SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Paragon Care Limited (ASX: PGC) announced the appointment of Mark Hooper as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Paragon Care.
Paragon Care Limited is a leading provider of medical equipment, devices and consumables to the healthcare markets in Australia and New Zealand.
Mark Hooper is the current Chief Executive Officer of Sigma Healthcare (ASX: SIG). Sigma announced in April 2021 that Mark Hooper had tendered his resignation after almost eleven years as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer.
Hooper will continue in his role with Sigma until 31 December 2021 and will commence his role with Paragon Care on 5 April 2022.
Mark Hooper was appointed Managing Director & CEO of Sigma in August 2010 and over the past decade he has led the Sigma business through a major divestment of the Pharmaceutical division and several acquisitions, as well as a major internal transformation project to generate operating efficiencies of over $100m, and the renewal of Sigma’s national distribution centre network. He was also Chair of the Wholesaler industry body (NPSA) from October 2015 to August 2020.
Prior to joining Sigma, Mr Hooper had a broad range of experience in finance, commercial and operational roles, primarily in the mining and pharmaceutical industries. Mr Hooper is a former Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of PaperlinX Limited. From 2006 to 2008, Mr Hooper was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the Pharmacy and Consumer business for Symbion Health Limited.
Prior to that he was the Chief Financial Officer of Sigma from 2001 to 2006.
Mr Hooper will join Paragon Care, at an exciting time in the Company’s growth trajectory, following the planned merger with Quantum Health Group in Q3 FY22 (subject to shareholder and court approval). The merged entity will have an opportunity to cross‐sell the combined product portfolio into the higher growth Asian markets and attract new suppliers over time based on its larger distribution footprint and a commitment to high levels of corporate governance in Asian markets.
Mr Hooper commented, “I am very excited to be joining Paragon Care at the early stages of its Asian expansion strategy, as the Company upgrades manufacturing capacity and scales operations through the merger with Quantum Health. I look forward to working with the team at Paragon Care to identify new growth opportunities and to execute on the next phase of the growth strategy.”
Paragon Care Chair, Shane Tanner said, “We are delighted to announce Mark Hooper as the new Managing Director of Paragon Care at this transformational time for the company. Mark’s career in healthcare has been extensive and he has few peers in the Australian market. As Paragon Care expands into Asia following the merger with Quantum Health, having someone with Mark’s capacity to drive growth will be invaluable. Our current CEO, Phil Nicholl, will remain focused on growing the business in Australia and New Zealand and John Walstab, current Managing Director at Quantum Health will be focused on further expansion in Asia.”
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