St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) said today that it’s planning to merge its 2 main divisions into a single R&D unit and further streamline its manufacturing and supply chain operations, making a slew of promotions and announcing the retirement of medtech veteran Frank Callaghan.
"One reason 2013 was such a successful year for us was that we streamlined our organization, improved productivity, and reduced costs through organizational changes we announced in August 2012. The changes we announced today will help us build on that success to further leverage our scale, align on our highest priorities and improve execution of our long-term growth program," chairman, president & CEO Daniel Starks said in prepared remarks.
Callaghan, who joined St. Jude in 2005 when it acquired Endocardial Solutions, was president of St. Jude’s cardiovascular and ablation segment, which will now be merged with the implantable electronic systems division. He will stay on as an advisor through 2014, according to a press release.
"Frank has led the implementation of numerous technology programs within our business and has been instrumental in driving our growth and reputation as an industry leader in the cardiovascular market. St. Jude Medical sincerely thanks him for his strong leadership and wishes him a wonderful transition into retirement," Starks said.
As part of the restructuring, onetime group president Michael Rousseau was promoted to COO, overseeing sales, marketing, quality, technology development, operations and supply chain. Dr. Eric Fain, who was president of the IESD unit, was promoted to group president, responsible for all clinical, regulatory and R&D activities. Fain will lead the integration of the IESD and CATD sides. "into 1 cohesive St. Jude Medical research and development organization," according to a press release.
St. Jude also said it’s promoting 3 executives, naming Scott Thome to the newly created position of vice president, global operations & supply chain. Lisa Andrade was promoted to chief marketing officer and Jeff Dallager has been promoted to vice president, corporate controller, according to the release.
