Excellence in Spinal TechnologyDecember 22, 2006Volume 1, Issue 1

AlphAtec SpineHoliday PartyOn the evening of Saturday, December 2nd, Alphatec employees enjoyed this year’s Holiday Party at The Sheraton at Harbor Island. In two elegant grand ball-rooms, the party-goers dressed in tuxes and long gowns, celebrated with an eve-ning of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, dinner, cake and champagne. Along with an evening program abundant with events such as gambling, karaoke, dancing, and prizes, there was also a welcome message from Ron Hiscock, speeches from Vicky Romanoski, Kim Bradshaw, Morgan Espe and Lee Edler. Ross Simmonds wound the evening down with a champagne toast. In addi-tion, Reggie Robinson, was recognized as Alphatec’s Employee of the Year.

“Pay it Forward” was this year’s holiday theme. The idea for the theme came from Kim Bradshaw, VP of Physician Services & Fulfillment, who for the last six months has implemented a unique approach to expressing appreciation and acknowledging the hard work of our co-workers.

As she explained in her address to the party attendees, Kim vowed that if she ever arrived in a position of influence, she would change the way people felt about their work. And how more deeply can you change a co-worker’s attitude then by letting them know that you value what they do. What they do makes a difference in your life.

The idea came to Kim from the movie, “Pay it Forward,” in which a 6th grade social study teacher challenges his stu-dents to think of an idea for world change

and put it into action. The 12-year-old hero of the movie explains that he will do something good for three people. Then when those people ask him how they can pay him back, he will ask them to pay it forward by doing something good for three people, and then ask those three people to pay it forward to three more people. So three become 9 which become 27 and so on. The bot-tom line is that acknowledging and help-ing people spreads exponentially.

Kim put the “Pay it Forward” concept into action about six months ago by asking Alphatec leaders to join her each week in recognizing employees who made a difference to them in that week. In re-turn, Kim sends the acknowledgement to both the recipient and their manager and asks them to “Pay it Forward” by acknowledging employees who have made a difference to them in that week.

“Pay it Forward” is a simple idea that has created powerful lasting resonance. Resonance that rings true to the Al-phatec values of acknowledging that employees are our most vital asset and the importance of serving each other and treating each other with truthful-ness, respect and dignity.

“Pay it Forward” also inspires employ-ees to pursue excellence by striving for the highest standards and focus upon efficiency and growth by sharing the responsibility to look for new, innova-tive and better ideas that translate into greater efficiency of efforts.

Also newsworthy is the speed at which the Holiday Party was organized. What normally takes 8-9 months to plan for this size and caliber of party took the Alphatec Party Planning Team a mere 2 weeks.

The Holiday Committee included Kim Bradshaw, Heather Henning, Ada Ra-mos, Richard Reyes and Mitch San-doval. They had lots of help from Lisa Cook, Dawn Marie Emmons, Ivan Ew-ing, Rida Pestano and Carlos Smith.

In an outpouring of e-mails after the party, the feedback included comments such as it was the best planned, per-fectly timed and well-executed party; everyone was made welcome; the hotel, the ballrooms, the food were first class; the agenda of speakers and activities flowed flawlessly; the dancing, gambling and karaoke were great; and they could have listened to Trent Northcutt sing all night!

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Alphatec is sponsoring the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation and will be col-lecting new, unwrapped toys in desig-nated bins through January 2, 2007.

Toys for Tots is a 59-year tradition of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. Through the gift of a shiny new toy, happiness and hope are provided to disadvantaged children who might otherwise be over-looked this holiday season.

“Sponsoring a toy will

give a child recognition,

confidence

and a positive

memory for

a lifetime.”

In 2005, Toys for Tots delivered more than 18.5 million toys to over 7.4 million children. Unfortunately, with over 13 million children living in poverty, Toys for Tots needs help to achieve their goal of delivering a toy to every child in need.

Toys for Tots

Reggie Robinson, Replenishment Lead, Fulfillment was voted by his peers as Alphatec’s Employee of the Year for 2006.

