LAS VEGAS – At its 2013 National Meeting & Expo, newly merged ATG Rehab and United Seating & Mobility announced the new name for their new company: Numotion.
The announcement took place in front of the unified company’s huge force of ATPs. Also on hand were representatives from more than 60 complex rehab technology manufacturers, DME manufacturers, and service organizations who populated the exhibit hall.
Executive Chairman Bob Gouy, formerly the president/CEO of United Seating & Mobility, described the gathering as “a few days of celebration,” noting that the company includes “the best of the best ATPs and managers in our industry, which gives us a great foundation to build on.”
United Seating & Mobility and ATG Rehab announced on Jan. 3 that they were joining forces. The two companies referred to their new venture as “a merger of equals.”
Just seven weeks later, the two providers’ rosters of ATPs, as well as both management teams, came together for a three-day meeting at the Bellagio Las Vegas resort.
Gouy said that while working on the merger, “It was really clear we had two really good companies coming together to become a great company.”
At the same time, he acknowledged, “Just combining companies doesn’t make us a great company. The expectations have been raised for all of us.”
A Company Under Scrutiny
Paul Bergantino, Numotion’s president/CEO, said of the new landscape, “I see an opportunity to take complex rehab to a whole new level.”
At the same time, Bergantino – formerly the president/CEO of ATG Rehab — said, “This group is going to be watched by clinicians, consumers and competitors.”
Those stakeholders, Bergantino said, would be asking if Numotion is too large an entity, and if the company would be able to maintain high-quality customer service.
Prior to the merger, United Seating & Mobility operated 64 offices in 26 states, while ATG Rehab had 63 offices in 30 states.
The key to answering questions about the new company’s size, Bergantino added, would be for Numotion to hold onto a “stay small as you grow” philosophy.
“We need to clearly communicate with our clinicians, consumers and each other,” Bergantino said, likening the merger to an equation in which “one plus one equals three.”
Bergantino and Gouy screened a film introducing the company’s new name and its tagline: “Mobility starts here.” The film – viewable at numotion.com – shows assistive technology-using consumers at work, in transit, at play and with family and friends, as the narrator points out that seating & mobility equipment provides a number of opportunities, from “nu beginnings” and “nu journeys” to “nu adrenaline” and “nu life.”
Gouy added that the core of Numotion’s success would be individual employees who operated with autonomy, mastery and purpose as they served consumers with mobility-related disabilities and worked with other members of their healthcare teams.
“What we do every day,” Gouy said, “is bigger than any one of us.”
