William A. Hawkins Appointed New CEO of Immucor

ATLANTA, Oct. 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Immucor, Inc. announced today that William A. Hawkins will be Immucor’s next CEO. Immucor, Inc. is a private company, wholly owned by TPG Capital. Mr. Hawkins’ appointment follows the decision of current CEO Joshua Levine to step down from his role. The transition will be effective October 17, 2011.

In announcing Mr. Hawkins’ new role, TPG Partner Todd Sisitsky commented, “We are excited to have Bill Hawkins joining the Immucor team. He brings years of experience building some of the most dynamic, innovative companies in the health care industry. He is among the most respected leaders in the sector. His leadership and strategic acumen will be invaluable as the company continues implementing its highly successful growth strategy.” Mr. Sisitsky added, “We are grateful for the tremendous leadership of Joshua Levine. Under Josh’s leadership, Immucor has made a successful transition to private ownership. The Board is thankful for his service and respects his decision.”

In accepting the position of CEO at Immucor, Mr. Hawkins said, “I am very excited for the opportunity to be taking over as CEO of Immucor, a market leader in helping secure the world’s blood supply through automation. Immucor’s talented management has brought forth innovation that is improving the practice of transfusion medicine.”

Commenting on the announcement, outgoing CEO Joshua Levine said, “I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to lead the talented team at Immucor. Unfortunately, the challenges of having my family in California and my office in Atlanta ultimately became unsustainable, which led to my decision to step down. I am confident that under the leadership of Bill Hawkins and the rest of the management team, Immucor will continue its strong growth trajectory and industry leadership position. During this leadership change, Bill and the team will have my full support to ensure a seamless transition.”

Prior to joining Immucor, Mr. Hawkins served as Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, one of the world’s largest and most innovative medical technology companies. Mr. Hawkins’ career spans more than three decades. Before joining Medtronic, Mr. Hawkins was the CEO of Novoste, another Atlanta-based medical technology company. Mr. Hawkins has a consistent track record of driving value-creating innovation that has helped save lives, revolutionize medical care and strengthened healthcare systems globally. He has played a leadership role in Washington, DC on both healthcare policy and with matters involving the FDA.

Given Mr. Hawkins’ extensive experience in the industry, he will also serve as Senior Advisor to TPG Capital. In this role, Mr. Hawkins will advise TPG Capital on its ongoing efforts to identify investment opportunities in the healthcare industry and continue to play a role advocating for policies that will strengthen the healthcare system.

About Immucor

Founded in 1982, Immucor manufactures and sells a complete line of reagents and systems used by hospitals, reference laboratories and donor centers to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood prior to transfusion. Immucor markets a complete family of automated instrumentation for all of its market segments. For more information on Immucor, please visit our website at www.immucor.com.

CONTACT: PRESS CONTACT:

Meghan Sherman

msherman@gpgdc.com, 202-427-6387

INVESTOR CONTACT: Michele Howard

mhoward@immucor.com, 770.225.8622

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