Our Team
Axis Spine Technologies is building an expert team to develop highly differentiated products that provide meaningful improvements in patient care.
Leadership
Jon Arcos
As CEO & Founder, Jon brings 25 years of experience in spinal implants. Jon has worked for a broad range of companies from start-up to multi-national conglomerates in sales, product management, sales management and commercial leadership roles. Jon has been part of and led teams who have executed on several new product and Technology launches such as; Mini ALIF at Aesculap; Monarch at DePuy; STALIF at Surgicraft, now Centinel Spine, this was the world’s first stand-alone ALIF cage; XLIF, MAS PLIF and Reline at NuVasive UK.
At ApaTech (now part of Baxter) Jon led the branding, marketing messaging, commercial launch and new product development strategy for Actifuse, which became the most successful synthetic bone graft.
Following ApaTech Jon launched the UK business for NuVasive, their first wholly owned International subsidiary. After 5 years NuVasive was No. 3 in market and was the most profitable International company in the group.
Ivo Scheepens
Commercial leader with 25 years of marketing and sales experience in the global orthopaedic, neuro and spine industry. Held international positions in blue-chip, midcap and start-up organizations. A seasoned marketeer with vast experience in market development and strategy, commercialization, new product development and launch, as well brand management and digital marketing.
Ivo joined Axis Spine Technologies in 2021 from Intrinsic Therapeutics, where he served a ten-year tenure as Vice President Global Marketing for a first-to-market, PMA-approved implant addressing at-risk lumbar discectomy patients. Prior to Intrinsic, he held international sales, marketing and product management positions with Wright Medical Technology and Medtronic Spine.
Gant Newsom
Gant is an accomplished Sales Leader with 15 years of experience in med device primarily in the spine space. He has held multiple positions which started in the O.R. as a rep and transitioned up through the ranks of Regional Manager, Area Director, and Vice President roles. His market development experience includes selling spinal hardware, spinal implants, and biologics. He has guided the revenue growth efforts of sales and sales management teams in both direct and distribution models.
Gant joined Axis Spine Technologies in the fall of 2021, coming over from DuraStat where he was Vice President of Sales. Previous companies include Camber Spine, LDR, Zimmer Biomet and Globus.
He has a passion for working with surgeons to provide innovation in spine surgery with the goal of improving patient outcomes.
Chris Fryer
MedTech R&D Leader with over 20 years of experience driving successful R&D in medical devices. Chris spent over 12 Years at Smith and Nephew, ultimately as VP Research and Development with projects spanning wound healing, hydrosurgery and surgical site management before moving to Dutch Ophthalmic International as CTO where he lead a US and NL based team through several complex Ophthalmic instrument and surgical platform launches to achieve commercial scale up and support successful sale of the business in 2019. Chris has worked in Europe, the US and Asia and brings extensive experience leading engineering, QA/RA and project management teams to deliver disruptive technologies to highly regulated global markets. Joining Axis in 2023, Chris is excited to bring his knowledge of successful R&D process and practice to supporting the growth of the Axis product portfolio and R&D capabilities.
Alex Williams
Alex is a commercially focused CFO with two decades of financial leadership experience in life sciences, medical devices and technology sectors. His broad background – from innovative start-ups to top-tier multinationals – has given him a versatile toolkit that enables delivery of diverse business challenges across international markets. A trusted finance advisor and collaborative business partner, he is at his best partnering on talented executive teams to optimise new company, product and technology launches.
Career highlights include a strategic EMEA FD role at Zogenix, where he was instrumental to the rapid growth and successful sale of a life sciences and biotech industry success story. As Financial Planning Manager at healthcare giant, Allergan, he controlled a $300M P&L and played a lead role in a new strategic plan that accelerated growth in emerging markets. His background also includes significant IPO preparation at $2.2BN travel platform Travelport, where he co-created an investor relations function that was pivotal to the business’s performance in a newly NYSE-listed environment.
A people-focused finance team leader with an authentic coaching style, he has a passion for working with diverse business and scientific teams to create products that make a meaningful impact on patients’ and families lives.
The Board
Simon Cartmell, OBE
Simon Cartmell has spent over 35 years in the life-science and healthcare sector. He has extensive pharmaceutical, biotech and med-tech experience and is a serial entrepreneur in early-stage healthcare businesses – directly or as a venture capital investor. His early career was at Glaxo/GlaxoWellcome plc in a series of senior UK and global sales, marketing, supply chain, business development and commercial strategy roles. Subsequently he was COO Vanguard Medica, latterly Vernalis plc, and an Executive Director of FTSE 100 listed Celltech Group plc and CEO, Celltech Pharmaceuticals. In 2003 he became CEO of ApaTech Ltd, a UK orthobiologics start up, leading it to significant global success prior to its $330m sale to Baxter in 2010.
