Shire plc: Board Changes( BASINGSTOKE England and PHILADELP...)

BASINGSTOKE, England and PHILADELPHIA, December 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY, TSX: SHQ), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announces its Board succession plans. Dr James H Cavanaugh (age 70) will retire as Non-Executive Chairman; Matthew Emmens (56) will succeed him as Non-Executive Chairman. Angus Russell (51) will be appointed Chief Executive.

These Board changes will become effective at Shire's AGM in June 2008. Also, at that time, David Kappler will be appointed as Deputy Chairman in addition to his existing role as Senior Independent Director. These appointments have the unanimous support of the Directors.

James Cavanaugh has been Chairman of Shire since 1999 and, on retiring, will have been a member of the Board for 11 years.

Matthew Emmens has 34 years of industry experience and since joining Shire in 2003, has successfully led the Company through a period of significant strategic development, including a number of important M&A transactions. This has created a leading global specialty biopharmaceutical company with a well developed and diversified product portfolio, an excellent management team and a strong corporate culture. Matthew Emmens also has valuable non-executive Board experience in his continuing roles on the Boards of Incyte Corporation (member of Audit Committee) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (member of the Science and Technology and Governance committees).

Matthew Emmens' successor, as Chief Executive, will be Angus Russell, who has been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 1999 and who has also been instrumental in Shire's development in recent years. Angus Russell is well qualified for his new position with eight years experience at Shire as CFO and Executive Board Director and 27 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry including working for ICI, Zeneca and AstraZeneca in finance, strategy and marketing. Throughout his t
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