In the ever-changing world of medtech, those who are leading the companies are bound to move around a bit.
At the end of last year, we compiled a list of medtech’s biggest personnel changes in 2021. Throughout just over half of 2022, we’ve already seen a slew of major moves around some of the space’s most powerful players.
Here is a list of some of the biggest personnel changes in medtech so far in 2022:
3M’s healthcare president retires
Mojdeh Poul, the president of 3M’s healthcare business, announced in May that she would retire from the position and her retirement was made effective on July 1.
Poul joined 3M in 2011 as the global business VP of critical and chronic care solutions. She later became VP and general manager of the company’s food safety business and president of numerous 3M divisions, including infection prevention, 3M Canada, and safety and graphics.
3M named Jeff Lavers as her interim replacement.
Ambu makes CEO switch
Single-use endoscopy technology developer Ambu announced on May 19 that board member Britt Meelby Jensen would replace CEO Juan Jose Gonzalez.
The decision was made as “the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent macroeconomic headwind and a weaker than originally expected financial performance require that we execute differently on our strategy,” Ambu Chair Jørgen Jensen said at the time.
Britt Meelby Jensen was CEO of Atos Medical from 2019 until March 1, 2022, stepping down after the laryngectomy care company’s acquisition by Coloplast. Before that, she was CEO of Zealand Pharma from 2015 to 2019, leading the metabolic disease therapeutic maker through its 2017 IPO.
Augmedics names new CEO, other execs
In one of the first big personnel moves of 2022, Augmedics announced that former Bardy Diagnostics CEO Kevin Hykes would be taking over as its new president & CEO in January.
Hykes arrived with 30 years in medical devices, having previously served as an operating partner at Revival Healthcare Capital. Before that, he held the corner office at Bardy Diagnostics, after also serving as president and CEO at Relievant Medsystems.
Two months later, the company announced that it filled two more leadership roles, naming Nadav Tomer as an independent director, while Reed Krider was appointed chief marketing officer. Tomer joined with 23 years of global experience. He retired from Johnson & Johnson in January after most recently serving as the global president of spine for J&J’s DePuy Synthes Companies.
Krider spent 17 years at Medtronic across a number of marketing and sales leadership roles. He served three years as VP of strategic marketing and six years as regional VP of sales in the restorative therapies group at the medtech giant.
President of BD’s medical segment to retire
In March, BD announced that EVP and president of the company’s medical segment, Alberto Mas, will retire later this year.
Mas, 60, told the company of his intent to retire in a move that will be made effective at the end of BD’s fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2022.
He had spent more than 30 years at BD, working across a number of leadership positions. Mas served as president of BD’s life sciences arm from 2016 to 2018, then held the role of EVP and president of medical from 2018 until now.
Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based BD said at the time of the announcement that it intends to name a successor to Mas prior to his official retirement date. The company has yet to name one with close to two months until that day.
Boston Scientific medsurg president retires
David A. Pierce, who served in a multitude of roles of increasing responsibility at Boston Scientific since 1991, informed the company in March that he planned to retire. His retirement was made effective July 4.
Boston Scientific EVP and President of the Asia Pacific region, Arthur C. Butcher, was selected to serve as EVP and group president of both medsurg and Asia Pacific while remaining an executive officer of the company, Boston Scientific said. Michael Jones — who at the time of the retirement announcement served as as VP and GM of endoscopy — was named SVP and president of endoscopy. All changes to the roles were made effective as of May 2, 2022.
“As a pioneer who helped shape the field of minimally invasive surgery, Pete Nicholas is remembered worldwide for his contribution to vastly improved patient outcomes and equally impressive increases in healthcare efficiency,” Boston Scientific Chair and CEO Mike Mahoney said in the company’s tribute. “Within the Boston Scientific family, Pete was also a lifelong mentor, motivator and friend to hundreds of employees.”
Dentsply sacks CEO, investigates former CFO
On April 19, Dentsply Sirona announced that it fired CEO Don Casey, who held the corner office at the dental products and technologies company since 2018.
No direct reason was given for Casey’s firing, but at the time of the announcement, the company released first-quarter financial results that fell well below Wall Street expectations and projected a year-over-year sales decline.
Dentsply board member John Groetelaars, who was CEO of Hillrom until its acquisition by Baxter in 2021, was named interim CEO. Barbara Bodem, the CFO at Hillrom under Groetelaars also joined Dentsply Sirona as interim CFO effective April 25. Outgoing CFO Jorge Gomez was already in the process of leaving to assume a similar role at Moderna.
The following month, Gomez was relieved from his role at Moderna after Dentsply announced an “ongoing internal investigation into certain matters, including financial reporting.”
Longtime Fresenius CEO reaches age limit
Fresenius Medical Care CEO Rice Powell will step down at the end of the year, the company announced back in May.
