, who is 46 years old, as the company’s president and chief operating officer in what was seen by many as a move to pick his own successor. Ford was the first official No. 2 executive and chief operating officer Abbott has had in more than a decade and will now become just the 13th CEO of Abbott in its 131-year history, the company said.
"One of the primary goals in my career has been to leave the company well positioned for the people who count on us,” White said. “Today, the company is the strongest it has been during my tenure, and I am confident that Robert will lead Abbott successfully into the future. He is highly respected, has helped us shape the company during the last several years and understands the forces driving change in healthcare.
In White, Abbott picked a CEO that almost immediately began to become more involved in Chicago civic affairs and began to wheel and deal to grow businesses via acquisition. White raised the company’s profile among investors and with the public on the national and global stage with Abbott investing in not only its businesses, but community and humanitarian projects.It has paid off. Abbott’s market capitalization, which hovered near $75 billion when he took over has soared to $149 billion today.
In his earlier years as CEO, White guided Abbott through various scrapes with regulators that included issues he inherited from the Burnham era. Most notably, Abbott battled with the Food and Drug Administration for years over quality control issues in its diagnostics division that White ran before he became CEO.
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