St. Jude Medical Announces Leadership, Organizational Changes
By Joel Lindsey
Earlier this week, St. Jude Medical Inc. announced several changes in leadership and organizational structure as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to streamline its internal structure and improve company growth.
“The restructuring will consolidate [the company’s] two operating divisions into a single research and development organization, as well as combine manufacturing and supply-chain operations worldwide,” reported the StarTribune.
Beginning in 2012, the Minnesota-based company began rolling out an extensive restructuring plan, which called for a dramatic decrease in the number of company employees. Three hundred jobs were eliminated in August 2012, and in November of that same year, another 500 positions were closed.
According to company spokesperson Amy Jo Meyer, the company’s anticipated 2014 changes — continuations of the same restructuring program started in 2012 — will not lead to additional job losses. In her interview with the StarTribune, Meyer reported that the company “still has 250 positions in the United States that it is trying to fill.”
The most recent changes to St. Jude’s corporate structure come on the heels of what the company claims was a successful year in 2013.
“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,” St. Jude CEO Daniel Starks said in a company news release. “The changes we announced today will help us build on that success to improve execution of our long-term growth program.”
A week prior to the announcement, the company released its Q4 and 2013 full-year sales results, reporting an increase of “approximately six percent on a constant-currency basis over the fourth quarter of 2012,” as well as an eight percent increase in adjusted net earnings per share compared to the company’s 2012 Q4. “For the full-year 2013, net sales were $5.501 billion, compared with $5.503 billion in 2012, which is flat with the prior year.”
As part of the recent leadership changes, previous group president Michael Rousseau became the company’s chief operating officer, and Eric Fain, previously president of the electronic systems division, was made group president. Additionally, Scott Thome became VP of global operations and supply chain, Lisa Andrade was made chief marketing officer, and Jeff Dallager became VP, corporate controller. Frank Callaghan, president of the cardiovascular and ablation technologies division, has retired.