Founders, shareholders and board of the public company, 1996–2018

analysisExactech's 1996 registration statement describes William Petty, M.D. as a founder and its chairman and chief executive officer since inception, a professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine since July 1975 and chair of its Department of Orthopaedic Surgery from July 1981 to January 1996. Gary J. Miller, Ph.D., also a founder, had been vice president of research and development since October 1986 and a director since March 1989, while teaching orthopaedic surgery at the same college; he had been a consultant to FDA from 1989 to 1992. Timothy J. Seese had been president and chief operating officer since March 1991, Joel C. Phillips treasurer since March 1996, and Betty Petty, William Petty's wife, secretary since inception. ¹

analysisBy the 2018 merger proxy William Petty had been chairman since inception and chief executive until 2014, and president from January 2002 to December 2007. David W. Petty, his son, had joined in 1988, became president in November 2007 and chief executive in March 2014. Miller had been executive vice president of research and development since February 2000 and a director from March 1989 through May 2003. ²

analysisBefore the IPO William and Betty Petty held 1,318,699 shares as joint tenants, and a shareholders agreement with the Petty family, its principal shareholders, gave William and Betty Petty a first right to buy any shares the others sold. In 2010 the couple beneficially owned 3,868,439 shares (29.5%), of which 3,517,498 were held by Prima Investments, Limited Partnership (27.3%). Miller beneficially owned 518,535 shares (4.0%), including 411,212 held by Millerworks, Limited Partnership, a Nevada partnership whose general partner Miller owned and whose interests he and his family held. FMR, LLC (5.5%) and GAMCO Investors (6.2%) were the institutional holders listed. ^{1 2}

analysisIn March 2010 the officers were William Petty (chief executive and chairman), Miller (research and development), David Petty (president and director), Phillips (chief financial officer and treasurer), Bruce Thompson (general manager of the biologics and spine division) and Betty Petty (administration and human resources, corporate secretary). The other directors were Albert Burstein, R. Wynn Kearney, Jr., Paul E. Metts, William B. Locander and James G. Binch, with Richard C. Smith nominated. The proxy describes Kearney as a director since 1989 and a senior partner of a Minnesota orthopaedic clinic, Metts as a director since 1998 who had run Shands HealthCare and retired in 2009 as Florida's Deputy Secretary of Health, and Burstein as a director since 1996 who had been a senior scientist at the Hospital for Special Surgery from 1976 to 1996. ¹

analysisMcGladrey & Pullen had been the company's auditor since 2007. The 2010 proxy also notes $33,075 of extra fees paid to Metts for his part in "the Department of Defense inquiry the company is involved in", without describing it. A January 2015 press release names Jody Phillips as chief financial officer. ^{1 2}

analysisThe 1996 registration statement disclosed a products-liability suit filed in December 1994 in Pinellas County, Florida over the acetabular components of Exactech's hip system, which the company said was without merit and in which its insurer represented it, and an April 1995 patent suit by Joint Medical that was dismissed against Exactech without prejudice in July 1995 under a tolling agreement. ¹