Dive Brief:
- Baxter CFO Joel Grade is leaving the company to prioritize family matters, the medtech business said Monday.
- Grade joined Baxter in 2023 after working at the wholesale food distributor Sysco for 25 years. Baxter has named Anita Zielinski as interim CFO, effective immediately.
- Baxter is searching for a permanent CFO to work under Andrew Hider, who took over as CEO last year. The company reiterated the financial outlook it shared last month.
Dive Insight:
Grade joined a company that was 10 months into a push to rethink its business in the aftermath of its $10.5 billion takeover of Hillrom. In January 2023, Baxter committed to spinning off its renal care and acute therapies businesses and exploring strategic alternatives for its biopharma solutions unit.
Weeks before Grade joined, Baxter completed the sale of the biopharma solutions unit for $4.25 billion. The company’s plans for its kidney care unit changed on Grade’s watch, with interest from private equity groups leading it to pursue a sale, not a spinoff. Baxter struck a deal to sell the unit in 2024, reducing its number of business units to three. The company had nine units around the time of Grade’s appointment.
Grade was one of two Baxter executives to receive a base salary increase in 2025. The other executive’s pay increase was partly tied to a promotion. Baxter increased the CFO’s salary by almost 5% to promote retention and stability throughout the CEO transition that took place last year.
In a statement about Grade’s departure, Baxter CEO Hider said the outgoing CFO supported the company through a period of significant transformation. With major changes completed, Baxter is well positioned for value creation and is prioritizing stabilizing the business and strengthening its balance sheet, the CEO said.
Zielinski will oversee financial activities on an interim basis, with Grade providing advice until the end of April. Baxter hired Zielinski as chief accounting officer and controller in 2025. Zielinski will continue to perform her original role while taking on additional responsibilities as interim CFO. Before joining Baxter, Zielinski was CFO of U.S. foodservice operations at Sysco.
