OrthoLite Names New VP of Operational Excellence

AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS (October 23, 2024) – OrthoLite® hired Raj Santhana as the new Vice President of Operational Excellence. As part of OrthoLite’s global operations management team, Santhana will be responsible for OrthoLite manufacturing excellence and innovation as well as automation and digital transformation. He will work closely with the company’s industry-leading Global Foam Innovation Team in a new satellite office located in Singapore to further OrthoLite’s global commitment to innovate and manufacture the world’s best and most proven footwear foams.

With more than two decades of experience in footwear and manufacturing, Santhana most recently worked at Bata as the Global Head of Quality in Singapore. Prior to that, Santhana spent seven years at Adidas where he served in director roles overseeing quality footwear and manufacturing excellence in footwear.

“In addition to his vast expertise in the footwear industry, Raj holds two engineering degrees and he will be critical to driving operational excellence programs for our global team of 3,200 people at OrthoLite’s owned manufacturing facilities around the world,” said Richard Bevan, COO of OrthoLite.

Additional personnel moves include the promotion of Shaw Kiat Phua to Vice President of Global Foaming, leading OrthoLite’s Global Foam Innovation Team. Phua’s team is committed to advancing OrthoLite’s market leadership as the first and most trusted name in comfort, performance and less impactful footwear foams. In his new role, Phua leads the strategic direction for OrthoLite PU material development with a focus on sustainable innovations in footwear and will continue to report to Bevan, COO at OrthoLite. Phua is also based in Singapore and regularly travels to OrthoLite’s manufacturing facilities in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Europe, India and Brazil.

^{Photo: Raj Santhana}

Since 1997, OrthoLite continues to drive innovation and continual improvement to build excellence in foam footwear products and materials consistently, at scale and with on-time delivery to more than 550 footwear brand partners.

OrthoLite has built a rock-solid reputation for innovation, reliability, capacity and is known for its collaborative approach in development with the world’s best footwear brands to create custom insole formulations that deliver unrivaled comfort and performance. OrthoLite insoles are the key interface between how a shoe is designed to perform and the discerning consumer, and its products can be found in more than 600 million pairs of footwear a year.

OrthoLite is a member of the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA). Founder Glenn Barrett was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame with the Class of 2024.