Subsequently Simon was actively engaged in a portfolio of medtech and digital healthcare businesses as a Venture Partner with Imperial Innovations Ltd/IPGroup plc and on his own account. He is currently non-executive Chairman of OssDsign AB, a Swedish customised implant business and Chairman of Oviva AG, a Swiss based diabetes and obesity management business. He joined the Board of Axis Spine Technologies Ltd in February 2021.
He is active in educational charitable work and sits on the Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and is Chairman of the Haberdashers’ Elstree Schools Governing Body. Additionally, he is active as a director of sports-related clubs and entities in his local community.
He was awarded the OBE for services to the Healthcare Sector in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in July 2016
John Sutcliffe
Triage Consultant Spinal Neurosurgeon
Lead Clinician London Spine Clinic
MBChB FRCS(Ed) FRCS (SN)
John Sutcliffe trained as an undergraduate in Edinburgh, gaining the year prize for systematic surgery and qualifying in 1983. His early medical post-graduate training was also in Edinburgh, after qualification, taking in a large number of specialties including plastic, orthopaedic and paediatric surgery before focusing on neurosurgery.
He undertook Neurosurgical training posts in Sheffield and London and developed an extensive experience of treating spinal conditions ranging from tumours and trauma to the commoner degenerative spinal conditions. He was appointed as a consultant neurosurgeon in 1993 and since that time has concentrated exclusively in the management of patients with spinal disorders.
He developed the concept of the multi-disciplinary team approach to spinal disorders, setting up the London Spine Clinic in 1997 and resigned from the NHS in 2000. He remains an Emeritus Consultant at Barts’ and the London NHS Trust. The London Spine Clinic was the first unit of its kind in the UK and continues with the same philosophy today.
Mr Sutcliffe has trained many young spinal surgeons, as training director in his NHS career and as supervisor for the spinal fellowship at the London Spine Clinic and London Clinic Hospital. He runs a regular teaching and training program within the Clinic, in both surgical and non-surgical aspects of spine care.
Mr Sutcliffe no longer undertakes open surgical procedures, but will focus on triaging the patients, arranging the multi-disciplinary management of their symptoms and running the London Spine Clinic as efficiently as possible.
Peter Dines
Peter Dines is Chief Operating Officer of Mercia Asset Management PLC, a leading UK investment company. Peter joined the board of Axis Spine after co-founding the company with seed investment via the Mercia EIS funds. In addition to Axis Spine, he is on the board of Mercia portfolio companies Locate Bio, Native Antigen, Concepta PLC and Sense Biodetection and is a co-founder of C7 Health, a diagnostic healthtech provider.
Peter has a wealth of spine experience having been the CEO of UK medical device company Surgicraft, responsible for developing and launching the first generation standalone STALIF® before spinning out Surgi C™ which he grew over five years to be the UK’s leading spinal distribution business where he successfully exited in 2012.
Stephan Ogilvie
Stephan Ogilvie brings extensive industry knowledge and contacts in the medical device sector. His sell-side healthcare experience includes equity research at Lazard and investment banking at B. Riley Securities. Steve currently serves as CEO of CardioFocus, and has direct operational experience inside large and small medical device companies including Medtronic and NuVasive.
Ted Davis
Ted Davis is the President & CEO of Active Implants, LLC., a sports medicine company developing and commercializing the NUsurface® Meniscus Implant. Prior to joining the Active Implants Board in 2016, he led MicroPort Orthopedics, Inc. from its establishment in 2014 through September 2015 following MicroPort Scientific’s acquisition of Wright Medical Technology, Inc.’s global OrthoRecon business. Ted was President of Wright’s OrthoRecon division from November 2012 until its divestiture and previously led Wright’s Corporate Development, Research and Development and Business Development functions having originally joined Wright in December 2006. During his tenure at Wright/MicroPort, Ted helped establish three spin-outs of non-core technologies. Prior to joining Wright, Ted spent 10 years in the life sciences venture capital field, where he served on various boards of privately held medical device and biotechnology companies, most recently as a Partner with MB Venture Partners (MBVP) and previously with Vector Fund Management (VFM). Ted began his career in the healthcare management consulting and pharmaceutical industries.
Ted received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. In addition to Axis Spine Technologies, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for Active Implants, LLC and SIBone, Inc.
