Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

"The time is right to add further depth to Northstar Healthcare's professional management team," says Robert Kanee, Chairman of the Board. "In June we appointed our first chief operating officer. Now we are adding a highly experienced chief executive with relevant public company managerial experience. We're pleased that Syl has committed to the Interim CEO role until such time as a permanent CEO is engaged."

A senior executive with leadership experience in the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, consumer and technology industries, Mr. Ghirardi has been working as a strategic consultant to Northstar since early June. In that role, he has worked with Northstar's board and management team to develop a strategic plan for the company.

Mr. Ghirardi's related experience includes 15 years with the CIBA Vision business unit of Novartis AG. In a number of management positions there, including president, he was part of a team that built the business from start-up to over $1.3 billion in revenue.

"I'm very excited by this opportunity to help grow Northstar," says Mr. Ghirardi. "It's a great opportunity to work with motivated and talented professionals to implement the strategic plan we've put together over the past few months."

Mr. Ghirardi has agreed to remain as interim CEO until a permanent CEO is appointed by the board. Donald Kramer, MD, co-founder of Northstar and CEO since the company's initial public offering, remains actively involved with the company, as vice chairman, medical affairs. In this role, he will focus his full attention on driving organic revenue growth through higher case volumes in the company's two ASCs. This management realignment lets Northstar benefit more meaningfully from Dr. Kramer's experience in surgeon recruitment, ASC marketing and relationships with medical staff.

Northstar owns and manages ASCs in the United States, focusing initially on Houston and other metropolitan areas in Texas.