Medtech’s top leadership changes of 2025

We recap the year’s biggest executive hirings, promotions and departures at Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Intuitive and other device developers.

Medtronic EVP and CFO Thierry Piéton [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]

Medtronic leadership changes once again led the biggest medtech moves of the year.

The world’s largest medical device company hired CFO Thierry Piéton from Renault in March, replacing former CFO Karen Parkhill. Parkhill left for HP in 2024 and was replaced by Gary Corona as interim CFO, but Corona left Medtronic shortly after Piéton’s hiring to join nVent as CFO.

Medtronic also hired Kate Benedict from contract manufacturer Flex to be SVP and president of Acute Care & Monitoring, a business Medtronic previously planned to sell. She replaced Frank Chan, who’s now EVP and chief operating officer at Haemonetics.

Medtronic Chief Technology Officer Jim Peichel [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]

In July, Ivan Fong retired as Medtronic EVP, general counsel and secretary, replaced by Michelle Quinn from BD.

Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Ken Washington retired from the company in November, followed by Jim Peichel’s promotion to chief technology officer.

Also leaving Medtronic were SVP and Chief Communications Officer Torod Neptune (succeeded by Amy Jo Meyer) and EVP of Enterprise Operations Greg Smith, who’s now chief supply chain officer at Walgreens.

Former EVP and Cardiovascular President Sean Salmon retired after a long career with Medtronic in September. He was replaced by Skip Kiil, who was previously SVP and president of Medtronic’s Cranial & Spinal Therapies (CST) business. With Kiil’s promotion, Medtronic moved VP and Spine & Biologics GM Michael Carter up to SVP and president of CST.

As part of its plans to separate the Diabetes business into a standalone company called MiniMed, Medtronic hired Chad Spooner as MiniMed CFO and moved Medtronic VP and Head of Investor Relations Ryan Weispfenning into the same role at MiniMed, replaced by Ingrid Goldberg.

Related: Medtronic’s MiniMed diabetes split could be a shot in the arm for both

Intuitive makes a big change at the top

Intuitive CEO Dave Rosa [Photo courtesy of Intuitive]

In one of the biggest executive moves of 2025, Intuitive promoted Dave Rosa to CEO in July. After 15 years as Intuitive’s CEO, Gary Guthart is now executive chair of the board of directors.

Guthart joined Intuitive in 1996 as a control systems analyst within the company’s first engineering team. He became VP of engineering in 1999, SVP of product operations in 2002, president and chief operating officer in 2006, and then CEO in 2010.

Rosa joined the surgical robotics leader as its ninth employee in March 1996. Since then, he’s led teams across engineering, clinical and product development, marketing, regulatory and quality affairs and the commercial organization.

Intuitive also named Darla Hutton as global VP of cardiac surgery. Learn more about Hutton in our interview with her at our DeviceTalks West 2025 Women in Medtech Breakfast.

Olympus taps former Medtronic leader as CEO

Olympus CEO Bob White [Photo courtesy of Olympus]

After Medtronic eliminated his job in 2024, Bob White became CEO of Olympus in April. He succeeded Yasuo Takeuchi, who took over as acting CEO in October 2024 after then-CEO Stefan Kaufmann resigned over accusations that he bought illegal drugs.

White spent 14 years with Medtronic, climbing to the position of EVP and president of the Medical Surgical Portfolio until Medtronic pulled out of the ventilator market. Before Medtronic, White worked at Covidien, GE HealthCare, Merge Healthcare and the IBM Healthcare Division.

“Our priorities are pretty clear. It’s innovation and growth,” White told us in told us in October.

Insulet hires Ashley McEvoy as CEO

Insulet CEO Ashley McEvoy [Photo courtesy of Insulet]

Insulet hired Ashley McEvoy as president and CEO in April, replacing Jim Hollingshead in the position he held since 2022.

McEvoy spent nearly three decades in roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson, ultimately serving as EVP and worldwide chair of J&J MedTech before announcing her resignation in October 2023.

Since her appointment, McEvoy has shaped her executive team, including promoting Eric Benjamin to chief operating officer and Amit Guliani to chief technology office). She also brought on former J&J leaders Manoj Raghunandanan as chief growth officer, Flavia Pease as CFO and Cristal Downing as chief corporate affairs officer.

“This remarkable team that we have reflects the best of medtech, reflects the best of healthcare and reflects the best of this consumer industry,” McEvoy told us in a November interview.

Baxter turns to automation industry for new CEO

Baxter CEO Andrew Hider [Photo courtesy of Baxter]

Baxter hired Andrew Hider as CEO in July to replace Joe Almeida, who retired after nine years as CEO.

Hider was previously CEO of industrial automation company ATS Corp., which counts medical device companies among its customers. Before that, he was CEO of Taylor Made Group and led several businesses at Danaher Corp.

In October, Baxter EVP, Chief Operating Officer and Medical Products and Therapies Group Interim President Heather Knight left the company to become chief commercial officer at Solventum. (Earlier in the year, Solventum hired former Zimmer Biomet executive Rachel Ellingson as chief strategy and corporate development officer.)

Related: Baxter and the storm: Lessons from the North Cove flood response and recovery

New Masimo CEO emerges from investor revolt

Masimo CEO Katie Szyman [Photo courtesy of Masimo]

Masimo hired Katie Szyman as CEO in January 2025 to replace founder Joe Kiani, who resigned as CEO in September 2024 after he was ousted as board chair in a fight with activist investors.

