Cardinal Health Names George L. Fotiades President And Chief Operating Officer
CARDINAL HEALTH NAMES GEORGE L. FOTIADES PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Organizational Moves to Accelerate Integrated Health Care Offerings, Strengthen Global Focus on Manufacturing and Technology
DUBLIN, Ohio, Feb. 3, 2004 – Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry, today announced organizational changes to accelerate the company’s strategy of delivering unmatched value to customers along the chain of care. Effective immediately, all company operations will report to George L. Fotiades, who was promoted to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer.
Cardinal Health Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert D. Walter said, “These moves create greater customer focus and enhance our opportunities for growth. By unifying operations under one leader and better matching our structure and talent, we can deliver more powerful, integrated solutions to our customers across the entire health care continuum. With George at the operational helm, my focus will be on corporate strategy, capital deployment, and leadership development.
“George is an exceptional leader, with a passion for customers. Over the past six years, the board of directors and I have had the opportunity to observe his personal leadership, operational expertise and ability to develop and implement strategy. He is extremely well-regarded across the organization and has clearly demonstrated his ability to advance Cardinal Health’s go-to-market strategy as a single, unified company, with a broad range of customer offerings.
“George brings the broad-based skills in pharmaceutical technologies, manufacturing, global operations, marketing and business integration we need to extend our leadership positions and capitalize on our growth platforms. I look forward to working together with George and the rest of our leadership team to ensure we continue to deliver operational excellence, as we broaden our reach and grow to become a $100 billion company.”
The company also made the following announcements:
• James F. Millar has been appointed to the newly created position of executive director, Strategic Initiatives reporting directly to Mr. Walter. Mr. Millar will advise Mr. Walter and Mr. Fotiades on strategy related to pharmaceutical distribution and health care provider opportunities, as well as represent the company’s interests on important industry issues until his retirement. Previously, Mr. Millar was president and CEO of Healthcare Products and Services.
• Ronald K. Labrum has been promoted to president and CEO of the newly created Integrated Provider Solutions organization. As part of its on-going strategy to maximize the value delivered to hospitals, health systems, physician practices and other sites of care, Integrated Provider Solutions will leverage the company’s broad offerings under one “go-to-market” approach and will include the corporate solutions, medical products and services, clinical consulting and services and specialty distribution businesses of Cardinal Health. Mr. Labrum was previously executive vice president and group president of Medical Products and Services.
• Mark W. Parrish, executive vice president and group president of the Pharmaceutical Distribution business will add pharmacy franchise operations to his current responsibilities. Mr. Parrish has held a number of senior level pharmaceutical distribution roles since joining the company in 1993 and was president of Medicine Shoppe International from 2001 until his appointment to group president in early 2003.
“With our depth and breadth of touchpoints and expertise along the chain of care, Cardinal Health is one of the best positioned companies in the world to capitalize on the growing health care market,” Mr. Fotiades said. “We have a great leadership team, unmatched financial strength, deep customer relationships and the broadest array of products and services in the market. By becoming a more externally-focused, market-driven company, we will create even greater customer and shareholder value.”
Mr. Fotiades was president and CEO of Cardinal Health’s Life Sciences business since 2000 and will continue to lead this business on an interim basis until his replacement is named. Mr. Fotiades joined Cardinal Health in 1998 with the acquisition of R.P. Scherer Corp., where he was group president. Prior to joining R.P. Scherer in 1996, he was president of Warner Lambert's Consumer Healthcare division and previously held senior management positions with Bristol Myers Squibb, Wyeth, and Procter & Gamble. Mr. Fotiades also serves as a director of Prologis.
Cardinal Health will continue to operate under four key financial reporting segments – Pharmaceutical Distribution and Provider Services, Medical Products and Services, Automation and Information Services and Pharmaceutical Technology and Services.
About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health, Inc. is the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry. Cardinal Health develops, manufactures, packages, and markets products for patient care; develops drug-delivery technologies; distributes pharmaceuticals, medical- surgical and laboratory supplies; and offers consulting and other services that improve quality and efficiency in health care. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health employs more than 50,000 people on five continents and produces annual revenues of more than $50 billion. Cardinal Health is ranked No.19 on the current Fortune 500 list and named one of the best U.S. companies by Forbes magazine for 2004.
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Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Cardinal Health's Form 10-K, Form 8-K and Form 10-Q reports (including all amendments to those reports) and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) the costs, difficulties, and uncertainties related to the integration of acquired businesses, the loss of one or more key customer or supplier relationships or changes to the terms of those relationships, changes in the distribution patterns or reimbursement rates for health-care products and/or services, the costs and other effects of governmental regulation and legal and administrative proceedings, and general economic and market conditions. Cardinal Health undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
Investors:
Stephen Fischbach
614-757-7067
stephen.fischbach@cardinal.com
Media:
Jim Mazzola
614-757-3690
jim.mazzola@cardinal.com
