- Push-out Score determined
- After almost eight years in the position
- Accolades, praise and thanks for Heiden
- Search for a successor
- Heiden made a lengthy statement and said 208 words
(exechange) — Waltham, Massachusetts, January 9, 2020 — Bill Heiden, chief executive of Amag, leaves. As announced by Amag Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Thursday, January 9, 2020, William K. (Bill) Heiden leaves his post as chief executive officer at the pharmaceutical company after almost eight years in the role.
Among the 3,000 largest publicly held companies incorporated in the U.S. based on market capitalization, the average tenure of the CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 7.5 years, according to data compiled by exechange.
Heiden will remain in his role as President and CEO until a successor is appointed.
Amag will undertake a search for a successor.
Bill Heiden’s move is part of a management shake-up also involving the positions of Chief Operating Officer; and Chief Business Officer.
Amag said: “Amag Pharmaceuticals, Inc. … today announced the initiation of a leadership transition, the decision to divest Intrarosa and Vyleesi and financial updates.”
“The right time for the board to identify a new CEO”
The management change is explained as follows. Heiden said: “As we implement the strategic shift announced today, my fellow directors and I believe that this is the right time for the board to identify a new CEO for the next leg of Amag’s journey.”
Precise information regarding Bill Heiden’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Step down”
Amag said: “Amag announced that William Heiden plans to step down as Amag’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and that the Company’s Board of Directors will immediately initiate a search for his successor, which it expects to complete by mid-2020.”
Share price decline
The announcement follows a decline in Amag Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s share price of 82% since June 2015.
Chaired by Gino Santini
Amag Pharmaceuticals Inc. is chaired by Gino Santini.
Gino Santini has been a director since February 2012 and chairman of the board since April 2014. In 2010, Santini retired from a distinguished career with Eli Lilly and Company that spanned nearly three decades.
In the position of CEO since 2012
Bill Heiden became CEO of the Company in 2012.
William K. Heiden has been a director since May 2012.
Heiden has been Chief Executive Officer of Amag since May 2012 and served as President from May 2012 through April 2015 and from April 2017 to the present.
Prior to joining Amag, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., now rEVO Biologics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company (“GTC”), from 2010 to 2012.
Heiden was President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Elixir”) from 2004 to 2008.
Prior to joining Elixir, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Praecis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was subsequently acquired by GlaxoSmithKline plc, from 2002 to 2004.
From 1987 to 2002, Heiden held various positions of increasing responsibility at Schering-Plough Corporation, now Merck & Co., including managing a number of businesses in the United States, Europe and Canada.
Heiden has been a member of the Board of Directors of Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. a public biopharmaceutical company, since June 2018.
From 2006 to 2013, he served on the Board of Directors of LFB Biotechnologies S.A.S., a private French biotechnology company, and from 2007 to 2013, Heiden served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of GTC.
Heiden holds a B.A. from the University of Florida, an M.B.A. from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and a M.I.M. from the University of Louvain.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Amag and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 2.2020 ($).