ECA Medical Instruments, the leading designer and manufacturer of single-procedure torque-limiting and fixed-driver surgical instruments and procedural kits for the medical industry and surgeons worldwide, has named Lane Hale as president and chief executive officer. The Board of Directors tapped Hale to build upon the 38-year foundation ECA enjoys in the medical device industry and accelerate growth and market adoption of the company’s novel and proprietary disposable instruments and procedural kits for the cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, orthopaedic and spine implant market segments.
 
Hale joins ECA from Surgical Frontiers, where he was Executive Vice President and helped launch and operate start-up medtech companies to develop advanced surgical technologies focused on improving surgical outcomes. In the medical device industry since 2005, he spent much of his career partnering with many of today’s leading medical device companies developing new technologies, launching new products, and sustaining manufacturing. Hale has held leadership roles in business development, operations, and finance at Surgical Frontiers, Insightra Medical, CoorsTek Medical, IMDS and MedicineLodge. Hale has worked in investment banking for Goldman Sachs and in management consulting focused on process improvement. He received a B.A. and M.B.A. from Brigham Young University.
 
“Over the past four months, ECA’s Board led an extensive CEO search which included dozens of candidates, and Lane was the Board’s top choice given his experience, background, and personality,” said Rick Rees, chairman of the board. “The Board is absolutely confident that Lane is the right leader to guide ECA through its next chapter of transformation and growth. With Lane as CEO, ECA is poised to capitalize on an incredible market opportunity and solidify its first mover advantage and leading market position designing and manufacturing orthopedic and spine disposable instruments and sterile-packed instrument sets. We could not be more excited for Lane, ECA, and our customers.”
 
“I am very excited to join the ECA team and partner with its customers to provide innovative solutions to the clinical challenges and increasing cost pressures they are facing,” said Hale. “ECA has been a leader in disposable instruments and sterile-packed procedural kits for many years. We have launched these products, which includes proprietary ECA technology, with market leading orthopedic, cardiovascular, cardiac rhythm management and neuromodulation implant OEMs throughout the world. As more OEM’s, hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers have begun realizing and pursuing the important benefits of single use instrumentation, including operating room efficiency, cost savings, and patient safety, we are poised to be their preferred strategic partner.”
 
Hale will be based at ECA’s headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., which includes its design center of excellence and turnkey precision-machining, injection molding and clean room operations. ECA operates out of two buildings consisting of over 40,000 square feet of sales and marketing, manufacturing, engineering, quality assurance and administrative space.
 
ECA’s disposable instruments and procedural kits are gaining increased popularity and demand by medical device implant OEMs given their ability to eliminate instrument life cycle costs by over $1,000 per procedure, reduce the risk of surgical site infection, provide perfect implant fixation with calibrated torque-limiters, and improve operating room efficiency. They are used widely by the world’s top medical device firms for securing trauma, extremity, and spine implants and are the industry standard for installing every pacemaker, defibrillator and neurostimulation device.