Andrew Hider became Baxter’s CEO in April [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
The medical device manufacturer also disclosed pay packages for other current and former executives — including a severance payment for its former CEO — and reported higher pay for its median employee.
Baxter’s CEO change was one of medtech’s biggest leadership changes in 2025. After serving as CEO and chair for nearly a decade, Joe Almeida announced his immediate retirement in February 2025. Almeida remained as an advisor through October 2025 and became Hologic’s CEO in April 2026.
Independent director Brent Shafer served as executive chair and interim CEO while the Baxter searched for a new leader. Baxter hired Andrew Hider industrial automation executive as president and CEO in August 2025. Shafer then became non-executive chair of the board as the board went forward with a previous plan to separate the roles of board chair and CEO.
Baxter Non-executive Chair Brent Shafer [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Recruiting and retaining top talent — both at the executive and engineering level — is crucial in the medtech industry, but employee compensation is kept secret in most cases. Medical Design & Outsourcing tracks and analyzes these pay figures when disclosed by major device developers and manufacturers.
With $10.6 billion in 2024 revenue, Baxter was the world’s14th-largest medical device company, according to our 2025 Medtech Big 100 ranking. Since then, Baxter’s revenue has grown 6% to $11.2 billion for calendar 2025.
“Despite our many accomplishments, this past year was challenging for the company and we are in the early stages of a turnaround,” Hider said his own letter to shareholders. “Baxter remains focused on stabilizing business performance, strengthening execution, thoughtful capital allocation and long‑term value creation, guided by our mission and supported by a resilient, dedicated global team.”
Baxter executive pay
Baxter President and CEO Andrew Hilder posted this photo on LinkedIn during his first day with the company. [Photo courtesy of Andrew Hider]
Baxter President and CEO Andrew Hider received $29.8 million in total compensation for 2025, making him one of the highest compensated medtech CEOs despite only joining Baxter in August.
Hider’s compensation included $499,315 worth of salary, $23.1 million in stock awards, option awards of $3.2 million, an $820,125 cash performance bonus, and a $1 million lump sum cash payment intended to make up for compensation left behind at his previous employer, ATS Corp.
Hider also received $1.2 million in other compensation, including $835,985 in relocation benefits, $79,910 in relocation-related tax reimbursements, $75,000 in attorney fees in connection with his hiring, $5,589 in 401(k) matching contribution, $1,500 of matching charitable gift contributions and a $150,000 personal travel allowance. Baxter provided Hider with an annual lump sum personal travel allowance since it no longer has a company aircraft.
Hider received equity grants in connection with his hiring, including a one-time supplemental sign-on equity award of $4 million and a mix of time-based and performance-based one-time awards totally $8.5 million, representative of the unvested portion of certain equity awards from Hider’s prior company.
Former Baxter Chair, President and CEO Joe Almeida [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Almeida’s other compensation included a $6.9 million lump sum payment for termination without cause, $65,165 for use of Baxter’s former aircraft, $31,000 in attorney fees in connection with CEO transition activities and $4,127 in post-separation health benefits.
Answering questions from investors around the time of the May 2025 shareholder meeting, Baxter characterized Almeida’s service as “impressive” and said the termination payments “are comparable to those received by long-tenured executives and are within Baxter’s usual severance and retirement programs.”
Explaining his departure, the company said Almeida “led the company through a period of significant evolution and portfolio repositioning.”
“With the sale of Kidney Care behind us, the key elements of Baxter’s broad strategic transformation announced in January 2023 are now complete,” the company said. “Joe and the board determined that this was the right time for a new CEO to lead the company into our next chapter.”
2023: Baxter caps cash severance payouts for executives
Baxter Non-executive Chair and former Executive Chair and Interim CEO Brent Shafer received $3.8 million in total compensation for 2025.
Shafer’s compensation included a $701,644 salary, a $600,000 cash bonus in recognition of his service as executive chair and interim CEO, a $54,839 supplemental bonus for additional time spent as interim CEO beyond its original term, $2.4 million in stock awards and $52,695 in other compensation.
Former Baxter EVP and CFO Joel Grade [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Former Baxter EVP and CFO Joel Grade received $8.2 million in total compensation for 2025, up 26% from $6.5 million the year before.
Grade was EVP and CFO throughout 2025 before stepping down on March 16, 2026. He will stay at Baxter with an advisory role through April 30, 2026.
Grade’s 2025 compensation included a $827,825 salary, $5.8 million in stock awards, option awards of $1 million, a $459,000 cash performance bonus and $63,700 in other compensation.
Former Baxter EVP, Chief Operating Officer and Interim Medical Products & Therapies Group President Heather Knight [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Knight’s 2025 compensation at Baxter included $747,123 worth of salary, $4 million in stock awards, option awards of $1.3 million and $41,795 in other compensation.
At Baxter, Knight played a key role in the response to Hurricane Helene in 2024, leading recovery efforts at Baxter’s North Cove, North Carolina facility.
DeviceTalks Minnesota: Register to attend Heather Knight’s opening keynote at our event in Minneapolis on May 4.
Former Baxter EVP and Healthcare Systems & Technologies Group President Reazur Rasul [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Rasul’s compensation included a $800,000 salary, $3 million in stock awards, option awards of $931,507, a $488,000 cash performance bonus and $73,286 in other compensation.
The company says Rasul was no longer EVP and group president as of April 1, 2026 “in connection with his departure from the company.”
Baxter EVP and General Counsel David Rosenbloom [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Rosenbloom’s compensation included a $760,000 salary, $2 million in stock awards, option awards of $627,345, a $348,840 cash performance bonus and $68,943 in other compensation.
Former Baxter EVP and Pharmaceuticals Group President Alok Sonig received $5.2 million in compensation for 2025, down 1% from $5.3 the year before. Sonig left the company in December 2025.
Former Baxter EVP and Pharmaceuticals Group President Alok Sonig [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Baxter Infusion Therapies & Technologies (ITT) and Pharmaceuticals Group President Maria (Cecilia) Soriano received $2.7 million in total compensation for 2025.
Soriano was promoted to group president of ITT and Pharmaceuticals in December 2025. She previously served as president of ITT.
Baxter Infusion Therapies & Technologies (ITT) and Pharmaceuticals Group President Maria (Cecilia) Soriano [Photo courtesy of Baxter]
Baxter said in the filing that it designed its executive compensation program to “attract, motivate, reward and retain the executive talent required to help achieve our corporate and strategic objectives and increase stockholder value.”
Baxter median worker pay and CEO pay ratio
The SEC requires publicly traded companies to calculate the gap between CEO compensation and pay for its median employee.
Baxter calculated its median employee wage at $72,402, up 3% from $70,331 the year before.
Baxter annualized Hider’s base salary, annual incentive payout, the pro-rata portion of his annual equity award and Baxter’s 401(k) matching contributions for its pay ratio analysis. The annualization would make Hider’s total annual compensation $32.2 million.
The latest median employee pay figure put Baxter’s CEO pay at 445 times more than its median employee’s pay in 2025. That pay gap widened from 257:1 the year before.
Baxter selected a new median employee due to the sale of its Kidney Care business in 2025, which significantly changed its employee population, the company said. The median employee was identified only as a full-time worker based outside the U.S.
At other medtech companies that offer more details about their median workers than required by the SEC pay disclosure rules, those median medtech workers often hold technical roles such as device design or engineering.
Baxter shareholders will cast advisory “say-on-pay” votes on the company’s executive compensation practices at the May 5, 2026, annual meeting. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted in support of the company’s executive pay the year before.
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