Novanta Names Matthijs Glastra Chief Executive Officer

Novanta Names Matthijs Glastra Chief Executive Officer

PR Newswire

BEDFORD, Mass., Aug. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVT) (the "Company", "we", "our", or "Novanta"), a global leader and supplier of laser, precision motion, and vision technologies to original equipment manufacturers in the medical and advanced industrial markets, today announced that it has named Matthijs Glastra as Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company, effective September 1, 2016. Mr. Glastra currently serves as Novanta's Chief Operating Officer, and will succeed John Roush as Chief Executive Officer.  Mr. Roush will continue to serve in an advisory role after September 1, 2016 for a limited transition period.

"As Novanta completes its transformation to a leading global supplier of enabling technology solutions in the medical and advanced industrial end markets, the Board is confident that Matthijs is uniquely qualified to build on the work that has been done in the past six years, while carrying forward the core values that John instilled," said Stephen W. Bershad, Chairman of Novanta's Board of Directors. "Matthijs' deep experience leading and growing OEM technology businesses, his extensive international operating background, his in-depth understanding of the Novanta businesses and his progressive leadership skills give us great confidence that he is the right person to lead the Company forward."

"The Board appreciates John's achievements over the last six years in transforming the Company," Mr. Bershad continued. Mr. Roush added, "I am grateful for having been given the opportunity to lead the Company and to bring Novanta to this point.  With this work now complete, it is the perfect time to pass the reins to Matthijs to lead Novanta's next chapter.  I could not imagine a better prepared, more capable successor than Matthijs."

Mr. Glastra stated, "Over the past few years, John and I have worked together to build a strong team and business portfolio that is well positioned to deliver on our strategic vision.  I am, therefore, honored to have the opportunity to lead this great Company. As we embark on a new phase focused on growth, I am excited to work with our Board, our management team, our customers and our exceptionally talented employees to create value for all stakeholders."   

Mr. Glastra joined Novanta Inc. in 2012 as Group President, and was appointed the Company's Chief Operating Officer in February 2015. Prior to Novanta, he led and grew global technology businesses in industrial and medical end-markets during an 18-year career with Philips, both in Europe as well as Silicon Valley. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Philips Entertainment Lighting and as Chief Operating Officer of Philips Lumileds. Prior to that, he held multiple general manager and leadership positions at various Philips divisions, including the Healthcare division. Mr. Glastra holds a Master of Science Degree in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology, an Advanced Engineering Degree from ESPCI in Paris, France, and an MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

About Novanta

Novanta is a leading global supplier of core technology solutions that give advanced industrial and healthcare OEMs a competitive advantage. We combine deep expertise at the intersection of photonics and motion with a proven ability to solve complex technical challenges. This enables Novanta to engineer core components and sub-systems that deliver extreme precision and performance, tailored to our customers' demanding applications. We deliver highly engineered laser, vision and precision motion solutions to customers around the world. The driving force behind our growth is the team of innovative professionals who share a commitment to innovation and customer success. Novanta's common shares are quoted on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "NOVT".

Safe Harbor and Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements contained in this news release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, and are generally identified by words such as "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "future," "could," "should," "plan," "aim," and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding anticipated growth and innovation; the Board's confidence in Mr. Glastra's ability to successfully lead the Company; that the Company is well-positioned to deliver on its strategic vision; creating value for all stakeholders; and other statements that are not historical facts. 

These forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including, but not limited to, the following: economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on our customers' businesses and level of business activity; our significant dependence upon our customers' capital expenditures, which are subject to cyclical market fluctuations; our dependence upon our ability to respond to fluctuations in product demand; our ability to continually innovate and successfully commercialize our innovations; failure to introduce new products in a timely manner; customer order timing and other similar factors beyond our control; disruptions or breaches in security of our information technology systems; changes in interest rates, credit ratings or foreign currency exchange rates; risk associated with our operations in foreign countries; our increased use of outsourcing in foreign countries; our failure to comply with local import and export regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate; our reliance on third party distribution channels; violations of our intellectual property rights and our ability to protect our intellectual property against infringement by third parties; risk of losing our competitive advantage; our failure to successfully integrate recent and future acquisitions into our business; our ability to make divestitures that provide business benefits; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; our restructuring and realignment activities and disruptions to our operations as a result of consolidation of our operations; product defects or problems integrating our products with other vendors' products; disruptions in the supply of certain key components or other goods from our suppliers; production difficulties and product delivery delays or disruptions; our compliance, or our failure to comply, with various federal, state and foreign regulations; changes in governmental regulation of our business or products; effects of conflict minerals regulations; our failure to comply with environmental regulations; our failure to implement new information technology systems and software successfully; our failure to realize the full value of our intangible assets; our exposure to the credit risk of some of our customers and in weakened markets; changes in tax laws, and fluctuations in our effective tax rates; being subject to U.S. federal income taxation even though we are a non-U.S. corporation; any need for additional capital to adequately respond to business challenges or opportunities and repay or refinance our existing indebtedness, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all; volatility in the market price for our common shares; our ability to access cash and other assets of our subsidiaries; the influence over our business of certain significant shareholders; provisions of our articles of incorporation may delay or prevent a change in control; our significant existing indebtedness may limit our ability to engage in certain activities; and our failure to maintain appropriate internal controls in the future.

Other important risk factors that could affect the outcome of the events set forth in these statements and that could affect the Company's operating results and financial condition are discussed in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015, our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and in our future filings with the SEC. 

Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to the Company. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document except as required by law.

More information about Novanta is available on the Company's website at www.novanta.com.  For additional information, please contact Novanta Inc. Investor Relations at (781) 266-5137 or [email protected].

Novanta Inc. 
Investor Relations Contact:
Robert J. Buckley
(781) 266-5137 

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