Boston Scientific Names New President, CEO After Tobin Retires

Jim Tobin, who has served as CEO of Boston Scientific Corp. for 10 years, will retire from the Natick, Mass.-based company, and Ray Elliott will become president and CEO effective July 13, according to the firm.

“Ten years ago this month, I began my tenure as CEO of Boston Scientific, and two months from now, I will turn 65,” said Tobin. “Over the course of the past decade, we have built a stronger, more diversified company that is well positioned for the future. We have achieved this due largely to the support of our employees, customers and investors, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. Now is an appropriate time for me to turn over the leadership of the company to Ray Elliott, our new CEO. Ray is an outstanding choice, and he has my full and enthusiastic support. We will have a smooth transition, which will culminate with Ray taking over next month.”

Elliott, 59, has more than 35 years of experience leading healthcare and consumer products companies. He led orthopedics company Zimmer Holdings Inc., based in Warsaw, Ind., for 10 years, joining the company as president and rising to chairman, president and CEO. Prior to joining Zimmer, he served as president and CEO of Medway, Mass.-headquartered Cybex International Inc., a medical rehabilitation and cardiovascular products company.

He also has served as president and chairman of various divisions of Southam Inc., a communications group in Canada, and as group president of food and beverage company John Labatt Ltd in London, Ontario. He began his career in the healthcare industry with American Hospital Supply Corp. in Deerfield, Ill.—now Baxter International Inc.—where he served for 15 years in sales, marketing, operations, business development and general management positions, leading to his appointment as president of Far East divisions, based in Tokyo.

During Elliott’s leadership of Zimmer, sales and market capitalization quadrupled. Sales increased from approximately $1 billion in 1997 to approximately $4 billion in 2007. Elliott oversaw taking Zimmer public in 2001, with an initial market capitalization of approximately $5 billion. At the time of his departure in 2007, the company’s market capitalization was more than $20 billion. In 2005 he was named “Best CEO in America” for Health Care (Medical Supplies and Devices), by Institutional Investor magazine.

“We are delighted that Ray will be joining us as only the third CEO of Boston Scientific,” said Pete Nicholas, chairman of the board. “His long and proven track record in leadership positions has prepared him well for this role. Ray is an extremely capable leader with extensive experience running global health care companies. We have gotten to know Ray well as a leader and colleague in the industry, as well as from his service on our board. We are confident he offers the right combination of experience, results and talents for Boston Scientific going forward.”