Dive Brief:
- Abbott announced Wednesday current company controller and senior vice president of finance Robert Funck, 58, will become chief financial officer March 1. The news follows a retirement announcement Jan. 3 from CFO since mid-2015 Brian Yoor, whose tenure included Abbott's $25 billion takeout of St. Jude Medical in 2017.
- It's the second major leadership change Abbott has announced in recent months. In November, the company disclosed that Miles White, its CEO of more than two decades, will step down March 31, with current COO Robert Ford appointed to fill the top spot.
- Funck has a long history at the company, first joining in 1987 and becoming a corporate officer in 2005. He took up controller responsibilities in 2013, previously serving as chief ethics and compliance officer as well as vice president of internal audit and treasurer. Funck's title change also includes a promotion to executive vice president of finance.
Dive Insight:
The appointment adds to a significant list of C-suite transitions planned at major medtechs in 2020, including new CEOs at BD and Medtronic scheduled for late January and April, respectively.
Funck, Ford and the rest of the team at Abbott will be tasked with building on momentum from products like its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitor, MitraClip device for treatment of mitral valve regurgitation, and Alinity line of plasma diagnostic screening systems. Abbott's medical devices unit is still under the relatively new leadership of Intersect ENT and Boston Scientific veteran Lisa Earnhardt, appointed head of the division in June 2019.
Abbott said Funck will receive a base salary, annual incentive, long-term incentive and "other benefits typically available to other similarly situated executive officers." Funck's predecessor had an annual base salary of $825,000, according to a 2019 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Abbott did not specify who will take over Funck's role as controller in its filing Wednesday.
Abbott is slated to present at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Jan. 14 and plans to report fourth quarter earnings for 2019 on Jan. 22.
