A Medical Device Daily

Medtronic (Minneapolis) yesterday reported roll-out of a succession plan for its top executive positions.

William Hawkins III, company president/COO, will become president/CEO, effective Aug. 23. At the same time, Michael DeMane, currently senior VP and president of Medtronic's business in Europe, Canada, Latin America and Emerging Markets, will become COO.

After Hawkins and DeMane assume these new responsibilities, Arthur Collins Jr., Medtronic CEO and chairman, will remain as a director and chairman until the annual shareholders meeting in August 2008, and the board will elect Hawkins to the Medtronic board in March at its next scheduled meeting.

Collins said, "Medtronic is well positioned to continue our strong record of success and we are fortunate to have two individuals of Bill's and Michael's caliber to step into the CEO and COO positions and work as a team. . . . [T]he board is unanimous in its belief that their leadership will continue to successfully move Medtronic forward in the future," Jean-Pierre Rosso, Medtronic board member and chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee, said, "After Art informed the board of his retirement timetable several years ago, we carefully considered succession alternatives when developing the plan that was announced today." Rosso also said "Art's highly professional, steady leadership has been clearly evident as the company expanded and consistently posted strong growth for the more than 13 years he has served as COO and CEO. The board is also confident that Bill and Michael will work together to further strengthen the company's leadership position in the future."

Collins joined the company in 1992 as corporate executive VP and president of Medtronic International with responsibility for all Medtronic operations outside the U.S. He was named CEO in 2001 and became chairman in 2002. He was elected COO and board member in 1994 and president in 1996. Collins joined Medtronic from Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, Illinois) where he had been corporate VP with responsibility for Abbott's worldwide diagnostic business units since 1986.

Hawkins joined Medtronic in 2002 from Novoste, where he had been president/CEO. He was first named president of Medtronic's vascular business and then elected president/COO in 2004.

DeMane came to Medtronic from Medtronic's spinal business, Sofamor Danek, and from 2002 to 2005, he served as president of Medtronic Spinal, ENT, and Navigation. He was named president of Medtronic Europe, Canada, Latin America and Emerging Markets in August 2005.