Abbott announces chief operating officer retirement

Abbott has announced that Richard A Gonzalez, president, chief operating officer and director of the company, has reported his plans to retire from the firm.

Mr Gonzalez is to leave Abbott on September 30th 2007, having served the company for 30 years.

Following his departure from the company, the head of the four main business units at Abbott – medical devices, diagnostics, nutritionals and pharmaceuticals – will no longer report to a chief operating officer, but will instead report to chairman and chief executive officer Miles D White.

Mr White said: “Rick is a consummate leader and has had a distinguished career at Abbott, including his work to help conceive and execute Abbott?s successful medical products strategy.”

He added that he and Mr Gonzalez have cooperated and collaborated for almost his entire career, while he thanked him for his contributions to Abbott and wished him well following his retirement from the company.

Mr Gonzalez was appointed to the position of president and chief operating officer of Abbott in March last year, being promoted as a replacement for Dr Jeffrey M Leiden.

Prior to this appointment, Mr Gonzalez was president and chief operating officer of the company’s medical products group, a role he then consolidated with the same position in the pharmaceutical products group.