Physiotherapy Associates, a private-equity backed company based in Exton, recently announced its board of directors appointed Hank Balavender, a physical therapist, as its chief executive officer.

The 29-year-old company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last November, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company, with 575 outpatient clinics in 29 states, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Wilmington, Del., along with 50 affiliates. The firm listed assets of more than $500 million, and its creditors accepted a prepackaged debt-restructuring plan, the Journal reported.

This is the first time in the company’s history that a physical therapist has headed the organization. Balavender is taking over from interim CEO Martin McGahan.

Balavender brings over 25 years of clinical and operational expertise to the top job. He has led six organizations in the physical therapy sector including HealthSouth, where he rose to the position of senior vice president, chief operations officer, in charge of 880 facilities. In 1976 Balavender founded Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Associates. The company grew from a start-up company to a firm with 19 locations, 200 employees and over $20 million in revenues.

“We were looking for someone who could lead Physiotherapy Associates, drive significant productivity improvements and grow shareholder value and we are confident that Hank Balavender is that person,” said Jeff Goldberg, chairman of the board.

“We wanted our new CEO to have an outstanding track record of leading multi-site, decentralized service businesses in the healthcare sector and Hank’s background as both a leader and founder of such organizations was definitely a plus,” Goldberg said. “He has over 25 years of demonstrated leadership, management and mentoring skills that have driven successful growth of businesses, evolution of business processes and value enhancement for key stakeholders. Most importantly, he has the experience of leading companies through rapid cycles of growth and change, while building and motivating high performance teams. We are excited to have Hank join our family.”

The Exton home office is located at 855 Springdale Drive. The company has hundreds of individual clinics across the country, each with its own name. The company provides physical therapy, industrial rehabilitation, sports medicine and orthotics and prosthetics services.

The full Wall Street Journal story about the Chapter 11 bankruptcy is here.

Links: physiocorp.com.