FRISCO, Texas, Feb. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integer Holdings Corporation (“Integer” or “the Company”) (NYSE:ITGR) today announced a refocused strategy to drive accelerated sales and profit growth, following a comprehensive strategic review of the business. Integer’s new strategy has two overarching themes focused on portfolio management and operational excellence to realize its vision of enhancing patient lives.

As part of its Portfolio Management strategy, the Company has identified three focus areas for its product lines:

• Invest to Grow in the areas of Cardio & Vascular, Neuromodulation, and Electrochem to accelerate sales and market penetration in order to achieve above market growth over the long term.
• Protect & Preserve its strong Cardiac Rhythm Management position in a mature market.
• Improve Profitability in the areas of Advanced Surgical, Orthopedics, and Power Solutions through focused sales growth and cost structure initiatives.

Integer’s Operational Excellence strategy includes strategic imperatives focused on three key areas:

• Customers – Earn customer’s business daily with improved sales force excellence and market focused innovation.
• Costs – Fuel growth through enterprise excellence focused on manufacturing and business process excellence.
• Culture – Drive performance excellence and build leadership capability to grow Integer.

“Integer has a compelling vision and now has a clear strategy in place,” said Joseph Dziedzic, Integer’s president and chief executive officer. “We are taking specific and decisive steps to execute our strategy to accelerate sales and profit growth.”

Management Changes and Alignment to Execute New Strategy
To execute its new strategy, Integer has made the following changes to its senior management structure:

• Jeremy Friedman, Integer’s chief operating officer, has announced his intention to retire at the end of the year. Until his retirement, Jeremy will shift his focus to executing critical elements of the Company’s new strategy. Jeremy will partner with the president of Integer’s Advanced Surgical and Orthopedics product line to focus on improving profitability. He will also focus on Integer’s customer strategic imperatives of driving sales force excellence and market focused innovation. As a result of Jeremy’s new areas of focus, the presidents of Integer’s Cardiac Rhythm Management & Neuromodulation and Cardio & Vascular product lines will now report directly to Joseph Dziedzic.
   
• Payman Khales has joined Integer as president of the Cardio & Vascular product line. Payman will be responsible for accelerating sales and profitability growth for the product line. John Harris, who served as interim president of Cardio & Vascular during the search process, will continue as vice president of operations for Cardio & Vascular and will lead the implementation of manufacturing excellence for the product line.
   
• The Manufacturing Excellence strategic imperative will be led by Jennifer Bolt, president of Electrochem. The Business Process Excellence strategic imperative will be co-led by Joe Flanagan, executive vice president of Quality & Regulatory, and Mary Holler, chief information officer.
   
• Kirk Thor joined Integer in January 2018 as executive vice president and chief human resources officer, reporting to Joseph Dziedzic. Kirk is charged with leading the culture strategic imperatives to drive performance excellence and build leadership capability to grow Integer.

“The changes to our leadership team announced today bring added focus and clear accountability for executing our portfolio and operational strategies,” said Joseph Dziedzic. “I want to thank Jeremy for his many years of service to Integer. Jeremy’s experience and expertise have elevated Integer to much of the success we enjoy today. I am grateful he will remain with us as he transitions into retirement, and I look forward to his continued partnership through the end of the year.”

“I am pleased to welcome Payman to the Integer team,” continued Mr. Dziedzic. “He brings deep expertise in commercial business leadership and general management, and I know he will make an immediate impact as we continue to grow the Cardio & Vascular product line. I would also like to thank John Harris for his excellent leadership of Cardio & Vascular during the interim period. Under John’s stewardship, we have strengthened and expanded relationships with customers, positioning us well for continued growth.”

“Integer is the market leader in Medical Device Outsource manufacturing. We have a unique breadth of capability to serve our customers across the entire product continuum and multiple product lines,” concluded Mr. Dziedzic. “As we execute on our new strategy we expect to deliver long-term sales growth above the market growth rate and we expect to drive operating profit improvements at least two times our sales growth. We believe this will earn a valuation premium for our shareholders. I am confident we have the right strategy and the right team in place to deliver for our customers and to realize our vision of enhancing patient lives worldwide.”

About Integer™ 
Integer Holdings Corporation (NYSE:ITGR) is one of the largest medical device outsource (MDO) manufacturers in the world serving the cardiac, neuromodulation, orthopedics, vascular, advanced surgical and portable medical markets. The company provides innovative, high-quality technologies and manufacturing to Medical Device OEM’s to enhance the lives of patients worldwide. In addition, it develops batteries for high-end niche applications in energy, military, and environmental markets. The company's brands include Greatbatch™ Medical, Lake Region Medical and Electrochem. Additional information is available at www.integer.net.

Investor Contact:
Amy Wakeham
IR@integer.net
214.618.4978

Media Contact:
Kelly Butler
kelly.butler@integer.net
 214.618.4216