
Covidien CEO Joe Almeida at the MassDevice Big 100 Regional Roundtable, July 11, 2011
José (Joe) Almeida’s hardest job as the new CEO of Covidien plc (NYSE:COV) might be replacing himself.
The new boss at the Mansfield, Mass.-based global healthcare products company replaced Richard Meelia in the corner office as of July 1. Although Meelia’s DNA is ingrained in the fabric of Covidien, having grown the company from its humble beginnings as Kendall Healthcare Products Co., through its iteration as Tyco Healthcare and its spin-out as Covidien (going from $600 million to more than $10.4 billion in sales in the process), the company’s future has also been shaped by Almeida for more than eight years.
As president of the company’s core medical device unit, Almeida was responsible for about two-thirds of Covidien’s total sales and three-quarters of its operating profits, making him a natural to be Meelia’s handpicked successor. It’s no wonder that Meelia expressed every confidence in Almeida in an email to MassDevice.
“Joe Almeida is a great leader who has proven his mettle over many years,” Meelia told us. “As I prepare to transition my responsibilities to Joe, I have every confidence that, backed by our superb global workforce, he will lead our company on to even better performance and greater success in the years to come.”

Almeida and MassDevice publisher Brian Johnson
Almeida joined MassDevice and more than 250 medical device executives July 11 for one of his first public appearances as CEO of Covidien at the inaugural MassDevice Big 100 Regional Roundtable to discuss the new era at the company and his path to the top (believe it or not, CEO was not his original aspiration). Almeida also doled out some great advice for the next generation of medical device CEOs.
This exclusive podcast is part of our MassDevice Big 100 Regional Roundtable series. Stay tuned to MassDevice.com for more exclusive podcasts from the event — and for news about the next Roundtable event.