Solventum Chief Commercial Officer Heather Knight will open DeviceTalks Minnesota in Minneapolis on May 4 with a keynote interview.
The 3M spinoff hired Knight last year from Baxter International, where she was an EVP, chief operating officer and interim group president of the Medical Products and Therapies segment.
At Baxter, Knight led global sales across two other business segments in addition to Medical Products and Therapies: Healthcare Systems & Technologies, and Pharmaceuticals. She also oversaw Baxter’s R&D, supply chain and medical and regulatory affairs functions.
Before she was promoted to COO at Baxter in February 2025, she led emergency response efforts to flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Helene that took Baxter’s largest U.S. manufacturing plant offline and triggered a nationwide shortage of IV solution products.
“We had to focus on the community and our people, what was going on with the plant, and then how that was going to impact supply,” Knight said in a Medical Design & Outsourcing cover story. “… In those first 24, 48, 72 hours, there was a real acute need for basic necessities: food, water, showers, washers, dryers, all the things you need to support a community. And because there were a lot of access issues, we were one of the first — if not the only — on the ground serving the community at large. We weren’t turning people away.”
Five months after the storm, the plant’s production returned to pre-hurricane levels.
“I learned a lot about myself, about my leadership resiliency and how to lead a broad, cross-functional team in a time of crisis,” Knight said. “I don’t think many leaders get an opportunity like that.”
Knight now leads Solventum’s global commercial and R&D operations across its MedSurg, Dental Solutions and Health Information Systems segments. Before Baxter, she spent nearly two decades at Covidien and Medtronic.
Knight’s “long history of strategic vision, commercial discipline and deep sector experience” will be instrumental to the company’s success, Solventum CEO Bryan Hanson said.
Register today for DeviceTalks Minnesota to hear from Knight herself during the opening keynote conversation in Minneapolis on May 4, 2026.
