Oct. 13, 2009 (PR Newswire) --
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cepheid (Nasdaq: CPHD) today announced that it has appointed Mr. Nicolaas ('Nico') Arnold to the position of Executive Vice President of Worldwide Commercial Operations, effective October 14, 2009. The addition of this role expands Cepheid's marketing and sales leadership, and is expected to accelerate the GeneXpert® System's current installed base of more than 1,100 systems globally. Mr. Robert Koska, Cepheid's Senior Vice President of North American Commercial Operations, and Ms. Rika Dutau, Vice President and Managing Director of European Commercial Operations, will continue in their roles, reporting to Mr. Arnold.
Mr. Arnold joins Cepheid from Siemens and, previously, from Diagnostic Products Corporation which was acquired by Siemens in 2006. Building on his academic and early research experience in clinical laboratories, Mr. Arnold brings more than 25 years of global sales and marketing experience in diagnostics to Cepheid. Most recently, Mr. Arnold was Regional Vice President for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics in Northwest Europe with responsibility for molecular diagnostics, central lab and point of care sales. Previous roles included Managing Director of European sales for Siemens Medical Diagnostics, with responsibility for more than $1 billion in sales annually, and Vice President of Global Marketing and US Sales for Diagnostic Product Corporation, with total revenues in excess of $500 million.
"With the initiation of shipment of our high throughput Infinity-48 System and the continued expansion of our GeneXpert System test menu, Cepheid is well positioned for its next phase of growth. It is in this regard that we are extremely pleased to welcome such an accomplished sales and marketing executive to the Cepheid team," said John Bishop, Cepheid's Chief Executive Officer. "We are looking to grow both our domestic and international markets, and this is a timely appointment that further strengthens our sales and marketing capabilities with the objective of establishing the GeneXpert System as the molecular platform of choice."
In connection with his employment, the Board of Directors of Cepheid has granted Mr. Arnold an option to purchase 200,000 shares of Cepheid common stock at the closing price of Cepheid common stock on the date that his employment starts. This option will become exercisable by Mr. Arnold over four years, with 25% vesting on the one-year anniversary of grant and ratably monthly thereafter, and will expire after seven years from the grant date.
