Financial Times’ Louisa Burdett to replace Christine Soden as Optos CFO

Optos chief financial officer Christine Soden is to step down at the end of May, and will be replaced by the current CFO of the Financial Times Group, Louisa Burdett. Ms Burdett has previously worked in the medtech industry: during 2001-03 she was finance director of global R&D at Amersham’s medical diagnostics business; and when GE Healthcare agreed to acquire Amersham in 2003, Ms Burdett became CFO of GE’s medical diagnostics business until 2007. She then went on to work as CFO for Chep Europe, a division of Australian pallet distribution company Brambles, before joining the Financial Times in 2008. Ms Soden says she is stepping down to reduce her travelling commitments; she will continue to work for retinal imaging specialist Optos as a consultant. Jefferies analyst Ingeborg Øie described the move as “a well-executed succession plan” and said she did not anticipate any disruptions. “In our view, Optos has attracted someone with considerable healthcare and international experience, both of which appear a good fit with Optos's business,” Ms Øie concluded.