Smith & Nephew Inc. will combine the company’s Memphis-based Orthopaedic Reconstruction division and its Andover, Mass.-based Endoscopy unit, though no job cuts or other major changes are expected soon.
However, Joseph M. DeVivo, president of Orthopaedic Reconstruction, will leave that post Aug. 5. Mike Frazzette, president of the Endoscopy unit, will lead the combined organization, which will be called the Advanced Surgical Devices division.
Smith & Nephew spokesman Andrew Burns said Memphis jobs will not be immediately affected.
“(The two divisions) serve the same customer and the same patients in many cases, and we’ll continue to do so,” Burns said. “We have no plans for this to have impact beyond more customer focus.”
DeVivo was named chairman of the Greater Memphis Chamber in November 2010 to fill the chairmanship vacated by former FedEx executive Tom Schmitt.
Chamber president and CEO John Moore said its executive committee will meet soon to discuss the matter, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether DeVivo will retain the chairman’s post.
In his time as chairman, DeVivo has given colorful speeches to business and civic groups around Memphis, urging them to stop looking to the city’s past and begin looking forward.
“I want you to take your rearview mirror off, throw it away, look ahead and drive toward the future,” DeVivo said in his keynote speech at the chamber’s “A Focus on Economic Growth” event in June. “We’re all ambassadors of positive change. Let’s work together to come up with ways to really move the needle.”
In January 2010, Smith & Nephew completed the $14 million acquisition of its new Memphis headquarters at 7216 Goodlett Farms, the former headquarters of Harrah’s Entertainment.
Smith & Nephew is based in London and employs about 2,000 in Memphis.
— Toby Sells: (901) 529-2742
