With its stock price having sunk about 46% over the 1ast 12 months, Envista Holdings Corp. has hired a new chief executive, Paul Keel, who has leadership experience in several industries.
Since the April 15 announcement, the stock has risen about 7%.
Keel, most recently the CEO of British engineering company Smiths Group PLC, has also held leadership positions at 3M, General Electric, McKinsey & Company and General Mills.
He is to join the $3.4 billion-valued Brea-based maker of dental products (NYSE: NVST) as both CEO and a board member on May 1.
He’s succeeding Amir Aghdaei, who is stepping down, but will stay on through the transition as a senior adviser, the company said
“After nearly 10 years leading Danaher’s dental platform and the Envista team,” he said in a statement, “it is now time to focus on the next phase of building a world-class dental company.”
Keel joins Envista two months after the company said it was launching a search for a new CEO to succeed Aghdaei. At the time, its stock price had fallen to about $23 a share from about $38 a share 10 months earlier. On April 26, it was trading at about $20.47 a share.
Strong Track Record
Keel was named CEO of Smiths in 2021 and left the post in less than three years.
Smiths last month said that Keel was stepping down to return to the U.S. where most of his family is reportedly based.
Smiths is a $7 billion company with 15,000 employees globally.
“The considerable momentum that makes it so hard to walk away from Smiths right now, also makes this an ideal time to pass the baton,” Keel said in a LinkedIn post last month.
During his tenure, Smiths’ medical division was acquired by ICU Medical Inc. for $2.4 billion in 2022.
Smiths’ medical business includes syringe and ambulatory infusion devices, vascular access and other vital care products.
“Paul’s strong track record as CEO of a public, diversified, global innovation company makes him the right leader for Envista at this stage in our growth journey,” Envista Chairman Scott Huennekens said in a statement.
Keel’s appointment at Envista also marks a return to oral care in his career.
He spent 16 years at global industrial products firm 3M, including three years as president of the company’s orthodontic business.
At 3M, Keel is credited with increasing digitization efforts and overseeing four acquisitions of companies such as Dallas-based Lingualcare Inc., known for its customizable lingual braces called iBraces.
His education includes Carleton College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Ex-Danaher Dental Unit
Envista is a legacy business of Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, which was spun off by Danaher Corp., shortly after it acquired Beckman.
Ormco and Nobel Biocare Services make up the company’s specialty products and technologies unit, while its equipment and consumables division are under KaVo Kerr.
Since the IPO, Envista sold its KaVo Kerr business to dental equipment manufacturer Planmeca for $455 million in 2021.
Envista is currently valued at $3.4 billion and reported $645.6 million in fourth-quarter revenue, down 2% from the year prior.
