Hospira Executive Chairman Begley to retire
Daily Herald reports
LAKE FOREST — Hospira Inc. announced Executive Chairman Christopher B. Begley will retire effective Jan. 3.
John C. (Jack) Staley, 70, a founding director of the company’s board of directors and currently its lead director, will be appointed nonexecutive chairman, the company said in a release.
Begley, 59, moved into the executive chairman role after the board appointed F. Michael Ball to replace Begley as chief executive officer earlier this year.
“As the company’s founding CEO, Chris oversaw Hospira’s 2004 spin off from Abbott Laboratories, drove the development of the company’s business strategies and guiding principles, and established strong fundamentals for its future growth,” Staley said.
With Begley’s retirement and Staley’s appointment, the Hospira board will have 10 directors, all of whom are independent with the exception of Ball, the company said.
“Launching Hospira as an independent company has been the most rewarding experience of my three decades in health care, and I will greatly miss working with Hospira’s talented and committed employees to advance wellness for our stakeholders around the globe,” Begley said. “Under Mike’s leadership as CEO and Jack’s direction as chairman, I’m more confident than ever in the company’s bright future and ability to achieve new levels of growth and success.”
Staley has been a Hospira director since the company’s inception in 2004 and its lead independent director since last May. He is a member of the company’s governance and public policy committee, and science, technology and quality committee, as well as the former chair of the audit committee, of which he is an ex-officio member.
Staley is also a member and former chairman of the board of trustees of DePaul University; a director of eLoyalty Corporation, a management consulting firm; and a director of Nicor, Inc., a holding company whose main subsidiary is Nicor Gas, a natural gas distribution company. Mr. Staley also serves on the board of Nicor Gas. He is a retired managing partner of the Ernst & Young LLP’s Lake Michigan Area, a position he held from 1985 until his retirement in June 2001. Staley earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Holy Cross College and a law degree from DePaul University. He also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
Hospira has been under increased scrutiny from the Food and Drug Administration during the past year over alleged flaws in the manufacturing process at two North Carolina facilities. Last spring, the company recalled two drugs — the anesthetic propofol and liposyn, an intravenous nutritional product — because they were contaminated by particulates during the manufacturing process, the company told the FDA.
As a result, the company’s stock plummeting 48 percent this year, with speculation the company could become the target for a takeover, according to Bloomberg News.
Ÿ Bloomberg News contributed to this report.