NEW YORK (AP) -- Medical device maker Boston Scientific said Tuesday it is hiring Johnson & Johnson executive Michael Mahoney as its next CEO.
The Natick, Mass., company said Mahoney will become president on Oct. 17, and Ray Elliott will step down as president and CEO. William Kucheman will be interim CEO from Oct. 1 until Nov. 1, 2012, when Mahoney will take over that title as well.
The company surprised Wall Street by announcing in May that Elliott would retire less than two years after he was hired.
Mahoney, 46, has been the chairman of Johnson & Johnson's medical device business since January. Before that, he led its DuPuy orthopedics and neuroscience unit. Boston Scientific says he will be in charge of its cardiac rhythm management and endoscopy businesses starting in October, and will take over neuromodulation business on Aug. 1, 2012.
Kucheman leads Boston Scientific's cardiology, rhythm and vascular business. He is being appointed to the board and will have a senior advisory role after his term as interim CEO ends.
Boston Scientific Corp. hired Elliott away from Zimmer Holdings Inc. in July 2009. Under Elliott, Boston Scientific cut 10 percent of its jobs, restructured, sold its neurovascular business to Stryker Corp. for $1.5 billion, and acquired six smaller companies in late 2010 and 2011. The moves were intended to reduce its substantial debt and improve revenue, as the new companies are expected to contribute 150 new products to its pipeline by 2015.
However the company's profit fell 11 percent in 2010, and it had to stop selling its defibrillators for about a month because it failed to tell the Food and Drug Administration about changes in how the devices were made.
Shares of Boston Scientific rose 4 cents to $6.26 Tuesday, and gave up a penny to $6.25 in aftermarket trading.
