Azenta, Inc 8-K, filed Oct 7, 2021
Azenta, Inc. (AZTA)
About this 8-K
Azenta, Inc filed this 8-K on October 7, 2021, reporting on events of October 4, 2021.
Items reported
- Item 5.02: Director or officer change, or executive pay
- Item 8.01: Other events
- Item 9.01: Financial statements and exhibits
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM
CURRENT REPORT
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Item 5.02. | Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
(b) and (e) On October 4, 2021, Brooks Automation, Inc. (“Brooks”) and Guojuan (Amy) Liao agreed that Dr. Liao will no longer serve as President, Life Sciences Services effective as of October 11, 2021. In addition, on October 4, 2021, Brooks and Dr. Liao entered into a letter agreement under which Dr. Liao will serve as a strategic advisor to Stephen S. Schwartz, Brooks’ President and Chief Executive Officer, from October 11, 2021 through December 31, 2021. Under the letter agreement, Dr. Liao will be compensated at a rate equal to 62.5% of her current base salary, reflecting a 25-hour work week while serving in the role of strategic advisor.
Item 8.01.Other Events.
On October 7, 2021, Brooks issued a press release announcing the transition and pending departure of Dr. Liao. A copy of the press release has been filed as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 9.01.Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits
99.1 | Press Release dated October 7, 2021, issued by Brooks Automation, Inc. |
104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) document). |
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| BROOKS AUTOMATION, INC. |
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Date: October 7, 2021 | /s/ Jason W. Joseph |
| Jason W. Joseph |
| Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary |

Brooks Automation Announces Transition and Departure Plans of Dr. Amy Liao
CHELMSFORD, Mass., October 7, 2021 (PR Newswire) -- Brooks Automation, Inc. (Nasdaq: BRKS) announced today that Dr. Amy Liao, President of Life Sciences Services, will be transitioning into the role of strategic advisor to the CEO until the end of this calendar year, at which time she will leave the Company to pursue other interests. During this transition, Dr. Liao will be advising on the Company’s growth initiatives and continued promotion of the newly formed standalone life sciences business, Azenta Life Sciences.
“Over the past three years since acquiring GENEWIZ, Amy has provided superior oversight of our full integration of GENEWIZ into Brooks, has led three years of high growth in our services business, and has played a key role in preparing the launch of Azenta, our fully integrated, standalone life sciences company,” commented Steve Schwartz, President and CEO. “As much as we will miss Amy and her strong contributions to our leadership team, she has cemented her legacy into the future Azenta company with the genomics capabilities being a cornerstone of value in our company, and we are grateful she remained to see us through the transformation of Brooks to Azenta Life Sciences.”
Dr. Liao has had a long and distinguished career in genomics services and sciences, with many academic and business achievements to date. In 2020, in honoring an individual for a lifetime commitment and important contributions to patient healthcare, Dr. Liao received the coveted Biomedical Engineering Society's Wallace A. Coulter award for innovation in healthcare. One decade earlier, Dr. Liao along with Dr. Steve Sun, co-founder of GENEWIZ, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2010 Award in the Services category for New Jersey. Dr. Liao was also recognized as one of NJBIZ’s Best Fifty Women in Business in 2018.
About Brooks Automation
Brooks (Nasdaq: BRKS) operates two global, market-leading businesses, Life Sciences and Semiconductor Solutions, each with its own distinct area of focus and expertise. The Life Sciences business, to be operated under the new Azenta brand, provides a full suite of reliable cold-chain sample management solutions and genomic services across areas such as drug development, clinical research and advanced cell therapies for the industry's top pharmaceutical, biotech, academic and healthcare institutions globally. On September 20, 2021, the Company announced the pending sale to Thomas H. Lee Partners of its Semiconductor Solutions Group business, which provides industry-leading precision vacuum robotics, integrated automation systems and contamination control solutions to the world's leading semiconductor chip makers and equipment manufacturers as well as collaborative robotics and automation capabilities for multi-market applications.
Brooks is headquartered in Chelmsford, MA, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.brooks.com. For insights to the new Azenta Life Sciences, visit www.azenta.com.
BROOKS INVESTOR CONTACTS:
Sara Silverman
Director of Investor Relations
Brooks Automation
978.262.2635
sara.silverman@brooks.com
Sherry Dinsmore
Brooks Automation
978.262.4301
sherry.dinsmore@brooks.com
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