Dive Brief:
- Invacare is searching for a new CEO as the company shuffles its top leadership amid an effort to address supply chain issues and strengthen the company’s financial performance.
- Former Chairman and CEO Matthew Monaghan, who was hired in 2015 to turn around Invacare, left the company on Aug. 28. Geoffrey Purtill, general manager for EMEA and APAC, will serve as interim president and CEO, the company said in a statement on Monday.
- Cliff Nastas, Invacare’s lead independent director, said that the board determined that “now is the right time for a change in leadership to oversee the successful execution of Invacare’s business transformation.”
Dive Insight:
Invacare, which makes wheelchairs, scooters, walkers and respiratory products, has been grappling with supply chain problems that resulted in a backlog of orders. Earlier this year, the Elyria, Ohio-based company announced a restructuring that involved reducing the number of products it offers and changing where they are manufactured and distributed.
For most of August, the company’s shares have been trading below $1.
Invacare also has been making changes to its board of directors as part of an agreement with its largest investor. On Aug. 22, the company reached a cooperation agreement with Azurite Management, which owned more than 10.3% of its shares as of June 30.
As part of the agreement, Invacare appointed two new independent directors, Steven Rosen and Edward Crawford, replacing two of the company’s eight board members.
Seven of Invacare’s eight directors are independent, with the appointment on Monday of Michael Merriman, Jr. to the company’s board, succeeding Nastas as lead independent director. Merriman, an operating advisor for private equity firm Resilience Capital Partners, served on Invacare’s board from 2014 to 2018.
