Ahead of the release of what’s expected to be lower-than-forecasted earnings for the first quarter of the year, Dentsply Sirona is making some big changes.
Biggest of all is the dental devicemaker’s decision to fire Don Casey as its CEO and a member of its board of directors. The termination took effect immediately, Dentsply said Tuesday, though it has yet to find a permanent replacement for the top job.
Casey stepped into the role in February 2018 after spending several years each as chief executive of Cardinal Health’s medical segment and of nonprofit conglomerate West Health. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade at Johnson & Johnson, including stints as worldwide chairman of some of the business segments under J&J’s medical devices and diagnostics umbrella.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Don for his many contributions to our company. Don has played a key role in strengthening our foundation and advancing our mission to create innovative solutions for healthy smiles. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” said Eric Brandt, the nonexecutive chairman of the board.
Dentsply said it has already tapped an executive search firm to help find Casey’s replacement.
In the meantime, John Groetelaars will take on the mantle on an interim basis. Groetelaars is already a member of Dentsply’s board and also has experience leading a medtech company thanks to an almost four-year stint at the helm of Hillrom until its acquisition by Baxter at the end of last year.
Before that, he held a decade’s worth of leadership roles at Bard until it was acquired by BD in 2017, after which he spent another few months as an executive VP of the company and president of its interventional surgical unit. He also spent about seven years as a vice president and general manager within Boston Scientific’s outposts in Canada and its U.K., Ireland and Nordic region.
In a less tumultuous switch-up, Dentsply has also tapped a new interim chief financial officer. Barbara Bodem is joining the company later this month ahead of current CFO Jorge Gomez’s recently announced departure on May 6. Bodem, too, is a Hillrom alum, having spent three years as its CFO and a senior VP until the Baxter sale.
In a statement, Groetelaars hinted at the financial issues that led to Dentsply’s executive upheaval.
“The board is confident that renewing the company’s focus on execution will stabilize the business and deliver strong performance despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges,” he said. “This will be my focus from day one, and I am prepared to leverage my prior executive leadership experience as I work with the rest of the board and management team to drive the company’s strategy and advance its vision to transform dentistry and improve oral health globally.”
Indeed, alongside the news of Casey’s termination, Dentsply also offered a preview of its first-quarter earnings report, which will be released in full next month. During the period, the company took in net sales of about $965 million, marking a year-over-year decline of about 1.4% and an even bigger drop from analyst estimates that placed its quarterly earnings around the $1 billion mark.
According to Dentsply, “these results reflect weaker sales performance in the U.S., global supply chain challenges and foreign exchange headwinds.”
When the market opened after the news of its CEO switcheroo and underwhelming earnings were released Tuesday, Dentsply’s stock plummeted more than $6 to around $42 per share. That downward trend has yet to slow down, with the stock dropping another half dollar in just the first few minutes of trading Wednesday.