OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2016.  Patterson Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDCO) today announced that

Paul Guggenheim, chief executive officer of Patterson Dental, has been named the company's chief innovation officer, effective June 15, 2016. In this newly established corporate role, Guggenheim will be charged with exploring and deploying technologies to impact the business, strategic planning to unlock new growth opportunities, and establishing practices across Patterson designed to cultivate and commercialize market breakthroughs.

"Paul has focused his entire career on pushing the boundaries of service and finding new ways to help our customers succeed," said Scott Anderson, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Patterson Companies. "This role will add a new dimension to Patterson Companies, bring our commitment to excellence to a higher level, and allow all of Patterson, and our customers, to better benefit from Paul's passion for continual improvement."

Guggenheim has served Patterson Companies for more than 16 years in a range of executive positions. Prior to Patterson Companies, he was president of Guggenheim Brothers Dental Supply Co., which was acquired by Patterson in 2000.

Said Guggenheim, "I am delighted at the opportunity to bring a more intense focus on innovation - both within our organization and for our customers - to Patterson Companies. We have made fundamental changes to our business over the past year and now operate two highly complementary businesses focused on new and evolving market opportunities. At this pivotal point, the time is right to make market innovation a larger focus area for Patterson in order to build on our leadership position."

With Guggenheim transitioning to his new role, Scott Anderson will oversee the Dental business on an interim basis, supported by

Ann Gugino, executive vice president and chief financial officer, who will add operational leadership of the Dental segment to her responsibilities.

Anderson added, "Our efforts to transform Patterson include our Dental business. As we move forward in Dental, we will concentrate on delivering the high-touch service and sales support for which we are known, but with much greater efficiency and agility. By any measure, we have an exceptional team in this business and I look forward to working with Ann and our accomplished leadership to shape the future of Patterson Dental."

About Patterson Companies, Inc.
Patterson Companies, Inc. is a value-added distributor serving the dental and animal health markets.

Dental Market
Patterson's Dental segment provides a virtually complete range of consumable dental products, equipment and software, turnkey digital solutions and value-added services to dentists and dental laboratories throughout North America.

Animal Health Market
Patterson's Animal Health segment is a leading distributor of products, services and technologies to both the production and companion animal health markets in North America and the U.K.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are information of a non-historical nature and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are beyond Patterson's ability to control. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates" or other words or phrases of similar import. It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of Patterson or the price of Patterson stock. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the other risks and important factors contained and identified in Patterson's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except to the extent required under the federal securities laws, Patterson does not intend to update or revise the forward-looking statements.