Today Medtronic announced that its Chairman and CEO, Omar Ishrak, will retire following the end of the company’s current fiscal year on April 26, 2020. Medtronic’s board of directors appointed Geoff Martha, unanimously, to the new role of Medtronic President. Martha will also join the company’s board of directors on November 1. Martha will succeed Ishrak as Medtronic CEO on April 27, 2020. Martha will succeed Ishrak as Medtronic CEO on April 27, 2020. He is currently the executive vice president of Medtronic’s Restorative Therapies Group.
“Leading Medtronic as CEO is an honor and a privilege, and I know that Geoff is the right leader to take Medtronic to the next level of its growth and evolution,” said Ishrak in a company press release. “Geoff is a results-oriented, dynamic, and innovative business leader who is passionately committed to our Mission, the advancement of our growth strategy and the development and diversity of our people. I am confident he has the right track record, commitment, vision and judgment to lead our company.”
When Martha assumes the role of CEO on April 27, Ishrak will also assume the role of executive chairman, a new position that will allow him manage the CEO succession process. Medtronic has a mandatory executive officer retirement age of 65 years. Next year Ishrak will be approaching this retirement age.
Martha came on board at Medtronic in 2011 and led the company’s unprecedented $50 billion acquisition of Covidien in 2014.