Industry Veteran Takes Over Leadership of CareFusion J. Michael Losh certainly can keep a promise

Industry Veteran Takes Over Leadership of CareFusion

J. Michael Losh certainly can keep a promise. When CareFusion Corporation Chairman and CEO David L. Schlotterbeck announced his retirement last fall, Losh—the company’s presiding board director—vowed to find a replacement before the CEO’s Feb. 28 departure date.

And he succeeded, with time to spare. On Feb. 1—four weeks ahead of schedule—the company publicly shared its choice of successors: Kieran T. Gallahue, former president and CEO of ResMed Corp., a San Diego, Calif.-based manufacturer of products that diagnose and treat sleep-disordered breathing. In a news release announcing the appointment, CareFusion chieftains claim ResMed’s revenues grew 500 percent to $1.2 billion under Gallahue’s stewardship. They said their new leader has nearly 20 years of strategic, operational and corporate management experience in the healthcare industry, with a “deep expertise in the medical technologies field.” Since 2007 Gallahue also has served on the board of Volcano Corp., a San Diego-based developer of interventional cardiology products.

“Kieran brings strategic, operational and public company experience to CareFusion, with a proven track record of growth—all qualities that were critical in our search process,” Losh said in prepared remarks. “CareFusion has ample opportunity to grow and innovate…We see a clear path to create exponentially greater value and believe Kieran is an ideal fit to accelerate this work.”

Gallahue, 47, had held the top spot at ResMed since January 2008. He joined the firm in January 2003 as president and chief operating officer of the Americas and was promoted in September 2004 to global president and chief operating officer. Prior to ResMed, he worked for Nanogen Inc., a DNA research and medical diagnostics firm, and Instrumentation Laboratory, a company that develops diagnostic instruments for critical care and hemostatsis. He also held marketing, sales and financial positions at The Procter & Gamble Co. and GE.

Gallahue holds a bachelor of science degree in economics and accounting from Rutgers University in New Jersey and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in Boston, Mass.

Schlotterbeck’s retirement occurs just 18 months after the San Diego firm’s launch as a stand-alone public company in 2009. Schlotterbeck was vice chairman and CEO of the clinical and medical products segment of Cardinal Health when the drug distribution giant spun off CareFusion in August 2009. He had joined Cardinal in May 2004 when the Dublin, Ohio-based company acquired Alaris Medical Systems, a San Diego company headed by Schlotterbeck.