Ray Elliott plans to resign as Zimmer Holdings’ chief executive officer and president in the coming months.

Elliott , 57, will remain as the Warsaw, IN-based orthopedic manufacturer’s chairman for at least another year.
 
He has been in those positions since Zimmer became a public company in 2001 after Bristol-Myers Squibb spun it off. Elliott joined Zimmer in 1997 as company president.

An exact date for his retirement was not announced. The company said Monday that it had hired an executive search firm to help it find both internal and external candidates to replace Elliott.