Lion Again Reshuffles Executive Suite; Removes Co-CEO and Appoints New CFO

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (GenomeWeb News) - The supervisory board of Lion Bioscience, led by former CEO Friedrich von Bohlen, has reappointed the firm's executive board effective immediately, Lion announced today.

Thure Etzold, former co-CEO, has been named CEO; Peter Willinger, who has been head of the finance department since 1998, was appointed chief financial officer; and Joseph Donahue moves from the board but remains responsible for global sales while also serving as president of Lion's US subsidiary in Cambridge, Mass.

Following a supervisory board meeting last month, Daniel Keesman, chief operating officer and co-CEO, and Martin Hollenhorst, chief financial officer and co-CEO, resigned. In addition, the company's entire supervisory board - Jurgen Dormann, Klaus Pohle, and Richard Roy - also stepped down.

Before stepping down, the supervisory board had appointed Donahue and Etzold as co-CEOs, replacing Keesman and Hollenhorst. Donahue had been serving as chief business officer, retaining his current duties in that position, and also assumed responsibilities for finance and administration. Etzold, developer of Lion's flagship SRS technology and most recently senior vice president of R&D and managing director of Lion's UK subsidiary, had been named chief technology officer, responsible for product development and services.

Earlier this week, Lion ended months of speculation by deciding to delist its American depositary shares from the Nasdaq exchange. The move, which also sees the German bioinformatics company terminate its American depository receipt facility, goes into effect at the close of trading on Dec. 22.