SynerFuse™ Announces Jeff Fritz as Lead Director
MINNEAPOLIS – June 22, 2021 – Justin Zenanko, CEO and Co-Founder of SynerFuse, Inc., a Minneapolis-based medical device company, today announced the appointment of Jeff Fritz as Lead Director of the SynerFuse Board of Directors.
“A proven growth-oriented leader, Fritz has led successful organizations in the health and wealth sectors for the past 25 years,” said Zenanko. “His specialty is helping companies succeed in healthcare Business to Business (B2B), unlocked through innovative technology.”
Fritz most recently served as CEO of Revel (now Icario), a health action company, where he launched the company on a multi-year, double-digit growth trajectory. He worked to define the next strategic leap of the company as it entered the M&A phase of its evolution. Fritz was the CEO of Evolution1 (now Wex Health™), the fast-growth, industry-leading technology for consumer-driven healthcare. This company became the platform for multiple strategic acquisitions. Prior to Evolution1, Fritz led the growth and sale of companies in the healthcare industry.
Fritz has served on several high-growth healthcare company boards and is a mentor for early-stage entrepreneurs in the Minnesota healthcare/technology ecosystem. Organizations led by Fritz have received numerous awards in recognition of innovation, growth, and a great workplace culture. Fritz holds a dual degree in finance and management from Drake University.
“I’m excited to join the SynerFuse journey.” said Fritz. “It’s rare to see a solution that has the promise to reduce healthcare costs, improve patient outcomes, combat the opioids crisis, and set a new standard in a massive medical device category.”
“We’re excited to have Jeff Fritz join us in leading our board of directors,” said Zenanko. “With his experience in leading management and M&A of high-growth companies in healthcare, SynerFuse will be well-equipped to bring our vision of chronic lower back pain management to patients and to the market.
About Chronic Lower Back Pain (CLBP)
CLBP is defined as pain that continues for 12 weeks or longer, even after an initial injury or underlying cause of acute lower back pain has been treated. With 500,000 procedures performed annually, spinal fusion remains a common treatment for spinal instability, albeit with a high incidence of residual neuropathic pain. The continuum of increasingly ineffective opioid treatments, additional interventions and adjacent level spinal fusions leaves up to 46% of patients with significant, lingering pain, costing the US healthcare system $20B per year and significantly effecting the quality of life of patients.
About SynerFuse
SynerFuse is a Delaware corporation based in Minnesota—the heart of Medical Alley. SynerFuse believes that individuals with chronic back pain and their providers deserve a better option than spinal fusion alone. Even when spinal fusion is successful, it can often result in residual chronic pain and use of addictive opioids. The company is working to create a new future of non-narcotic pain management for lower back pain with a patented therapy that integrates spinal fusion hardware, an active neuromodulation system, and sensors in a novel "smart" device. For more information on the company, please visit www.synerfuse.com.