Cooper Cos. Largely Pulling Out of OC

Cooper Cos., a maker of contact lenses and women’s surgical products, is ending its time as an Orange County-based company with the appointment of a new chief executive.

“Yes, in fact, we will be de-emphasizing OC,” said Robert Weiss, who took over as Cooper’s boss on Sept. 1.

With the move, Cooper’s formal base switches to the Bay area city of Pleasanton, where Weiss and other officials, including Chief Financial Officer Steve Neil, are based. That means transferring most of the primary functions of the company from Lake Forest to Pleasanton, Weiss said.

A 30-year Cooper veteran, Weiss took over the top job from longtime leader Tom Bender. Weiss previously was chief operating officer and president of CooperVision, the company’s dominant contact lens division.

OC is losing a company that brought in $850 million in revenue last year and counted a market value of $2.2 billion at recent check.

Cooper always has had something of a split identity. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has listed Pleasanton as its headquarters. But Bender and other top executives had been working in Lake Forest, making it the company’s actual base.

Cooper plans to keep the first floor of its Bake Parkway office in Lake Forest for Bender, who had been chief executive since 1995, and B. Norris Battin, its director of investor relations. Both are set to serve in some capacity into 2008, according to Weiss.

Source: Orange County Business Journal
September 10, 2007

<back