Much like a boy band moving on to its next gig, after more than half a decade leading Zimmer Biomet, Bryan Hanson is taking on the top spot at another medtech giant.
Hanson is set to join 3M at the start of next month, the company announced Tuesday. He’ll initially serve as chief executive of 3M’s healthcare group, and the CEO title will carry over once the group becomes a standalone company in its upcoming planned spinout.
Hanson will be there to help the medtech business break away from the manufacturing conglomerate—an area where he already has expertise, after leading Zimmer Biomet through the spinoff of its spine and dental device businesses into the solo entity ZimVie last year.
“I have a deep respect and admiration for what 3M has built in healthcare—strong brands, quality products, commercial excellence and customer-driven innovation,” he said in the announcement. “I look forward to working with the team to more deeply understand and realize the potential of our business as we accelerate our path forward and build on a legacy of trusted leadership and medical innovation.”
3M has been planning to separate out its healthcare business for the last year. Though the spinout was initially expected to be completed by the end of 2023, the timeline now allows for it to wrap up in the first quarter of next year—if not later: During a call with investors earlier this year, 3M Chief Financial Officer Monish Patolawala said the timing ultimately depends on approvals from the IRS and other government and board entities “because we want this to be a tax-free transaction.”
Once it leaves the nest, the healthcare business will make its way as an $8 billion player selling wound care, oral care, healthcare IT and biopharma filtration products.
While Hanson will helm the healthcare company’s executive team, its board will be chaired by Carrie Cox, 3M added in this week’s announcement. Cox, who currently also leads Organon’s board and was previously chair and CEO of Humacyte, has served as an adviser to 3M and helped in selecting Hanson as the spinout’s new leader, 3M CEO Mike Roman said.
Filling Hanson’s shoes as president and CEO of Zimmer Biomet, meanwhile, is Ivan Tornos, the devicemaker said in a Tuesday announcement of its own. Tornos—an alum of BD, C.R. Bard, Covidien, Baxter and Johnson & Johnson—has been at Zimmer Biomet since 2018. He served first as president of its orthopedics group, then as group president of global businesses and the Americas before being appointed chief operating officer in early 2021.
In addition, Zimmer Biomet announced that Hanson’s spot as chairman of the board will be taken over by Christopher Begley, the board’s lead independent director.
Hanson came to Zimmer Biomet at the end of 2017, when he was named president and CEO; the chairman title followed in 2021. Prior to that, he had racked up more than two decades in leadership roles at Covidien, followed by almost three years as president of the minimally invasive therapies group at Medtronic after it acquired Covidien at the start of 2015.
“The last five and a half years at the helm of Zimmer Biomet have been transformational, not just for the company, but for me, as well,” Hanson said in Zimmer Biomet’s release. “I have the utmost confidence in Ivan, the entire ZB team and the strength of the business. I cannot think of a better leader to continue to move the ZB mission forward and deliver value for patients, customers and shareholders.”