Dr. Phillip Chan of CytoSorbents reports

CYTOSORBENTS APPOINTS ALEXANDER D'AMICO AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

CytoSorbents Corp. has appointed Trulieve Cannabis Corp. chief financial officer Alexander D'Amico as CFO, to begin employment on Aug. 7, 2023.

Mr. D'Amico brings over 20 years of broad finance, Securities and Exchange Commission reporting, merger and acquisition, fundraising, and accounting experience to CytoSorbents. Most recently, Mr. D'Amico was the chief financial officer of Trulieve Cannabis, an industry-leading, vertically integrated cannabis company and multistate operator in the United States, overseeing more than 7,600 employees, including more than 250 finance, accounting, shared service, human resource and investor relations professionals. Through strategic organic growth and 11 separate acquisitions with a transaction value totalling $2.5-billion, including the largest industry transaction in the U.S., Mr. D'Amico helped to engineer a rapid expansion of annual revenue from $250-million to more than $1.2-billion, leveraging more than four million square feet of cultivation and processing space, and 180 retail stores across 12 states. Mr. D'Amico financed this growth through a series of equity and debt financings, totalling approximately $650-million, and drove the consolidation and integration of these acquisitions, navigating through complex state regulatory environments, and achieved cost savings and gross margins of 55 per cent last year.

Prior to Trulieve, Mr. D'Amico co-led Telaria's global expansion into seven new countries, top-line revenue growth of over 50 per cent in two years, the acquisition and integration of Slimcut (a global video outstream technology solutions company), and ultimately positioned this leader in digital video advertising services and software for exit/sale via merger to Rubicon Project for a total equity value of $400-million, as vice-president, finance/controller. As finance director -- global controllership at Cognizant, a $14.5-billion high-growth provider of information technology, consulting and business process services, Mr. D'Amico led global accounting and finance consolidation as revenues grew nearly $4.6-billion in just three years and generated more than $50-million in synergistic cost savings. As senior finance manager at Quest Diagnostics, a Fortune 500 company and leading clinical laboratory, he co-championed the company's global business transformation from 50 domestic and 10 internationally decentralized business units to a shared service centre of excellence (COE) reporting more than $7.4-billion in consolidated revenues. At Quest, he also led the introduction, standardization and centralization of the Sarbanes Oxley methodology to global markets.

Dr. Phillip Chan, chief executive officer of CytoSorbents, stated: "We are thrilled to bring Alex on as chief financial officer and as a key member of the CytoSorbents management team. Throughout his impressive career at major high-growth publicly traded companies, Alex has consistently demonstrated his key strengths in finance, international and domestic accounting, M&A, business strategy, execution, and SEC compliance and reporting. His record at Trulieve alone, which he helped to grow from a relatively small company to a massive commercial organization, highlights many of these key skills. Importantly, Alex has the perspective of scale of operations that will be invaluable as we drive expected rapid growth in the coming years based upon international sales of CytoSorb, and if successful, sales of DrugSorb-ATR in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, his extensive experience in M&A perfectly aligns with our longer-term growth strategy that includes both organic growth and acquisition."

Mr. D'Amico stated: "I am excited to join CytoSorbents during this pivotal time in the company's history. In particular, I hope to leverage my diversified experience and expertise to help CytoSorbents expand its high-margin international CytoSorb business, take advantage of new business prospects, and finance and build the U.S. and Canadian commercial organizations pending regulatory approvals. I believe CytoSorbents has an excellent future ahead and was immediately attracted to both its mission of saving lives and the deep sense of passion and purpose of the team. I consider this a compelling opportunity to use my skills and knowledge to help grow the company, work with great colleagues and serve people in need."

Dr. Chan stated: "Separately, as we mentioned in a press release in October announcing her pending retirement, we are indebted to Kathy Bloch for her decade of service to the company as CFO, helping to oversee and finance the rapid growth and commercialization of CytoSorb in 75 countries internationally to date, and for helping to manage this management transition."

Mr. D'Amico began his career as an auditor for Deloitte, a global provider of audit and assurance, tax consulting, and risk and financial advisory services to corporations worldwide, where he served clients such as BASF and Brother International. He is a certified public accountant in the state of New Jersey, and is a chartered global management accountant from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. D'Amico received his BS in accounting, graduating summa cum laude from Rutgers University.

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