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Anika Therapeutics Mourns the Sudden Passing of Joseph Darling, President and Chief Executive Officer
BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIK) announced today with great sadness that Joseph Darling, its
About this update from Anika Therapeutics Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"BEDFORD, Mass., Jan. 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIK) announced today with great sadness that Joseph Darling, its President and Chief Executive Officer, passed away unexpectedly on January 29, 2020 in Upstate New York. He was 62.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n President and CEO\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n “We are shocked and greatly saddened by the passing of Joe Darling,” said Joseph Bower, Chairman of Anika's Board of Directors. “He was a visionary leader with a passion for healthcare, a devoted father to his children and a good friend. On behalf of the Board of Directors and all Anika employees, as well as the many people he worked with and mentored over the years, we would like to extend our deepest condolences to the Darling family, including his wife, Maureen, and children, Jon and Jordan. We will miss Joe dearly.” The Company’s Board of Directors will immediately initiate a search to identify a new CEO. A leading executive search firm will be retained to assist in the process. Effective immediately, the Company’s Board has established an interim Office of the President to provide ongoing leadership and oversight of the day-to-day operations of the Company while the search is conducted. The Office of the President is to be filled by Sylvia Cheung, Chief Financial Officer, James Loerop, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning, and Thomas Finnerty, Executive Vice President of Human Resources. Anika Board member, Dr. Cheryl Blanchard, will meet regularly with the Office of the President. All will remain in their current positions while carrying out their new responsibilities. Mr. Darling joined Anika as President in July 2017 and was appointed CEO in March 2018, bringing more than 20 years of extensive experience in executive management and leadership from publicly-traded, commercial-stage companies, including Abbott Laboratories, Baxter Healthcare, Smith & Nephew, CONMED, and Wyeth-Ayerst. Before joining Anika, Mr. Darling held executive leadership positions with two small privately held orthopedic companies. Prior to these roles, Mr. Darling held senior level executive positions at CONMED Corporation, a global, publicly-held, diversified medical device company, as Global President of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Linvatec Corporation, and as Executive ...