Ev3 Inc., a medical device maker with some 400 workers in Irvine, said Monday its chief executive is being replaced by a local industry veteran.
James Corbett stepped down as chief executive, president and chairman. Corbett had served as Ev3’s chief executive for four years.
Ev3 makes devices to treat arterial disease.
Robert Palmisano, a former chief executive of Irvine-based IntraLase Corp., is Corbett’s replacement as chief executive.
Palmisano took IntraLase public in 2004 and sold the company to Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. for $808 million last year.
Dan Levangie, an Ev3 board member, takes the non-executive chairman role.
Ev3 also cut its first-quarter revenue forecast to $101.3 million from a previous forecast of $107 million because of slower progress integrating its $1.7 billion buy of FoxHollow Technologies Inc.
Ev3 also pulled profit guidance for the year.
Analysts expect Ev3 to lose $2.1 million on sales of $104.4 million in the first quarter.
The company’s shares were down 13% with a market value of $789 million at the close of trading on Monday.
Corbett, an OC resident with a vague resemblance to actor Jim Belushi, shuttled back and forth between Irvine and Ev3’s headquarters in Plymouth, Minn.
His career also included serving as chairman of Micro Therapeutics Inc., which Ev3 bought in 2006.
