Zimmer Biomet Names Alcon Executive Chintan Desai President of Asia Pacific

Zimmer Biomet has named Chintan Desai president of its Asia Pacific region, effective immediately, the orthopedic device maker said in a press release issued July 14.

Desai replaces Sang Yi, the company's group president of Asia Pacific, who will depart on Aug. 28 "to ensure a smooth transition," according to the Warsaw, Indiana-based company.

"Chintan is a seasoned MedTech executive with nearly three decades of leadership experience at highly respected companies, along with deep expertise leading businesses across the Asia Pacific region," said Ivan Tornos, Zimmer Biomet's chairman, president and CEO. "He knows this market, he knows how to lead, and he will be a strong addition to our team."

From Alcon and GE Healthcare

Desai joins from Alcon, where he most recently served as vice president and general manager of international growth and export markets and sat on Alcon's international leadership team, based in Switzerland. Before that he was vice president for Alcon's Asia Pacific surgical business, based in Singapore, where he led the company's medtech franchise across multiple markets in the region, Zimmer Biomet said.

Earlier, Desai spent more than 22 years at GE Healthcare in senior regional business roles based in the United States, Singapore and Australia. Zimmer Biomet said his experience spans sales management, marketing, services, supply chain, finance and project management. He is a certified chartered accountant from India.

Yi joined Zimmer in 2013, was promoted to president of Asia Pacific in 2015 and became group president for the region in 2021, MedTech Dive reported on July 16. Tornos thanked him in the release for "his leadership and contributions over the past 13 years."

Scrutiny of international results

The appointment follows a quarter in which Zimmer Biomet's international operations drew attention from analysts, according to MedTech Dive. On the company's first-quarter earnings call in April, Goldman Sachs analyst David Roman said the start of 2026 was "the first quarter in quite some time that [outside the U.S.] growth has trailed the U.S. and likely trailed where end markets look to be performing," the outlet reported.

Tornos pointed to the company's move from "a large network of distributors to having one, if not two, partners" in markets including China as a factor in those international results, MedTech Dive said. On the fourth-quarter call in February, then-CFO Suketu Upadhyay said the company expected Asia Pacific sales to be down year over year, mainly because of a biennial price decrease in Japan, which he described as a "normal part of our business." Upadhyay left Zimmer in April, according to MedTech Dive.