Bristol Names New President, COO

Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY Quote) announced a number of organization changes Tuesday, including naming a new president and chief operating officer.

Lamberto Andreotti was appointed the company's president and chief operating officer and named to the company board of directors. Andreotti, along with Chief Scientific Officer Elliott Sigal and newly named Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Huet, will join Bristol Chairman and CEO James Cornelius on an executive committee, which will oversee company strategy and decision-making.

Sigal oversees the company's research, discovery, and development functions. Huet will oversee strategy and productivity in addition to finance, Bristol said.

"This group will chart the future for Bristol-Myers Squibb," said Cornelius in a prepared statement. "Our transformation over the past 15 months has been swift and seamless, and we will continue to move forward as a company purely focused on helping patients prevail against serious disease."

Bristol also declared a quarterly dividend of 31 cents per share on the $.10 par value common stock, payable on May 1 to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 3. The board of directors also declared a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share on the $2 convertible preferred stock, payable June 1 to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 8.

Bristol shares closed down 1.3% to $17.51. The company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings in January, attributable to the sale of its ImClone stake and to sales of key drugs, including Plavix, HIV drug Sustiva and Abilify.