Dugan resigns from Acuson

Acuson of Mountain View, CA, announced that company president and director Daniel Dugan resigned effective March 1. Former Acuson president Robert Gallagher will come out of retirement to serve as president and chief operating officer until sometime in June, when a permanent replacement for Dugan will be named. Gallagher, 56, previously was president and chief operating officer.

Dugan, 45, has been with Acuson for many years. He held senior sales management positions with the company from 1984 to 1989, then returned in 1991 as vice president of field operations after spending two years at Toshiba America Medical Systems as vice president of U.S. ultrasound business operations. Dugan was made vice president of worldwide sales and field operations for Acuson in 1993, and senior vice president of worldwide sales, service, and marketing in March 1994. He was promoted to president in November 1997.

Dugan’s departure appears to be unrelated to the company’s financial performance. In fact, the company is coming off its most successful year ever and record fourth-quarter revenues. The ultrasound vendor posted revenues of $135 million for the fourth quarter of 1999, an increase of 10% compared with the fourth quarter of 1998, and $475.9 million for the year, compared to $455 million in 1998. Excluding a one-time $13.9 million after-tax write-off associated with the December 1999 acquisition of Ecton, the company reported net income of $6.8 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. Including the write-off, Acuson reported a net loss for the quarter of $7.1 million.