DUBLIN, Feb. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO; TASE), a leading global provider of Quality, Affordable Self-Care Products™, today announced the future retirement of Jeff Needham, Executive Vice President and President, Consumer Self-Care Americas (CSCA). Rich Sorota, currently Chief Executive Officer and President of Ranir, will be appointed Executive Vice President and President, Consumer Self-Care Americas, on March 23, 2020, at which point Mr. Needham will step down from his current role and serve in an advisory role until his retirement on September 30, 2020.
Mr. Needham has had a remarkable career since joining Perrigo in 1984, including leadership roles in marketing, business development, and Perrigo's international businesses. In addition to building Perrigo's highly successful CSCA business, Mr. Needham has become a highly trusted industry advisor.
"I am extremely proud and grateful to have had the privilege to be part of the Perrigo team for so many years as we have partnered with our retail and wholesale customers to grow the store brand business to where it is today," commented Mr. Needham. "Perrigo is a great company with a business that brings tremendous value to consumers through our strong customer partnerships. I am confident that Perrigo's growth trajectory and the ongoing development of our CSCA business will be well served by Rich's leadership."
Perrigo President and Chief Executive Officer Murray S. Kessler said, "I want to express my deep appreciation of Jeff and all that he has accomplished over his storied 36-year tenure with Perrigo. His leadership and dedication are intertwined with the history and success of Perrigo in addition to that of the store brand health and wellness industry. We greatly value Jeff's significant contributions to Perrigo and the self-care industry and wish him well in his retirement."
Kessler continued, "Following Perrigo's acquisition of Ranir, it became apparent that Rich is an exceptional leader with the skills and experience to execute on Perrigo's vision and strategy. I look forward to working with him on expanding our 'national brand better' offerings through innovation, executing against our self-care strategy, and driving profitable growth."
Mr. Sorota has served as CEO and President of Ranir since July 2015. Mr. Sorota has a long history of experience in sales, marketing and product development. While at BISSELL Inc., Rich served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Global Sales and Marketing and then Executive Vice President of Global Commercial Operations. Previous roles included serving as President for HARMAN International, Senior Vice President and General Manager at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, and senior leadership roles in marketing and innovation for Philips Electronics and brand management at Procter & Gamble.
"I am honored for the opportunity to lead such a great business," said Mr. Sorota. "As I have come to know Perrigo better following the acquisition of Ranir, I am even more excited about the long-term outlook for the company and its consumer self-care strategy. I look forward to working closely with the highly talented CSCA team to foster new in novation and drive profitable growth in this business."
About Perrigo
Perrigo Company plc (NYSE; TASE: PRGO) is dedicated to making lives better by bringing "Quality, Affordable Self-care Products™" that consumers trust everywhere they are sold. The Company is a leading provider of over-the-counter health and wellness solutions that enhance individual well-being by empowering consumers to proactively prevent or treat conditions that can be self-managed. Visit Perrigo online at http://www.perrigo.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements." These statements relate to future events or the Company's future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the Company or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "forecast," "plan," "anticipate," "intend," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, including: the timing, amount and cost of any share repurchases; future impairment charges; the success of management transition; customer acceptance of new products; competition from other industry participants, some of whom have greater marketing resources or larger market shares in certain product categories than the Company does; pricing pressures from customers and consumers; resolution of uncertain tax positions, including the Company's appeal of the Notice of Assessment (the "NoA") issued by the Irish tax authority and the draft and final Notices of Proposed Assessment ("NOPAs") issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the impact that an adverse result in any such proceedings would have on operating results, cash flows, and liquidity; potential third-party claims and litigation, including litigation relating to the Company's restatement of previously-filed financial information and litigation relating to uncertain tax positions, including the NoA and the NOPAs; potential impacts of ongoing or future government investigations and regulatory initiatives; potential costs and reputational impact of product recalls or sales halts; the impact of tax reform legislation and healthcare policy; general economic conditions; fluctuations in currency exchange rates and interest rates; the consummation of announced acquisitions or dispositions and the success of such transactions, and the Company's ability to realize the desired benefits thereof; and the Company's ability to execute and achieve the desired benefits of announced cost-reduction efforts and strategic and other initiatives. Statements regarding the separation of the RX business, including the expected benefits, anticipated timing, form of any such separation and whether the separation ultimately occurs, are all subject to various risks and uncertainties, including future financial and operating results, our ability to separate the business, the effect of existing interdependencies with our manufacturing and shared service operations, and the tax consequences of the planned separation to the Company or its shareholders. Furthermore, the Company may incur additional tax liabilities in respect of 2016 and prior years or be found to have breached certain provisions of Irish company law in connection with the Company's restatement of previously-filed financial statements, which may result in additional expenses and penalties. These and other important factors, including those discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as well as the Company's subsequent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Perrigo Company plc
