MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ATS Medical, Inc. , manufacturer and marketer of state-of-the-art cardiac surgery products and services today announced the appointment of Xavier Bertrand to the position of Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) effective March 1, 2010. Mr. Bertrand joins ATS Medical with over 15 years experience in the medical industry, primarily in the field of Interventional Cardiology. He has held several finance, operations, sales and marketing positions with Boston Scientific in Europe and more recently as Vice President of Sales for Europe and Latin America and then Vice President of Global Marketing at Biosensors International. His geographic responsibilities have included Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Mr. Bertrand will be responsible for all the strategic, operational, sales and marketing activities in EMEA, the region expected to contribute the most to ATS Medical's global revenues in the future based on expected new product approvals in the coming years. Mr. Bertrand noted, "I am excited to be contributing to the success of such a fast growing organization. I truly believe that ATS has the opportunity to shape the cardiac surgery market in the coming years with its focus on cardiac surgeons and minimally invasive surgery. Its innovative portfolio and pipeline will support our growth and greatly benefit cardiac surgeons and their patients."
About ATS Medical
ATS was originally founded to develop the ATS Open Pivot(R) Heart Valve as a new mechanical heart valve standard of care. Today the ATS Open Pivot Heart Valve is the preferred mechanical heart valve in many markets around the world and the fastest growing mechanical prosthesis in the market. Building on this legacy and addressing the largest market segment in heart valve therapy, the ATS 3f(R) brand encompasses an innovative tissue heart valve portfolio to address conventional open surgery requirements as well as the growing demand for less invasive sutureless based procedures. The ATS 3f(R) portfolio includes offerings at various stages including early product development, pivotal clinical trials, and market commercialization. Completing the portfolio in heart valve therapy is the ATS Simulus(R) annuloplasty product line. Simulus products assist the surgeon in repairing a patient's native heart valve as an alternative to replacement. Continuing ATS Medical's focus on serving the cardiac surgery community are the ATS CryoMaze(R) products for surgical cryoablation of cardiac arrhythmias. ATS CryoMaze(R) products are used by surgeons to treat patients suffering from cardiac arrhythmias, the largest and fastest growing form of structural heart disease in populations over 60 years of age. The ATS Medical web site is http://www.atsmedical.com.
CONTACT: Michael Dale, President/CEO, +1-763-553-7736, or Michael Kramer,
CFO, +1-763-557-2222, both of ATS Medical, Inc.; or Investors, Parice
Halbert, CFA of Westwicke Partners, LLC, +1-443-213-0500, for ATS Medical
Web site: http://www.atsmedical.com/
