Lombard Appoints New CEO

Jan 26 2010

Lombard Medical Technologies Plc, a specialist medical device company, announces the appointment of John Rush as CEO with immediate effect. He succeeds Brian Howlett, who will be retiring but who will stay with the Company until 31 March 2010 as an Executive Director to ensure a smooth transition.

Appointed on the Company’s behalf by Russell Reynolds Associates, John (51) is a US national and brings broad experience of leading and managing both publicly listed and private medical device companies. His
career includes 10 years with Scimed Life Systems/Boston Scientific during which time he held various senior sales, marketing and management positions within the US and International business segments.

He then became President and CEO of Micro Therapeutics Inc, a publicly traded medical device company with operations in the US, Europe and Japan, where he led the sale to ev3 Inc in 2002. John was also President and CEO of Sanarus Medical Inc between 2003 and 2007, and most recently led North American Scientific (NASDAQ: NASM) as President and CEO. Simon Neathercoat, Chairman of Lombard Medical, said: “We are
delighted that John has agreed to join us at this crucial time in the Company’s development. His breadth of leadership and operating experience with medical device companies, experience in gaining regulatory approvals in both Europe and the US, and track record of raising finance for small, emerging companies will be invaluable as Lombard Medical develops its commercial activities outside Europe and moves towards gaining FDA approval for Aorfix™ in the US.

"On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Brian Howlett for his considerable efforts since joining the Company in December 2005. He has led Lombard Medical to a point where our key product, Aorfix™ now has considerable industry recognition, with strong and improving market shares in some key markets in Europe, and with FDA approval within reach. We are delighted that he will stay with us through to his retirement date to manage the leadership transition.”