Nordion Appoints Mr. Andrew Foti as SVP and General Counsel

OTTAWA, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Nordion Inc. (TSX: NDN) (NYSE: NDZ), a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today announced that effective April 4, 2011, Mr. Andrew Foti will be appointed as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Company. In this role, Mr. Foti will serve as the corporation's legal officer responsible for all global legal matters. 

"I am pleased to welcome Andrew to the team and look forward to his participation in the execution of our business strategy," said Mr. Steve West, CEO, Nordion. "With over 20 years of legal and business experience, Andrew's expertise will be important in providing ongoing strategic advice and counsel on the legal implications of all Company activities and issues including domestic and international business matters."

Mr. Foti, a longtime resident of Ottawa, comes to Nordion from Gowlings Lafleur Henderson LLP, one of Canada's leading law firms, where he was a Partner.  He is a leading practitioner in the areas of commercial technology law and corporate finance. Mr. Foti's key areas of experience also include mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, intellectual property licensing, and securities and antitrust law.  He holds an LL.M. from the University of Ottawa, an LL.B. and B.Com from McGill University, and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Mr. Foti will be replacing Mr. Ken Horton, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel, who elected to leave the Company as a planned part of our corporate transition.  Mr. Horton has been with the Company since 2005. During that time, his responsibilities included, among other items, execution of the strategic repositioning of the Company, which incorporated the divestitures of both the Pharma Services and Analytical Technologies businesses. Mr. Horton will act as Special Counsel to the Company to manage the transition to Mr. Foti of both the current arbitration proceedings with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and other outstanding legacy legal matters. 

"On behalf of the Company and the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Ken for the contribution he has made to Nordion," said Mr. West. "Specifically, over the last three years, he has been instrumental in guiding us through an important transition period as we repositioned the Company."

About Nordion Inc. 
Nordion Inc. (TSX: NDN) (NYSE: NDZ) is a global specialty health science company that provides market-leading products used for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. We are a leading provider of medical isotopes, targeted therapies and sterilization technologies that benefit the lives of millions of people in more than 60 countries around the world. Our products are used daily by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, medical-device manufacturers, hospitals, clinics and research laboratories. Nordion has more than 600 highly skilled employees in four locations. Find out more at www.nordion.com.

Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions of management, however are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. For additional information with respect to certain of these beliefs, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, please refer to Nordion's Annual Information Form for fiscal 2010 available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR on www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Nordion Inc.