Washington, DC 3/13/17; Hercules, CA 3/13/17—In an SEC filing, life science research and diagnostics products provider Bio-Rad Laboratories has disclosed the resignation of four Board members, Louis Drapeau, Robert M. Calchione, Joel McComb and Deborah J. Neff. In a letter to company Chairman, President and CEO Norman D. Schwartz, the resigning Board members stated that they declined to stand for re-election “due to disagreements with the management of the company regarding executive personnel and corporate governance matters.” In a press release, Bio-Rad stated that the decision “was not related to any issues regarding the integrity of the Company’s financial statements or accounting policies and practices.” As replacements, Bio-Rad intends to nominate Jeffrey Edwards, former CFO of Allergan; Gregory Hinckley, president of Mentor Graphics; and Arnold Pinkston, formerly general counsel of Allergan. It is also continuing to identify additional independent directors.

No further details were provided. However, in regard to executive personnel, Bio-Rad’s former general counsel, Sanford Wadler, was recently awarded almost $11 million, including $5 million in punitive damages, after a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California jury found that the company fired him in retaliation for reporting potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which Bio-Rad later settled with the SEC (see IBO 11/15/14).