GTCR Partners With Former NuVasive CEO to Form Corza Health

GTCR, a private equity firm, has entered into a partnership with Gregory T. Lucier to form Corza Health Inc. The new company, headquartered in San Diego, Calif., will focus on acquiring companies and assets as part of a strategy to build a market-leading healthcare business with a particular focus on the broader life sciences and medical technology sector. GTCR, the firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy—finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth—will invest in Corza Health from GTCR Fund XII, a private equity fund with $5.25 billion of equity capital commitments. Lucier will serve as CEO of Corza Health and make a substantial investment alongside GTCR.
 
“We are excited to partner with Greg to build a leading healthcare company as part of The Leaders Strategy,” said GTCR Managing Director and head of Healthcare, Dean Mihas. “Greg has an exceptional track record in the sector, including his leadership as CEO of Life Technologies, transforming the business through organic growth and acquisition. Greg has a longstanding relationship with GTCR, including his role as a director of Cole-Parmer, a previous GTCR Fund XI company. His industry expertise, strategic vision and M&A acumen make him an ideal partner as GTCR commits to build another platform in this attractive segment of healthcare.” 
 
Lucier is a 25-year veteran of the healthcare industry. From 2003 to 2014, he served as chairman and CEO of Life Technologies, a global life sciences company that grew revenue from approximately $700 million to nearly $4 billion under his leadership. During Lucier’s tenure at Life Technologies, he grew the predecessor company known as Invitrogen via organic and M&A initiatives, integrating more than 20 add-on acquisitions and leading the transformational merger in 2008 of Invitrogen with Applied Biosystems, rebranding as Life Technologies. Lucier’s leadership helped scale Life Technologies into a global life sciences company with 50,000 products and 12,000 employees, which ultimately sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014 for approximately $15 billion. 
 
Lucier most recently served as chairman and CEO of NuVasive, a medical device company specializing in minimally invasive spine surgery that grew revenue from approximately $775 million to more than $1 billion in just over three years as CEO. In addition to continuing to serve as the chairman of NuVasive, Lucier serves on the board of Catalent Inc., and is a former director of CareFusion Corporation, which was acquired by Becton, Dickinson & Co. in 2015 for approximately $12 billion. His early career included roles as a corporate officer of General Electric and as an executive at GE Medical Systems.
 
“I am thrilled to partner with GTCR to build Corza Health into an industry-leading healthcare company,” said Lucier. “GTCR has deep domain expertise in healthcare, a great track record of creatively building platforms in this space, and a long history of backing experienced CEOs. With our partnership, Corza Health is well-positioned to create a compelling platform in the broader life sciences and medical technology field.”
 
Brian Berning will join Lucier as chief financial officer (CFO) of Corza Health. Berning most recently served as CFO at GreatCall, a GTCR-funded connected health and personal emergency response services company which was acquired in October 2018 by Best Buy for approximately $800 million.
 
“GTCR’s formation of Corza Health with Greg and Brian is another excellent example of The Leaders Strategy and builds on our sector expertise,” added Ben Daverman, managing director at GTCR. “Leveraging our track record and specialized industry focus, we believe there are a number of industry trends that we are excited to capitalize on. We are actively looking for acquisitions, ranging from founder-led businesses to large corporate carve-outs. Greg and Brian provide us a unique position to evaluate and pursue a wide range of assets.”
 
Founded in 1980, GTCR is a private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services and Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy—finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $15 billion in over 200 companies. 
 
Corza Health was formed in 2019 as a partnership between Lucier and GTCR. Corza Health’s mission is to build a market-leading healthcare business with a particular focus on the broader life sciences and medical technology sector.