Emergent BioSolutions CFO Richard Lindahl to retire Dec. 31; Frank Vargo named interim CFO

Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE: EBS) said Richard S. Lindahl will retire as chief financial officer effective December 31, 2026, and named Frank Vargo, its vice president and treasurer, as interim chief financial officer from January 1, 2027. The change was disclosed in a Form 8-K filed October 16, 2026 under Item 5.02 and in a press release attached to that filing as Exhibit 99.1.

The transition leaves Emergent's finance office in an interim appointment for an unspecified period. Lindahl, who is also executive vice president, stays with the company after December 31, 2026 as a senior executive advisor and, the 8-K says, will remain "until his retirement on March 31, 2027". The report was signed by senior vice president and general counsel Jessica Perl.

The outgoing CFO stays through the 2026 annual report

The 8-K adds a task the press release does not mention: before his retirement date, Lindahl will assist with the transition of his responsibilities, including preparation and filing of Emergent's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2026. The company credits him with "over eight years of dedicated service to the Company as its Chief Financial Officer", while the release counts nearly nine years at Emergent and says he joined in 2018. Before that he was chief financial officer at CEB, treasurer at Sprint Nextel and a finance executive at Pocket Communications, MCI Communications and Deloitte & Touche, and he currently serves on the board of Compass Therapeutics.

Vargo's interim pay is set, but the appointment has no stated end

Vargo, 43, joined Emergent in December 2019 as director of corporate FP&A and G&A and became vice president and treasurer in November 2025. For the interim job the board approved "interim compensation pay of an additional $3,850 per pay period in addition to his current base salary of $328,000", effective January 1, 2027. Because the filing states a per-pay-period amount without saying how many periods the appointment lasts, it supports no annualized total. The 8-K also states the departing CFO's pay for the advisory period, saying that Lindahl's "compensation as an advisor will be materially consistent with his current compensation". Vargo's salary, bonus and equity awards remain "commensurate with his seniority and position before his appointment as Interim Chief Financial Officer", reviewed on the same cycle as other executive officers, and the 8-K reports "no arrangements or understandings with other persons pursuant to which Mr. Vargo was selected as an officer". He previously held finance roles at Under Armor and in the aerospace and defense industry, and he holds an MBA from Texas A&M University and an engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology.

A handover tied to the transformation plan, with no successor named

Chief executive Joe Papa said, "I want to thank Rich for his exceptional leadership, partnership and commitment to Emergent". Papa also said of Vargo: "Since joining Emergent in 2019, Frank has been integral in driving our strategic priorities forward, and I am confident he will ensure continuity and disciplined financial stewardship as interim chief financial officer". Lindahl said he was proud of "the resilience we demonstrated through some extraordinarily challenging periods" and that "I am committed to ensuring a smooth and successful transition". The release describes the handover as part of Emergent's "multi-year transformation plan", without costs, savings or a timeline. Neither document names a permanent CFO or says whether a search is under way. The Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2026, which Lindahl will help prepare and file, and any later Item 5.02 report are where that answer would first appear.