Name: Stephen Farrell
New title: President and CEO, Staar Surgical
Previous title: Lead independent director, Staar Surgical, and consultant to private firms
Staar Surgical named lead independent director Stephen Farrell as president and CEO, replacing Tom Frinzi.
The maker of implantable lenses for vision correction said Frinzi, CEO since January 2023, will remain in an advisory role through January 2026 to support the leadership transition. The appointment, announced last week, was immediately effective.
Board member Elizabeth Yeu, an ophthalmic surgeon and partner at Virginia Eye Consultants, was elected board chair. The company also reduced the size of its board from seven members to six, according to a securities filing.
Staar has struggled with weaker demand from customers in China, its largest market. The company, which reported a $20 million net loss in fiscal 2024, plans to lay off 115 workers next month at two California facilities.
“We are pleased to have a veteran healthcare executive of Steve’s caliber leading STAAR as we work to navigate current global macroeconomic challenges,” Wei Jiang, chair of the board’s nominating and governance committee, said in a statement.
Farrell has served on Staar’s board for nine years and was lead independent director for the last two.
He was CEO of Convey Health Solutions, a technology and administrative services provider for health insurers, from 2011 to February 2024. Before that, he was CFO, chief operating officer and president at diabetes product supplier Polymedica, which was acquired by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions in 2007.
Farrell is a former board member of Lineage Cell Therapeutics, a biotech previously known as Biotime that is focused on regenerative medicine, and Questcor Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Mallinckrodt in 2014. Since February 2024, he has worked as a consultant to private companies focused on improving financial performance and operating efficiencies.
At Staar, Farrell said he would look for opportunities for “improvement, optimization and efficiency,” saying the company is positioned to deliver strong returns as the refractive surgery market stabilizes. “We have a best-in-class product, a strong network of surgeons, and a clear path to continued market share gains in a market that we expect to grow substantially over time,” the new CEO said.
William Blair analyst Margaret Kaczor Andrew, in a report to clients on the leadership change, said return on investment will be a priority for Farrell. Restructuring is already underway with the workforce reduction in California, the analyst noted.
“Though nothing is specific at this point, we believe this is a logical step for the company with initial areas of interest including [direct-to-consumer] spend and headcount,” Kaczor Andrew wrote.
