Gary D. Blackford

  • Chairman of the Board

Gary D. Blackford was elected to our Board in October 2014.  He was appointed Chairman of our Board in April 2020, and Chair of the Compensation Committee in April 2021. From 2002 until February 2015, Mr. Blackford was the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Hospital Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS), a leading nationwide provider of medical technology outsourcing and services to the health care industry. Mr. Blackford was the Chief Executive Officer of Curative Health Services, Inc., a specialty pharmacy and health services company, from 2001 to 2002. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of ShopforSchool, Inc., an online retailer, from 1999 to 2001.  Mr. Blackford has also been a director of ReShape Lifesciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSLS) since 2016 (and Lead Director since 2019), Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota since 2017 (and Chairman since 2020), and Lifespace Communities, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, since February 2022.  He was a director of Wright Medical Group, N.V. (NASDAQ: WMGI) from 2008 to 2020 and PipelineRX, Inc. from 2016 to 2020.  Mr. Blackford was selected to serve as a member of our Board of Directors due to his executive leadership experience as a chief executive officer, financial literacy and experience in finance and accounting, international experience, and governance and public company board experience.