Boston Scientific CEO Tobin to stay on board, other execs reshuffled

Jim Tobin will remain CEO and president of Boston Scientific. Source: Forbes

Boston Scientific announced Tuesday that President and CEO Jim Tobin will be extending his tenure at the company. However, the company has other executives that will be reorganized, or will leave Boston Scientific.

Tobin plans to remain in his role “for the foreseeable future,” according to the company.

The Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific also announced that Fred Colen will become the president of its cardiac rhythm management (CRM) group, and that Paul LaViolette, chief operating officer (COO), will be retiring from the company.

Colen has been with the company since 1999 in a number of leadership positions. Most recently, the company said that he has served as executive vice president (VP), operations and technology of the CRM group. Prior to the role, he served as executive VP and chief technology officer for the company.

LaViolette joined the company in 1994 and has served in a number of leadership positions. He has been COO since 2005.

“Two years ago we announced a similar extension,” Pete Nicholas, co-founder and chairman of the board of Boston Scientific, said about Tobin’s continued tenure. “During the intervening time, Jim has devoted the majority of his attention to the integration of Guidant, while Paul has managed much of the day-to-day operations of the rest of the company,” he said.

Nicholas added that after “two years of Jim's intense focus and successful leadership, our CRM business and its new management team are re-vitalized and well positioned to achieve the enormous potential of this business. The time is now right for Jim to turn his full attention and energies back to the core challenges facing the company as a whole, especially those relating to strategy, the development of our human capital, organizational efficiency and effectiveness and simplifying and streamlining operations.”

Tobin responded: “I am turning my attention back to the full scope of the day-to-day operations of the company. I am combining the CEO and COO roles, which will provide me more direct access to the managers who run the businesses, and who now will be reporting to me. Paul will be retiring at the end of the year. As of July 1, he will transition his COO responsibilities to me and serve as a senior adviser, reporting to me.”