Brooks CEO steps down

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 8/16/2007

Marking the company's second CEO change in three years, Brooks Automation Inc. today announced that Robert J. Lepofsky will become the company's next CEO, succeeding Edward C. Grady, who will retire at the end of September.

Brooks' upper ranks have seen a fair share of turmoil in recent months, as the company has been one of the companies hardest hit by the U.S. government's ongoing crackdown on the fraudulent backdating of stock option grants. Last year, Brooks restated its financial results for fiscal years 1996 through 2005 due to errors in its stock option granting practices, and paid some $64.5 million in compensation charges for the backdated options. Last month, a criminal indictment was filed charging Grady's predecessor, Brooks' former CEO Robert J. Therrien, with income tax evasion. Therrien retired as CEO of Brooks in 2004 and completed his term as chairman of the board in early 2006.

Details on the reasons for Grady's exit have not been provided by the company, however, Brooks said in July that an internal investigation conducted by independent directors of the company and independent outside advisors into Brooks stock option granting practices determined that "no one now affiliated with the company, including current management, was complicit in any intentional wrongdoing." Currently, Brooks is still under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice.

The newly appointed CEO is no stranger to the company: Lepofsky has been a member of the Brooks board of directors since October 2005, when Brooks closed on its acquisition of Helix Technology Corp. Lepofsky was CEO of Helix from January 1989 until December 2004 and was chairman of the Helix board of directors from January 1, through October 2005. Between January 1, 2005 and November 2006 Lepofsky served as president and CEO of Ensign-Bickford Industries Inc. Lepofsky is also a director of Moldflow Corp., Avantair Inc. and the CareGroup Health System, as well as a life trustee of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

"Bob has agreed to take the reins at Brooks as we continue to build a stronger company and increase shareholder value," Brooks Chairman Joe Martin said in a statement. "We also acknowledge our gratitude to Ed Grady for his leadership and his drive as we faced numerous challenges and some very difficult times over the past five years."