SAN RAMON, Calif.—CooperCompanies (NYSE: COO) announced that its board of directors elected Robert S. Weiss as chairman of the board and William A. Kozy as vice chairman and lead director. Both appointments became effective March 23, 2021. “Bob and Bill’s broad management experience and deep knowledge of the medical device industry is incredibly valuable as we continue to grow the business,” said Al White, Cooper’s president and CEO. “I look forward to working closely with them in their new roles to ensure Cooper continues to have a positive impact on all our stakeholders.”

Weiss has served on the CooperCompanies board since 1996. He succeeds A. Thomas Bender as chairman of the board. After a long and distinguished career with Cooper, which included serving as president and CEO from 1995 to 2007 and chairman from 2002 to March 2021, Bender announced his retirement in December 2020, as VMAIL reported.

Weiss held several leadership positions with Cooper during his career. He served as president of CooperCompanies from March 2008 and as CEO from November 2007 until his retirement in May 2018. Prior to that, he served as COO of CooperCompanies from 2005 to 2007 and as executive vice president from 1995 to 2007. Earlier, he served as CFO from 1989 to 2005 and treasurer from 1989 to 2002.

Kozy was first elected to the CooperCompanies board in 2016. He succeeds Allan E. Rubenstein, MD, as vice chairman and lead director. Dr. Rubenstein announced his retirement from the board in December 2020 after many positive years supporting the company’s growth initiatives, the announcement said.

Kozy served as the COO of Becton Dickinson from 2012 until his retirement in 2016 and as its executive vice president from 2006 until 2016. He also served as a member of the corporate leadership team for Becton Dickinson and in various executive roles since 1988, including senior vice president of company operations, president of BD Diagnostics, president of the BD Biosciences segment, and head of BD Medical.

Cooper operates through two business units, CooperVision and CooperSurgical.