Former GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) head John Flannery will be stepping into the corner office for all of GE, replacing Jeff Immelt who is stepping aside after 16 years as head of the large conglomerate.
The CEO transition will go into effect Aug. 1, while Flannery will also take over as board chair after Immelt retires on Dec. 31, GE said.
“I want to start with a fresh look around the company overall and I think with a sense of urgency. There’s so many things we do well and have always done well and there’s clearly some areas we need to improve on and improve on quickly. No one’s happy with the stock price right now or some of the cash pictures that we have had,” Flannery said during a Facebook live session.
Immelt took over GE from Jack Welch in 2001, and oversaw the conglomerate’s divestment of its GE Capital lending unit and TV network NBCUniversal. GE said that Immelt’s departure was not triggered by outside influences and that the summer of 2017 was set for Immelt’s departure as far back as 2013.
Flannery helped lead a turnaround of the GE Healthcare business, which posted sales of $18.3 billion last year, increasing organic revenue 5% and margins by 100 base points in 2016, according to a GE statement. He initially joined GE through its former GE Capital division nearly 30 years ago, and has also spent time at the head of GE’s India business.
On Flannery’s watch, the healthcare unit – best-known for imaging and diagnostics – has also expanded into life sciences, offering a range of services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. GE faces tough competition for its medical imaging machines, which include MRI scanners and ultrasound devices, from rivals including Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) and Siemens (NYSE:SI), as well as younger Asian upstarts.
Flannery said last year he aimed to “double down on life sciences”, given this business’s large and high-margin opportunities.
“Today’s announcement is the greatest honor of my career. I am privileged to have spent the last 16 years at the company working for Jeff, one of the greatest business leaders of our time. He has transformed the GE portfolio, globalized the company and created a vision for the GE of the future by positioning the company to lead in digital and additive manufacturing. In the next few months, my focus will be on listening to investors, customers and employees to determine the next steps for GE,” Flannery said.
With Flannery exiting as GE Healthcare CEO, the company has tapped GE Healthcare life sciences division CEO Kieran Murphy as the new head.
“Kieran has proven to be a natural leader and has been instrumental in the tremendous growth we’ve seen across GE Healthcare Life Sciences. I am confident that under his leadership the GE Healthcare team will continue to innovate and execute, introducing new products and driving cost productivity,” Flannery said in a prepared statement.
GE Shares are currently up 3.8% at $29 as of 12:15 p.m. EDT.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.
Apple lures Stanford Medicine digital health guru Desai
Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) has picked up Stanford Medicine center for digital health exec director Dr. Sumbul Desai to oversee a project focused on health uses for its Apple Watch, according to a CNBC report.
During her time at Stanford, Desai was leading a telemedicine project and was involved in many other digital health projects, including one with Apple, according to the report. The projects involved working with Silicon Valley tech companies to collaboratively develop tools with Stanford’s medical experts.
While Desai will serve in a senior position with Apple’s health-focused team, she will also continue to see patients at Stanford, according to the report. Apple has not yet stated what projects Desai will oversee, or given any specific details as to the hiring.
Adherium taps ex-Terumo prez Anderson
Adherium said last week it appointed former Terumo Corp. (TYO:4543) perfusion & surgical devices prez Arik Anderson as its group CEO, replacing founder and former group CEO Garth Sutherland.
During his time at Terumo, Anderson was responsible for a $300 million portfolio of devices sold internationally. Prior to his time at Terumo, he acted as senior VP of R&D operations and GM at Somanetics, until it was acquired by Covidien in 2011.
Anderson also served as product dev director at Delphi Medical Systems and prez & CEO of product dev and manufacturing consulting Tasso Solutions.
“Adherium is very fortunate to attract someone of Arik’s standing, he is ideally suited to lead the company into its commercial growth phase as we focus on expanding our global footprint. We welcome him to our team, his industry experience, combined with our award-winning Smartinhaler products and technology platform, will allow Adherium to further build upon its position as a market leader in the digital health space. His arrival will also allow me more time to focus on areas of new product development that I have been wanting to undertake for some time now,” Sutherland said in a press release.
Sutherland will remain an exec director on the company’s board during the transition, the New Zealand-based company said.
Mazor product VP Kaphan steps away
Mazor Robotics (NSDQ:MZOR) said last week that its product & corporate marketing strategy VP Anat Kaphan will leave the company, effective July 28, 2017.
Responsibilities previously held by Kaphan will be assigned to other members of the senior leadership team, the company wrote in an SEC filing published last week.
Kaphan has held positions with other medical device companies including Philips and Lumenis, according to Mazor’s website. Mazor did not mention any other details of the staff change, or whether it is looking for a permanent replacement for the departing Kaphan.
LeMaitre int’l prez Gebauer to resign
LeMaitre Vascular (NSDQ:LMAT) said last week that its international prez Peter Gebauer will resign from the company and all his positions within it effective Sept. 30, 2017.
Gebauer will stay on with the company in his positions until the resignation is effective, the company said in an SEC filing. He has served as int’l ops president at LeMaitre since 1997, and worked with ePTFE manufacturer IMPRA as marketing and int’l biz VP prior to that.
LeMaitre has not yet stated if it will seek out an external replacement for Gebauer
