Patterson Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq:PDCO) announced the resignation of Jeffrey H. Webster, president of Patterson's Webster Veterinary unit. His resignation is effective immediately, but to ensure a smooth management transition, he will remain as a consultant with Webster Veterinary through the end of the current fiscal year in April 2007.

Patterson named George L. Henriques as Webster Veterinary's new president. Previously Webster's chief information officer, Henriques has been with the company for six years. Prior to joining Webster, Henriques was a principal and vice president of business development at PharmaConnect, a content-based Internet company. He previously worked seven years at AstraZeneca in various management roles. The balance of his professional career has been in the fields of sales and marketing, software development and project management. Henriques serves on the board of directors of the American Veterinary Distributors Association.

Webster commented: "The decision to leave Patterson was extremely difficult, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked for a company of Patterson's quality and stature. When Webster Veterinary was acquired in 2001, I made a five-year commitment to build this unit into a powerful, national veterinary supply distributor through strategic acquisitions, internal expansion and by adopting Patterson's value-added strategy. As evidenced by our strong operating results, we have made significant progress with these initiatives. Having met many of our management objectives, and with the business demonstrating strong, forward momentum, I now want to take some time to evaluate my personal priorities and future direction. George Henriques is superbly qualified to lead Webster Veterinary, and I have every confidence that he will build upon our progress and direct this business to a new stage of success."

James W. Wiltz, Patterson's president and chief executive officer, said: "Jeff has been an outstanding leader of our veterinary business. We are disappointed by his decision to leave Patterson, but we appreciate his willingness to assist in an orderly transition. All of us at Patterson wish him the very best in all of his future activities. At the same time, we are fortunate to have an executive of George Henriques' experience and capabilities to take over the leadership role at Webster Veterinary. He is the right person for this key position, and we firmly believe George can successfully build on the solid foundation that Jeff has established at our veterinary business."