Sydney AUSTRALIA 19 May 2008: Ventracor Limited (ASX:VCR) today announced the extension of the employment agreement of its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Crosby, until 30 June 2009. Current terms, conditions and remuneration as previously disclosed will continue to apply under the extension and have been independently assessed as market appropriate.
Mr. Crosby was appointed to the role of CEO with a 2 year contract from 1 July 2006. Prior to that, he was the Company’s Chief Operating Officer since January 2005. Mr. Crosby has more than 25 years’ experience in the global commercialisation of cardiac medical devices.
The Chairman of the Board of Ventracor, Mr. John Ward, said “The Company continues to work hard on the transition from an organization focused on building a product to an organization focused on building a business, and from a purely Australian company to a leading global medical device company. Mr. Crosby’s experience and detailed understanding of our business uniquely qualifies him to lead the company through these challenging times. The Board is confident that Mr. Crosby’s ongoing contribution is a key factor in enabling the Company to successfully achieve its commercial objectives, including targeted new product development and rapidly building momentum in its major US clinical trials over the coming year.”
The Company’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Crosby said “I am very excited to continue to lead our highly skilled international team at Ventracor throughout the next financial year. The support from the Board and the key executive team is very pleasing, and I am optimistic about our future success.”
Before joining Ventracor, Mr. Crosby was President and CEO of Ischemia Technologies, a US-based company which developed a new diagnostic test for cardiac ischemia. Mr. Crosby holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) and a Masters of Engineering Science from the University of Melbourne and was one of the pioneering team at Cochlear.
About Ventracor Ventracor is a global medical device company which produces an implantable blood pump, the VentrAssist® left ventricular assist device (LVAD), as therapy to improve the lives of heart failure patients and their families. Ventracor is dedicated to building partnerships with healthcare professionals to make the VentrAssist LVAD the standard-of-care worldwide.
For further information, please contact: John Ward, Chairman, or Angela Edwards, Investor Relations Tel: +61 (2) 9406 3100 or visit www.ventracor.com