As noted at the Holiday Party in the announce-ment given by Keith Mi-chaelis, Director of Em-ployee Relations, Reggie demonstrates the Pursuit of Excellence by his ex-tremely high level of pro-ductivity and consistent quality in servicing the re-quirements of the Alphatec sales team.

Employee of the YearAs quoted by his former manager: “Reg-gie displays more than exceptional de-pendability—and he shows up each day, every day, on time, no excuses.” He

also demonstrated tre-mendous initiative during the Extreme Makeover of the Fulfillment Center.

In addition, while Reggie is known for his concern for the surgeons and patients that Alphatec serves—he is also known for his “Golden Heart” for

serving a warm meal on a Holiday or playing the role of a “Big Brother” for those less fortunate in our local community.

Benefits Alphatec

Jan. 1, 2007 Monday New Years Day May 28, 2007 Monday Memorial Day July 4, 2007 Wednesday Independence Day Sept. 3, 2007 Monday Labor Day Nov. 22, 2007 Thursday Thanksgiving Day Nov. 23, 2007 Friday Day After Thanksgiving Dec. 24, 2007 Monday Christmas Eve Dec. 25, 2007 Tuesday Christmas Day Floating Holiday Open Open Floating Holiday Open Open Floating Holiday Open Open

Regular Full-time (RFT) employees receive 8 hours of holiday pay for each day listed above. Non-exempt employees will be paid for all hours worked, in addition to holi-day pay. Temporary employees receive no holiday pay.

** Each employee will receive “three” floating holidays which can be taken any time prior to December 31, 2007, with advance approval from your manager. Please note that to be eligible to receive this floating holiday, employees must have three months of continuous employment with the employer.

2007 Holiday Schedule

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NEW Who’s

Albert BorquezNetwork Engineer

Amanda WebsterCoordinator,

Accounts Receivable

Angel StarrAccount Representative

Physician Services

I’ve been in the computer industry for the past 17 years. I started designing, implementing, and managing computer networks 14 years ago.

Before coming to Alphatec, I was with LightPointe Communications. A “last mile” communication company focused on free space optics.

That good feeling you get from knowing some where down the line your work made some one’s life a little better… I missed that from working in a medical device company. Also knowing I would be working with a VP I had learned a lot from in the past and will learn more going forward.

I’ll be working with our communication infrastructure, I hope to see our network grow globally focusing on a secure cor-porate network with business continuity embedded into our design.

I have worked for the past two years at Sierra Nursery and Rock, Inc. as an Ac-count Specialist in the accounts receiv-able and payables field. Before that I worked in office and retail management positions.

I came to Alphatec because I wanted to work or a company with a good sense of values and where my knowledge and experience would be appreciated.

My job here entails processing sales orders after the Physician Services department releases them. Then I bill out those orders to our customers so that we can receive payment for our products that were used. I also process credit memos and customer payments, as well as other miscellaneous projects that deal with accounts receivable.

I hope to gain a greater knowledge of our products and provide the best and most accurate service to our custom-ers on a daily basis, as well as become more knowledgeable in the accounting field in general.

I have 5 years experience in customer service and patient interaction. My last employer was UCSD Orthopaedic Sur-gery as Dr. Steven Garfin’s surgery co-ordinator. My job was to schedule his OR time and to make sure proper instru-mentation and equipment was ordered and received on time.

I once observed a six hour spine surgery of Dr. Garfin’s. I was absolutely amazed by the surgery and the many unpredict-able things that can happen in the OR.

I wanted to work for Alphatec because of my growing interest in spine surgery, and because Alphatec helps the sur-geons make life better for people with serious spine conditions.

My job here at Alphatec is with Physi-cian Services, expediting customer ser-vice issues and incoming orders for all of the Texas region.

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NEW Who’s

Jeff GuyerEngineer, Customs

Ketchen SmithDesign Engineer

David WhiteProduct Manager

For about the last ten years, I worked for AcroMed (now DePuy Spine) as a Prod-uct Manager, Regional Sales Manager and Distributor. I also spent five years with MacroPore Biosurgery as Director of Marketing.