Szyman was previously worldwide president of advanced patient monitoring at BD and led the Critical Care business at Edwards Lifesciences before BD bought it for $4.2 billion in September 2024.

At Edwards, Szyman led the introduction of the first AI technology cleared by the FDA in the patient monitoring space. Before that, she spent more than 20 years at Medtronic.

Senior leadership changes at Stryker

Stryker President and Chief Operating Officer Spencer Stiles [Photo courtesy of Stryker]

Stryker, one of the world’s largest orthopedic companies, promoted Customer Solutions President Mike Carlin to president of Digital Robotics and Enabling Technologies in June. Robert Cohen, who previously held that role, became VP, Innovation and Technology, Orthopaedics.

Erik Todd, who served as VP and GM of the company’s Robotics and Enabling Technologies unit, left a few months later, becoming CEO of Olympus surgical robotics venture Swan EndoSurgical.

To end the year, Stryker promoted Orthopaedics Group President Spencer Stiles to president and chief operating officer. Those duties had been handled by CEO Kevin Lobo ever since Tim Scannell retired in 2023.

J&J MedTech departures ahead of ortho separation

Dentsply Sirona EVP and Chief Commercial Officer Aldo Denti [Photo courtesy of Dentsply Sirona]

The October announcement that Johnson & Johnson MedTech plans to separate its DePuy Synthes Orthopaedics business was sandwiched between two big-name departures from the unit.

On Oct. 6, J&J MedTech Global Orthopedics Company Group Chair Aldo Denti joined Dentsply Sirona as EVP and chief commercial officer.

About six weeks after the Depuy Synthes announcement, U.S. Orthopaedics President Leslie Storms left the company to become president of Ethos Veterinary Health.

Related: Tim Schmid shares Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s growth playbook

Ethos Veterinary Health President Leslie Storms [Photo courtesy of Ethos Veterinary Health]

Other changes at the world’s second-largest device company included Michael Bodner’s move to company group chair of Electrophysiology and Neurovascular in March and the exit of Neurovascular Worldwide President Mark Dickinson after a 26-year career at J&J. Dickinson was replaced by Christian Cuzick.

And in July, J&J hired Dr. Gregory Michaudas chief medical and scientific officer for its electrophysiology unit.

Other big-name moves in medtech

• 

  CMR Surgical CEO Massimiliano Colella [Photo courtesy of CMR Surgical]

  CMR Surgical hired Massimiliano Colella as CEO after the former chief commercial officer served as interim CEO following Supratim Bose’s resignation.

• Enovis CEO Matt Trerotola retired in May, replaced by former LivaNova CEO Damien McDonald
• Smith+Nephew hired Ajay Dhankhar as chief corporate development and strategy officer in June.
• Moon Surgical hired Jonathan Conta as chief marketing officer, Jeff Semone as chief quality and regulatory officer, and Jeff Driggs as VP of U.S. sales in July.
• Daniel Scavilla resigned as CEO of Globus Medical in July to take the same post at Dentsply Sirona. Globus EVP, Chief Operating Officer and CFO Keith Pfeil was promoted to president and CEO.
• ​​GE HealthCare hired Abbott DVP Ivan Martinez as chief strategy officer in August.
• Ambu North America Commercial Region President Steven Block stepped down in August, replaced by Scott Heinzelman.
• Stephen From became CEO of Vicarious Surgical in August as it looks to advance its surgical robot platform.
• 

  Penumbra President Shruthi Narayan [Photo courtesy of Penumbra]

  Penumbra promoted Shruthi Narayan to president on Sept. 1.

• Jakob Just-Bomholt joined Elekta as president and CEO in September.
• Doug Godshall, who led HeartWare and Shockwave Medical through major acquisitions, joined pulsed-electric field developer Galvanize Therapeutics as CEO in September.
• Longtime Edwards executive Larry Wood joined surgical robotics company Procept Biorobotics as president and CEO in September.
• Boston Scientific SVP and Endoscopy President Mike Jones left in September after nearly 31 years at the company and is now “exploring what’s next.” Boston Scientific EVP and Peripheral Interventions President Jeff Mirviss retired on Dec. 1.
• Martha Aaronson became CEO at Merit Medical Systems in October after founder Fred Lampropoulos retired.
• Synchron hired former Dexcom CEO Andy Rasdal as chief of staff and Mark Brister as VP of R&D. Chief Technology Officer Riki Banerjee left the BCI developer in October.
• BD EVP and CFO Chris DelOrefice left the company in December to join Ulta Beauty, with Vitor Roque serving as interim CFO.
• 

  Dexcom EVP and Chief Operating Officer Jake Leach will become CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. [Photo courtesy of Dexcom]

  Dexcom is promoting President and Chief Operating Officer Jake Leach to CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. Former CEO Kevin Sayer was set to remain board chair, but Mark Foletta was named interim chair in September when Sayer started a temporary medical leave of absence, at which point Leach became interim CEO.

• After a 35-year tenure as CEO at Henry Schein, Stanley Bergman announced his intent to retire at the end of 2025. He’ll remain board chair, and a new CEO had not been named as of mid-December.