ICN Board Names New Chief Executive

The board of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s chose newly elected director Robert W. O’Leary to serve as chairman and chief executive of the Costa Mesa company.

It was the first meeting of the newly constituted nine-member board. In late May, dissident shareholders won a 6-3 board majority that was hostile to longtime ICN Chief Executive and Chairman Milan Panic. O’Leary was one of the dissident candidates elected in that vote.

Panic, who founded ICN in 1959, announced his resignation last week.

O’Leary, 58, most recently was chairman and CEO of the Sagamore Group, a firm that specializes in spinoffs and corporate reorganizations. He served as CEO of PacifiCare for three months in 2000.

A spokesman said that the board’s succession planning committee was still looking for candidates to serve as permanent CEO of the company.

Ronald D. White