JenaValve has appointed medical device veteran and JenaValve chairman of the board, Jan Keltjens, as interim chief executive officer and executive chairman. He replaces David J Drachman, who has resigned from the company for non-business related personal reasons. Keltjens will assume the role effective immediately and until a permanent replacement for Drachman has been hired.
Keltjens has a strong track record in the medical device sector and more than 30 years of management experience. In addition to his position as chairman of the board of JenaValve which he was appointed to in October 2014, he currently holds a number of non-executive board roles. He most recently served as chief executive officer of Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation (acquired by Medtronic in August 2014).
“I would like to thank Dave Drachman for his many valuable contributions to JenaValve over the past six months. It is unfortunate that his personal circumstances led him to resign his position. We sincerely wish Dave all the best for his future. As interim chief executive officer, I will work closely with the leadership team to ensure that we maintain momentum and continue to drive our company forward while we search for a new US-based chief executive,” said Keltjens. “In the past six months, we have made great progress in finalising the design and testing of our next generation pericardial valve platform. Moreover, we have worked closely with the regulatory agencies in both the USA and the European Union to define clear clinical and regulatory pathways. I am confident in our future based on great technology, strong teams in Munich and Irvine and the TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) market being one of the fastest growth opportunities in medical devices as well as unwavering support from our Board and shareholders.”
