Good Luck, Peter

Saw an announcement after today's close that Peter Donato has resigned from his position as CFO at IRIS International. I had the pleasure of interacting with him a number of times while I covered his company as a sell-side analyst. Much as it pains me to praise any fan of Ohio State and the Detroit Redwings, I always enjoyed interacting with Peter, and IRIS is poorer for his departure.

I won't even begin to speculate as to why he is leaving the company and what it may, or may not, mean. People move on in business and it's just a fact of life. Still, it's another ripple through a company that seems to be pretty much cursed with them. Given what the company hopes to accomplish in the near term - filing for VELOCITY, securing FDA approval for ProsVue, launching those two products in the US, and rebuilding the company's reputation with the Street -- that is a pretty significant shake-up for the company.

I guess the "good news" here for an IRIS shareholder is that the value of the stock is pretty much based upon what the company *should* be able to do and not what it has been doing recently. Accordingly, assuming that the company recruits a qualified candidate, it shouldn't really impact the story over the long-term. Still, I would be nervous about what this management shake-up is going to do to the company's launch plans.

Again, best of luck Peter!