My job here at Alphatec is as Product Manager for thoraco-lumber.

I live in San Diego with my wife and three children (19 months, three years, and nine years old).

For the past three plus years, I had been working for Point Innovation, a design consultancy based in Dallas, Texas. We designed consumer based prod-ucts, ranging from golf bags and pet accessories to ATM-like kiosks, aircraft seats, ceiling fans and lighting fixtures--concentrating on research, aesthetic design, ergonomics and optimizing user needs.

I hold a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Fine Arts minor from the University of Pennsylvania. My aim is to combine a sense of design and bal-ance in my products.

I have always wanted to design medi-cal devices for the opportunity to design products that can truly increase the quality of a person’s life (more so than a sweet new fan). I identified Alphatec Spine as a future employer based on our in-house manufacturing, optimistic future projections, energetic atmosphere and the proximity to the beach.

I have joined the Customs Engineering group where I will be working closely with manufacturing and regulatory, in-teracting with doctors and designing custom products. I am very excited to be a member of the Alphatec team and look forward to meeting the rest of the family.

I spent the last six years working as a Mechanical Designer in the semicon-ductor and telemetric (space communi-cation) industries. My last job was for SeaSpace Corp. in Poway designing 3-axis antenna systems.

I came to Alphatec for the opportunity to design for the benefit of mankind and Alphatec definitely fits that bill.

My job here will be to design future products for the company with a great engineering team.

One day I hope to see a product that I aided in designing, directly or indirectly, improve someone’s quality of life.

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Michael SolowayVice President,

Medical Education

Park Carmon, Senior Director,Sales & MarketingStrategic Planning

During the past 25 years my orthopae-dic experience has been multifaceted. I sold hip and knee implants for Osteon-ics, trauma plates and screws, bone growth stimulators and a whole host of products for the largest independent, specialty distributor in the United Sates from 1981-1993.

I was hired by Ross Simmonds in 1993 as the Western Regional Manager for Interpore International to manage the sales of Pro Osteon 500, the first syn-thetic bone substitute approved by the FDA in the United States. Within a year, I moved inside to corporate and estab-lished the medical education department to train sales representatives and orga-nize clinician training and meetings.

In 1998, Interpore acquired Cross Medi-cal, a spinal implant company in Dublin, Ohio. For the next six years I coordinat-ed educational training on spinal instru-mentation as well as biologic products.

I moved to IsoTis Orthobiologics in Sep-tember, 2004 after Interpore Cross was purchased by Biomet and spent two years focusing on the selling of biologic products that stimulated spinal fusion and bone healing.

I recently came to Alphatec for several reasons. Professionally, I have worked

I have been in the Health Care field for almost 27 years.

I began as a Clinical Perfusionist, run-ning the heart-lung machine for open heart surgery. I worked in clinical man-agement and executive positions for a company that grew from $1 million in sales to about $100 million in sales be-fore it was purchased by Baxter.

My experience in the spine business came as Vice President of Operations for Interpore Cross International.

Working with the marketing department at Alphatec is a new opportunity for me to be part of a growing company in a dynamic industry.

NEW Who’s

with many of the field management team in the past and consider them to be the best in the business.

I worked with Ross Simmonds and Steve Lubischer, who bring a wealth of expe-rience, expertise and clinician relation-ships, for many years and believe their leadership will advance Alphatec Spine to the next level of industry dominance. I wanted to be part of that synergy. And finally, the sense of a successful compa-ny was quite evident when I visited the beautiful corporate offices and toured our fantastic manufacturing facility. I felt like I was in the Four Seasons Hotel but knew it was down the street.

What do I want to accomplish at Al-phatec? My desire and plan is to more fully develop and integrate the Medical Education department as a company wide resource for product knowledge, dissemination and sales skill develop-ment that will quickly translate into rev-enue growth and successful selling of Alphatec spinal and biologic products.

