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Stuart Essig,


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Biography

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Stuart M. Essig, Ph.D.

Managing Director of Prettybrook Partners LLC

STUART M. ESSIG, PH.D. currently serves as managing director of Prettybrook Partners LLC, a family office focused on investing in medical technology companies. Prettybrook has approximately 25 active investments in a variety of companies, typically as a co-investor with institutional private equity.

Stuart has been Integra LifeSciences Corporation's (NASDAQ:IART) chairman of the board of directors since 2012 and a director since he joined Integra in 1997. He served as the company’s chief executive officer from 1997 to 2012, building Integra into a global surgical products leader. During Stuart’s more than 26-year tenure with the company, Integra grew revenues from approximately $15 million to over $1.6 billion and its market capitalization from approximately $100 million to an aggregate valuation of more than $4 billion. Share price during his tenure has increased from approximately $6 to over $60 on a split-adjusted basis. Stuart was appointed executive chairman in February of 2024.

Before joining Integra, Stuart was managing director of the medical technology practice at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He had ten years of broad healthcare experience at Goldman Sachs, serving as a senior merger and acquisitions advisor to a broad range of domestic and international medical technology, pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

Stuart has chaired audit, compensation, finance and nominating and governance committees, served as lead director, and participated in CEO succession processes, on the boards of numerous public companies including several Fortune 500 companies, ranging in size from several hundred million dollars to $50 billion in levered market capitalization.

In addition to Integra, Stuart currently serves on the board of directors of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ:IDXX). He serves as chairman of the board of directors of venture backed Mission Bio Inc. He also serves on the board of managers of Availity, LLC, the nation’s largest real-time health information network.

He is a venture partner at Wellington Partners Advisory AG, a venture capital firm. He also serves as a senior advisor to TowerBrook Capital Partners. He previously served as a senior advisor to Water Street Healthcare Partners, and an executive-in-residence at Cardinal Partners. Stuart was a founding investor member of TigerLabs, a Princeton-based business accelerator.

Stuart previously served on the board of directors of Orthofix (NASDAQ:OFIX) from 2022 to 2024 and Seaspine Holdings (NASDAQ:SPNE), from 2014 to 2022, prior to its merger with Orthofix, and St. Jude Medical Corporation (NYSE:SJM) from 1999 to 2017, prior to its sale to Abbott Corporation. From 2013 until 2019 he served on the board of directors of Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI), from 2005 until 2008 he served on the board of directors of Zimmer Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ZMH), and from 1998 to 2002, he served on the board of directors of Vital Signs, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL). He served as lead director, and executive chairman of the board of directors of private-equity backed Breg, Inc., a premium provider of high-value sports medicine products and services that advance patient care in orthopedics. He also served on the executive committee, nominating and governance committee, and was the treasurer of ADVAMED, the Advanced Medical Technology Association.

Stuart is also involved in several non-profit charitable organizations, including serving on their boards. From 2012 to 2018, he served on the board of directors of Trenton-area non-profit, Isles, Inc. and since 2006 has served as a volunteer and fundraiser for the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation. He serves on the Leadership Council of the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and previously served on the NACD Compensation Committee Chair Advisory Council.

Stuart received an A.B. degree and graduated with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He completed his MBA and Ph.D. degrees in financial economics from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.

Stuart resides in Austin, Texas.

Independent Director
Chairman of the Board