Vermillion Appoints Bruce A. Huebner to Chairman of the Board
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Vermillion, Inc. has appointed Bruce A. Huebner as chairman effective March 18, 2013. He succeeds James S. Burns, who will continue to serve on the board of directors.
Huebner's appointment represents an important step in the execution of the company's leadership succession plan that began in 2012.
Huebner previously served as Vermillion's CEO on an interim basis until the recent appointment of Thomas McLain to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer, which also took effect yesterday. Huebner has been a company director since May 2011.
"Bruce demonstrated highly effective leadership during this transition period," said Burns. "Given his performance, as well as his more than 37 years of diagnostic industry experience and history of valuable contributions as a director, the board believes that the company and its shareholders would greatly benefit from Bruce as our chairman. I look forward to working closely with Bruce and our new president to build shareholder value, as we advance Vermillion as a leading diagnostics company addressing unmet clinical needs in women's health."
Shareholder Vote
At the company's 2012 annual meeting on March 21, the board has request shareholder approval to increase the number of authorized shares in the company's 2010 stock incentive plan by 1.3 million shares.
"The company currently has only nominal shares available under the 2010 stock incentive plan," noted Chairman Huebner. "We will need more shares to attract qualified executives, directors and employees to Vermillion. Without the approval of these additional shares, we will have to increase the cash compensation to these individuals. We would also not have the benefit of incentivized performance that is typically created by a stock option plan, and one that better aligns the interests of management and employees with that of our shareholders. So, it is in the best interest of Vermillion shareholders that we approve the expansion of this plan."
Huebner Career Biography
Bruce Huebner brings to the role of Vermillion's chairman extensive executive management experience in multiple clinical diagnostic companies, including Osmetech Molecular Diagnostics, Nanogen and Gen-Probe.
While serving as president of Osmetech, he successfully established the company as a fully integrated business, obtaining FDA clearance for four molecular diagnostic microarray products and introducing them to the marketplace. Huebner was previously president and chief operating officer of Nanogen, a publicly held nanotechnology and microarray company.
Prior to Nanogen, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Gen-Probe, a global leader in the development of nucleic acid tests, including diagnostic tests for infectious disease that affect women's health.
In less than 10 years, he grew Gen-Probe's annual revenues from $42 million to a run-rate of more than $150 million.
Huebner is currently a managing director of LynxCom Partners, a healthcare consulting firm with a focus on cancer diagnostics and personalized medicine.