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NEW Who’s

Sue JohnsonVice President,

Human Resources

Vanessa GregoriosSupervisor, Payroll

LOLAVice President,

Goodwill Ambassador

I have 20 years of human resources ex-perience, including 14 years with Sulzer Dental (now Zimmer Dental). In addition, I teach in the HR Certificate Program at Cal State University San Marcos.

Sarah Gould was one of my students this past summer and she recruited me for this position (no…she really did earn that “A”).

I was interested in the opportunity at Alphatec for a number of reasons, in-cluding the tremendous wealth building opportunity, the synergies between den-tal implant manufacturing and spinal im-plant manufacturing, the North County location, and the professionalism and caliber of employees we have been able to attract and retain.

I hope to accomplish many things during my tenure at Alphatec, but my number one priority will be to build organiza-tional systems and structures that focus attention on the business objectives and which reward and recognize behavior which is consistent with our stated orga-nizational purpose and beliefs.

I look forward to a long and rewarding experience at Alphatec Spine!

I have been in the payroll field for eight years, with a concentration in account-ing and human resources.

My previous job was with United Pan Am Financial Corp in Newport Beach, work-ing as a Payroll Supervisor with 3,000 multi-state employees.

There are many reasons that attracted me to Alphatec. Mainly, I felt this job would challenge me. Since the com-pany is growing so fast, the department needs to expand and grow to accommo-date. I am really excited to be a part of that growth.

My job comprises of supervising one direct report; processing payroll on a weekly basis; and maintaining current records and tax changes with 31 states.

I would like to take the payroll and make it technically-savvy and organized and also an exceptionally customer service oriented department.

I have a very diverse background. You may have seen me on the February 2004 cover of Dog Fancy, but I have also had the distinction of curling up on the laps of Governor Schwartzeneg-gar and Mel Gibson—and Madonna insisted on taking me for a walk in NY Central Park.

Some of you may also have seen me as Seventh Dog in the hoop act of the Cirque du Soleil (for which I received rave reviews). And, of course, I’m sure many of you have read my best selling book, “The Overachieving Maltese.”

But most people are unaware of my dis-tinguished Ivy League Education. Yes, I received an interdisciplinary doctorate from Vassar College and published three noteworthy papers: The Chang-ing Role of the Maltese in 21st Century Society; The Maltese as a Symbol in 20th Century Impressionistic Art; and The Language and Expressive Culture of the Maltese. In addition, I was on the swim team, the Vassar Extreme Dog Paddlers.

I want to work for Alphatec because of Alphatec’s appreciation of what the Maltese brings to the workplace. Only companies on the cutting edge, such as Alphatec, truly understand the Maltese’s positive psycho physiological impact on today’s stressed out worker.

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Let the Trumpet Sound. . .A Message from the CEOLooking Towards the New YearIn this time of great growth and change within our organization and within the spinal industry, let’s take a moment to reaffirm Alphatec’s reason for being, what sets our company apart and what should drive our actions as individuals committed to excellence.

The Power of ValuesThe most important and differentiating quality of outstanding organizations is a set of values that inspire, unite and sustain them. Values are constant and enduring and precede business plans, policies, procedures, practices, perfor-mance and outcomes. Our values are the basis on which we build our business and our careers. They are also the basis on which we es-tablish our reputation. Our values serve to fuel our collaborative partnerships with surgeons and that, in turn, drives our product innovation and determines results.

Alphatec’s ValuesAt the center of Alphatec’s values are our beliefs—our five most significant characteristics in relationships with sur-geons, patients, hospitals, each other, investors and distributors.

Respect for the IndividualService to Our ConstituentsPursuit of ExcellenceCommitment to Personal IntegrityFocus Upon Efficiency and Growth

Our Beliefs explain how we approach our daily work. In all of our relation-ships with our constituents and one an-other, we strive to achieve the highest degrees of respect, service, excellence and integrity. By doing so, we harness tremendous organizational energy to achieve a high standard for quality, ser-vice and product innovation within the spinal industry.

