LivaNova CEO Damien McDonald Resigns

LivaNova announced that CEO Damien McDonald has resigned. No reasons were given for McDonald’s resignation.
 
Effective immediately, board chair William A. Kozy was appointed interim CEO. The board retained an international executive search firm to assist with the search.
 
Kozy will continue as LivaNova’s board chair, and McDonald will stay available to support handover activities until the end of May 2023.
 
“As we move forward, I would like to express our gratitude on behalf of the Board to Damien McDonald for his dedicated leadership through a challenging period of Covid and unrivaled global economic disruption. We wish him the best in his future endeavors. We are confident in our experienced senior management team and anticipate a smooth and positive transition over the quarter,” Kozy told the press.
 
Kozy joined LivaNova’s board of directors in 2018. He had a 42-year career at BD (Becton Dickinson), where he retired as chief operating officer (CEO) in 2016. Kozy is also vice chair and lead director at The Cooper Companies, where he’s served since 2016.
 
“I am excited to lead LivaNova in this interim capacity as we maintain our focus on helping patients around the world with our differentiated portfolio of medical therapies, our commitment to longer-term innovation and shareholder value creation,” said Kozy.
 
LivaNova reported preliminary Q1 2023 revenue of $263 million, increasing 9% from Q1 2022’s reported revenue of $240 million. The company’s Essenz heart-lung machine gained FDA approval last month.