Life Technologies, a global life sciences company acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014.
NuVasive said that during Mr. Lucier’s 11 years with Life Technologies, he led the company from being a small startup to a global biotech firm with nearly $4 billion in sales by 2013.
Regarding the investigation, NuVasive director Jack R. Blair said that although the amounts involved appear immaterial to the company’s financial results that Mr. Lukianov’s actions “in this regard were not representative of the high standards by which NuVasive operates.”
The disclosure comes a day after Polycom Inc. agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $750,000 to settle civil charges that the tech company had inadequate internal controls and failed to report to investors that a former chief executive used nearly $200,000 of corporate funds for personal perks.
Polycom agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings. Mr. Miller resigned as Polycom’s CEO in July of 2013 after the company’s audit committee found irregularities in his expense reports.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com