Powell, who is 66 years old, hit the company’s age limit, leading to his stepping down, effective Dec. 31, 2022. Carla Kriwet, 51, will succeed Powell, effective Jan. 1, 2023.
Having joined Fresenius in 1997, Powell became CEO in 2013. At the time of announcing that he will step down, the company credited him with identifying value-based care and home dialysis as emerging business trends early enough to successfully expand into them.
Kriwet served as CEO and president of BSH Hausgeräte (Home Appliances) GmbH from July 2020 until she stepped down for her new role at the end of April. Fresenius CFO and CTO Helen Giza will assume the position of deputy CEO and enter into a new 5-year employment contract as well.
Petrovic steps down as Insulet CEO, replaced by ResMed exec
In a surprising move, Shacey Petrovic announced in May that she was to step down from her role as president and CEO of automated insulin delivery device maker Insulet due to personal reasons.
Petrovic had served as president and CEO at Insulet since January 2019 and has been a member of the company’s board since September 2018, having initially joined Insulet in 2015.
She stepped down from her position on June 1, 2022, but will continue to serve on the company’s board. She will also serve as an advisor to the company through May 2023 to support the leadership transition to Jim Hollingshead, who succeed her in the role after departing sleep respiratory technology developer ResMed.
Last month, ResMed announced that Lucile Blaise would be appointed as the new president of its sleep & respiratory care business starting July 1, taking over for Hollingshead. ResMed President and COO Rob Douglas served as interim president of the business during the transition.
Johnson & Johnson appoints new execs for MedTech business, consumer health spinoff
In early May, Johnson & Johnson announced that Thibaut Mongon, who was serving as EVP and worldwide chair of consumer health at the company since 2019, will become CEO of the business when it spins out as a stand-alone company. That spinoff is expected to complete in 2023.
The company also announced in May that Kurt Van den Bosch has been appointed as its CFO, group finance.
Van den Bosch will be a member of Johnson & Johnson’s global finance team, reporting to the company’s EVP and CFO Joe Wolk. Van den Bosch’s role includes providing financial leadership to the global Johnson & Johnson MedTech organization, which was subject to a rebrand from “medical devices” in March.
Medtronic appoints leaders for three different business units
Medtech giant Medtronic in March confirmed the appointment of three new business heads, covering its diabetes, surgical robotics and cardiac rhythm units.
Que Dallara joined the as EVP and president of the diabetes business, Mike Marinaro is now the president of surgical robotics and Dr. Kweli Thompson has been appointed as president of cardiac rhythm management at Medtronic. Dallara took over for Sean Salmon, who will focus exclusively on leading the cardiovascular portfolio, while Marinaro succeeds Megan Rosengarten, who Medtronic said is “taking a planned six-month sabbatical to spend more time with her family with the full support of Medtronic.”
Medtronic’s personnel moves didn’t stop there, with the appointment of Dr. Laura Mauri as chief scientific, medical and regulatory officer in April. The company then in June named Dr. Ashwini Sharan as its neuromodulation operation unit chief medical officer.
Later on that month, Medtronic appointed Lidia Fonseca to its board of directors as an independent director. Fonseca is EVP and chief digital and technology officer at Pfizer.
Smith+Nephew names new CEO as Diggelmann steps down
Orthopedic device company Smith+Nephew announced in February that Deepak Nath was set to succeed Roland Diggelmann in the role of CEO.
The company said that Diggelmann was to step down, a move that made as a result of a mutual agreement. Nath took over the corner office at Smith+Nephew on April 1, 2022, after Diggelmann departed on March 31.
Nath worked at Siemens Healthineers from 2018 to 2022, having most recently served as the company’s president of diagnostics. Before Siemens Healthineers, he held a number of senior roles at Abbott over the course of about a decade, eventually becoming president of Abbott’s vascular business and an executive officer of the company.
Other companies Nath worked for include Amgen and Mckinsey and Company, while he also worked as a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Titan Medical names new CEO
On June 30, Titan Medical announced that it appointed Cary G. Vance as its new president and CEO.
Paul Cataford had been standing in as interim president and CEO for about six months after David McNally stepped down in December 2021. No reason was provided for his departure.
Vance had previously been president and CEO at Xcath, a privately held neurovascular robotics company, having also served in similar roles at Optiscan Biomedical and Myoscience. He was also president and CEO at Hansen Medical, a publicly held intravascular robotics company acquired by Auris Health in 2016 before Auris was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2019. Other companies at which he held executive leadership roles include Teleflex, Covidien (acquired by Medtronic) and GE Healthcare.
He currently serves as a director of Titan Medical, having first been elected in September 2020. Cataford will continue to serve on Titan’s board as chair and, as the board chair is now independent (with Cataford having served less than 12 months as an interim executive), a lead independent is no longer required.
Here are a few more personnel moves you might have missed in 2022:
Acutus Medical appoints new CEO
Bausch + Lomb CEO to step down
Cardiovascular Systems names CMO
Globus Medical makes surprise CEO transition