Medtronic pays $3 million in compensation to fired executive vice president Bob White

Medtronic Company

(NYSE:MDT)
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The firing of a top executive cost the company more than $3 million in severance pay, the company said in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Medtronic this year ousted former executive vice president and president of its medical surgery division, Bob White, as it exited the ventilator market.

Because White’s employment was terminated without cause, Medtronic paid him $3.2 million in compensation. This included nearly $1.6 million to cover two years of salary, an equal amount to cover two years of target bonuses and $61,259 to cover two years of health and dental benefits.

Medtronic announced in February that White would leave his position, effective April 26 (the end of Medtronic’s 2024 fiscal year).

“The company’s decision to close and exit the ventilator business and combine the remaining businesses within the Patient Monitoring and Respiratory Interventions operating units into a single operating unit has resulted in the elimination of the position held by Mr. White,” Medtronic said in a recent filing.

Medtronic EVP Mike Marinaro is now president of the Medical Surgical portfolio. He is also president of the Surgical operating unit, a position he assumed last year after the Surgical Robotics unit he led was combined with Surgical Innovations into Medtronic.

Medtronic also disclosed compensation packages for Chairman and CEO Geoffrey Martha and other senior executives, as well as the total compensation of the average employee at the company and a decrease in total employment.

Previously: Medtronic confirms global layoffs

White was one of three people to retire from his position as Medtronic executive vice president in 2024. Rob ten Hoedt, executive vice president and president of global regions at Medtronic, retired June 28, and Karen Parkhill, executive vice president and chief financial officer, resigned from her position, effective August 2, 2024, to become chief financial officer at HP.

White, who was 62 when he left Medtronic, joined the company in 2015 when it bought Covidien and led the integration of the two businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

Before joining Covidien and then Medtronic, he held leadership positions at GE Healthcare and Merge Healthcare.

Since 2020, White has served on the Smith+Nephew board as an independent non-executive member.

Medtronic Executive Severance Payments

Medtronic said White’s severance package was consistent with the company’s practices for executives terminated without cause. That policy covers Martha, as well as EVP Global Operations and Supply Chain Greg Smith, EVP and Cardiovascular President Sean Salmon, and EVP and Neuroscience President Brett Wall.

All of these executives would receive twice their annual salary plus “the lesser of (a) the target annual cash amount under the (Medtronic Incentive Plan, or MIP) or (b) the actual or projected actual MIP payout based on performance.”

They will also be eligible to receive “social benefits” including outplacement services and 24 months of continuous health and dental insurance.

As Medtronic said in a court filing, the company’s designated executive officers (NEOs, which include the CEO, CFO and three other highest-paid executives) “are not entitled to any severance or other termination benefits upon termination for any other reason.”

Medtronic calculated the severance payments for these executives as if they had been terminated without cause at the end of fiscal year 2024:

• Martha: $6.6 million
• Smith: $3.4 million
• Salmon: $3.3 million
• Wall: $2.9 million

Medical Technology Salary Analysis: Medtronic CEO Salary Increases 30%, Employment, Median Employee Compensation Decreases