Executive
Team
Erick Cloix
Chief Executive Officer
For more than 30 years, Erick Cloix has been an innovator, inventor and entrepreneur in the spine and healthcare industry. After becoming president and CEO of Stryker Spine and Abbott Spine International, he set off on his own to launch Spine-Next and then Implanet, both of which were successfully grown and/or acquired during his tenure. He still holds invention patents in the medical device field as an inventor, and is looking forward to disrupting the spine industry again with Companion Spine.
Nazanine Sahami
Chief Technology Officer
Nazanine Sahami is the Chief Technology Officer of Companion Spine with over 20 years of successful experience in the spine industry. Prior to her role at Companion Spine, Mrs. Sahami was the CEO of Backbone SAS, where she designed, patented, developed, manufactured, CE marked under MDR, and marketed the LISA device in Europe and Asia. She was the Founder and VP of Wallis Business Unit of Spine Next, acquired by Abbott Labs in 2004, where she built and led the Clinical Affairs, Product Management, medical education, and Sales of the company from creation to its sale to Abbott. Mrs. Sahami started her career at Stryker, where she Founded Stryker Spine School and led the product team for all the Posterior Product portfolio of Stryker Spine, including XIA. She obtained her Bachelor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a double major in Economics and International Relations.
Bill Pfost
Chief Sales Officer
Bill Pfost is a seasoned sales and marketing executive with more than 30 years experience in the spine space, having developed and distributed a portfolio of some of the most well-known products in the industry, including Coflex, Mobi-C, Prodisc and others. He brings a wealth of knowledge, relationships and innovative methods to Companion Spine.
Ratsamy Thevenin
Global Director Regulatory and Quality Affairs
Ratsamy Thevenin has a strong career background, spanning two decades in quality management and over a decade in regulatory affairs. She has consistently demonstrated astute leadership, analytical prowess, and an unwavering commitment to upholding regulatory compliance and enhancing quality standards across industries. Her expertise includes QMS management, ISO standards compliance, and navigating complex regulations like MDR 2017/745 and 21CFR820. At FX SOLUTIONS, CIRTIL, and RHODIA, she successfully led certification processes, managed CE marking, and directed international registrations.
Pierre Asseray
Senior Director of Finance and Administration
Pierre Asseray is a seasoned professional with expertise in financial leadership, audit, and strategic advisory roles. He has a proven track record of achieving significant cost reductions, implementing strategic initiatives, and enhancing operational efficiency across diverse industries. During his career, he has held the positions of Group CFO, Manager Audit at Mazars, and Senior Audit Employee conducting extensive audits for small and medium-sized businesses at Afigec.
Franck LaPorte
VP, Operations
Franck LaPorte is head of manufacturing and operations at Companion Spine, and brings more than two decades of experience to the table, which includes leadership roles at Zimmer Spine France, Spine Next, Exactech and Implanet. He has a strong track record of manufacturing management and operational leadership for medical devices in the United States and in Europe.
Board of
Directors
Anthony Viscogliosi
Anthony Viscogliosi has more than three decades of experience as an accomplished inventor, founder, entrepreneur, CEO, board member, leading Wall Street analyst, banker, global financier, author, visionary and lecturer. He is globally recognized as a spine non-fusion expert, with companies and entities such as MCRA, Small Bone Innovations, Aperion, Spine Solutions, Paradigm Spine and Centinel Spine.
Marc Viscogliosi
Marc Viscogliosi was a founder of Paradigm Spine and its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Managers until its sale in 2019. Prior to founding the company, Mr. Viscogliosi was a cofounder and Director of Spine Solutions, Inc. His clinical and regulatory expertise has been applied to many groundbreaking innovations in non-fusion spine technology.
John Viscogliosi
John Viscogliosi is the former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Centinel Spine. Mr. Viscogliosi has more than 25 years of operations and turn-around experience in the orthopedic industry, which included being on the board of Small Bone Innovations, Inc., and has applied his expertise across several innovative companies and entities, including MCRA, Woven Orthopedic, Knee Creations and Centinel Spine.