What happened
Contract healthcare manufacturing company Emergent BioSolutions (EBS -1.54%) was looking a bit under the weather as far as its stock was concerned on Tuesday. The company's share price plummeted by nearly 9% on the day following the news of a top-level executive resignation; by comparison, the S&P 500 index rose by nearly 1.2%.
So what
Before market open, Emergent announced that CEO Robert Kramer informed its board of directors that he is stepping down from the role. He will also vacate his position as the company's president. Both moves are effective immediately, although the specialty healthcare services provider added that he will work as an advisor for it until Aug. 1.
Emergent did not provide a reason or reasons for Kramer's departure. It added that its board will conduct a search for a permanent CEO.
Kramer has been replaced on an interim basis by Haywood Miller, managing director of Berkeley Research Group. Miller has been serving as an advisor to Emergent for several months, the company said. Miller is a veteran of the finance sector, having worked at entities such as merchant banks and business development companies, according to his LinkedIn page.
Now what
Whoever ends up being the fixed CEO will have plenty of work to do. In Emergent's press release on Kramer's departure, it quoted its board chairman Zsolt Harsanyi as saying that "2023 is a year of transformation for Emergent. We have delivered on a number of key objectives over the first half of the year... and now is the right time to pivot to the next phase of this transformation."
