BD today said it has appointed Elizabeth McCombs as executive VP and chief technology officer, effective April 26.
McCombs succeeds John DeFord and will be responsible for driving the company’s category innovation strategy and leading research and development activities.
“Beth has been an influential leader since joining BD, leading R&D for the medical segment to achieve all key innovation and execution metrics with significant improvement over prior years,” president and CEO Tom Polen said in a news release. “She has served as a highly impactful R&D sponsor for our top medical segment priorities while co-leading the segment portfolio strategy and growth acceleration initiatives. In addition, Beth has helped to prioritize and redirect investments toward high-growth spaces that will accelerate category innovation across the medical segment businesses, with a focus on smart connected devices.”
McCombs has more than 20 years of experience in medical device innovation. She previously served as senior VP of R&D for BD’s medical segment. She has also held numerous leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon Endo-Surgery.
“BD is making great strides in shifting our R&D portfolio toward high-impact opportunities like smart connected devices, enabling new care settings and improving diagnosis and treatment for chronic diseases,” McCombs said. “We will continue to advance an insight-driven innovation strategy and accelerate external technology partnerships and investments to increase the velocity and value creation of the innovation funnel, and we are committed to deliver the best customer outcomes and return on investment.”