•••••

Respect for the IndividualRespect for the Individual is the means by which Alphatec Spine expresses long-term interest in its employees and indicates that every employee counts. It is the “handshake” between the com-pany and each individual employee. It is about each individual within the orga-nization being a vital link in a collective effort. We realize that the spinal device industry, our company and individual job responsibilities are dynamic. Our goal is measurable employee satisfaction.

Alphatec Spine aims to set the highest standards within the spinal device in-dustry and recognizes that this can only be accomplished through our approach to our most valuable resource – our people.

Respect for the Individual is a basic value that is embraced by all employees and creates a strong sense of identity and purpose for everyone. It ensures that regardless of race, religion, lifestyle—or position within the company—each indi-vidual is heard, acknowledged and val-ued for the contribution he or she makes to the Company.

Recognizing employees as a vital asset attracts a special kind of employee, one who is willing to grow, change and con-tribute to the success of the Company; and most importantly, one who is willing

“Our values serve to fuel our collaborative partner-ships with surgeons and that, in turn, drives our product innovation and determines results.”

to dedicate one’s self to product inno-vation through surgeon partnerships.

We strive to motivate employees and make every effort to recognize and reward good performance. This belief provides the foundation for our prac-tice. It is supported day-to-day by a variety of policies and programs.

This holiday season, take a moment to appreciate what your co-workers mean to you. Consider the day-to-day ser-vice and motivation that we provide to each other and our collective vision of the future of this company. Moreover, contemplate what a better, richer place Alphatec is for all our differences in skills, talents, and experience we bring to work each day.

“[Respect for the Individ-ual] ensures that regard-less of race, religion, life-style--or position within the company--each indi-vidual is heard, acknowl-edged and valued for the contribution that he or she makes to the Company.”

Steve Witherspoon joined Alphatec Manufacturing in December 2004 as a machinist with a lifetime of experience in metal fabrication. His background included a wealth of f irst-hand knowledge of modern manufacturing techniques, especially “lean manufacturing,” a concept to which he was deeply committed, and which has become the foundation for all of Alphatec’s manufacturing processes.

Steve became the lead machinist in the NC Milling area, and worked with the mill team to develop new meth-ods for tooling, programming, and running parts. Steve’s contribution to the mill area has revolutionized Alphatec’s implant manufacturing op-erations. In less than one year, Steve was promoted to Implant Manufac-turing Manager.

As the Implant Manufacturing Man-ager, Steve was deeply involved with

the day-to-day production operations. He was responsible for a 40-person production team working on two shifts, and interacted with virtually everyone in and around manufactur-ing on a daily basis (Quality, En-gineering, Regulatory, Fulf illment, H/R, Materials, etc.). In addition to being the driving force behind our lean manufacturing scheme, Steve was a signif icant contributor to our successful expansion and improvement of the operations, leader of the qual-ity and productivity improvement initiatives, and committed to person-nel development and training. He was a hard-working and dedicated individual, driven by personal pride and a righteous belief in his point of view. Steve always let you know where he stood on an issue—he did not hold back.

Outside of work, Steve’s passion was bowling. He bowled every Friday night with an average of about 180.

A big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he had been planning a trip back east over the holidays to see a Steelers’ game.

On the evening of Friday, December 1st, Steve suffered a massive heart at-tack at home. In spite of heroic efforts by the emergency medical personnel, as well as by the cardiac surgery team at Scripps Memorial Hospital, Steve never regained consciousness and sus-tained irreversible brain damage. He died quietly with his family at his side on Monday, December 4th.

Steve’s sudden passing has left a large void in our organization—and he will be greatly missed. Steve’s legacy is the fabulous implant manufac-turing operation in Building 1, the successful expansion of our production capabilities, and the knowledge and passion that he imparted to everyone he touched at Alphatec. We will build on Steve’s good work every day.

Remembering Steve Witherspoon1955 – 2006Herb Bellucci, VP of Manufacturing

Gil Chavez, Director of Manufacturing

“A man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.”--William Morris