BD Chair, CEO and President Tom Polen [Photo courtesy of BD]
The Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based device manufacturer is the 10th-largest medical device company in the world according to Medical Design & Outsourcing’s 2025 Medtech Big 100 ranking by revenue. Since then, BD increased its annual sales by 8% to $21.8 billion for its latest fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2025.
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.
BD executive pay
BD Chair, CEO and President Tom Polen’s total compensation for 2025 was just over $17.1 million, a 1% decrease from the previous year.
Polen’s pay package included a $1.4 million salary, $10 million in stock awards, $3.3 million in stock appreciation rights and a $1.9 million cash performance bonus, and a $236,700 change in pension value.
Polen also received $341,251 in other compensation, including $216,507 for personal use of corporate aircraft and other travel expenses. BD said it encourages Polen to use corporate aircraft “for both personal and business travel to make more efficient use of his travel time, for personal security and to reduce business continuity risk.”
He has a $225,000 annual allowance for aggregate incremental cost to the company for personal aircraft use, and reimburses the company for amounts above that, the company said. Polen also has a company car and driver for personal security and to reduce business continuity risk.
Former BD EVP and CFO Christopher DelOrefice [Photo courtesy of BD]
DelOrefice’s pay package included a $837,500 salary, $3.1 million in stock awards, $1 million in stock appreciation rights, a $722,500 cash performance bonus and $135,767 in other compensation, including a company car and driver for the same reasons as Polen and $13,761 for corporate aircraft flights and other travel expenses between his home and BD headquarters.
BD EVP, Chief Revenue Officer and Life Sciences President Michael Feld received total compensation of $4.1 million in 2025. His prior-year compensation was not disclosed, though the company said his salary did not change. Feld joined BD and 2024 (receiving sign-on bonuses worth $2 million) and moved into the C-suite with his promotion to CRO in October 2025.
BD EVP, Chief Revenue Officer and Life Sciences President Michael Feld [Photo courtesy of BD]
BD EVP and Medical Essentials and BioPharma Systems President Dr. Michael Garrison received $3.7 million in total compensation for 2025, up 1% from 2024.
Garrison’s pay package included $1.6 million in stock awards, $544,118 in stock appreciation rights, a $533,588 cash performance bonus, a $102,800 change in pension value and $58,188 in other compensation.
BD EVP and Interventional President Richard Byrd [Photo courtesy of BD]
Byrd’s pay package included a $756,250 salary, $1.4 million in stock awards, $473,139 in stock appreciation rights, a $592,875 cash performance bonus, a $91,833 change in pension value and $57,429 in other compensation.
“Our goal is to provide an executive compensation program that best serves the long-term interests of our shareholders,” BD said in the filing. “We believe that attracting and retaining superior talent and rewarding performance is key to delivering long-term shareholder returns, and that a competitive compensation program is critical to that end.”
BD’s median worker pay and CEO pay ratio
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies to calculate the gap between CEO compensation and pay for its median employee.
BD said its median annual total compensation of all employees other than Polen came in at $45,831, up 5% from $43,763 the year before.
The company calculated that the ratio of the annual total compensation of Polen to the remainder of its worldwide employees was 374 to 1. That ratio narrowed from 396:1 the year before.
BD did not describe its median employee by location or job title. 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.
BD investors overwhelmingly voted in support of the company’s executive pay practices at the Jan. 27, 2026 annual meeting.
More medtech compensation analysis for CEOs, top-paid executives and median workers
- Johnson & Johnson discloses executive pay, denies them a talc fight ‘windfall’
- Boston Scientific CEO pay rises again along with median employee pay
- Intuitive discloses CEO pay with new leader at the helm
- Medtronic discloses pay for Diabetes leaders ahead of MiniMed IPO
- Medline discloses executive pay and potential severance payouts ahead of IPO
- Medtronic reports double-digit pay hikes for CEO Geoff Martha and other top executives
- Philips CEO pay dropped in 2024 as Respironics recall fallout continued
- Siemens Healthineers reports higher pay for some executives, lower pay for others
- Henry Schein discloses pay hikes for top leaders
- Owens & Minor executive pay disclosure includes severance for C-suite ouster
- Alcon makes its case on executive pay after last year’s lack of investor support
- GE HealthCare executive compensation plunges after one-time spinoff awards
- Zimmer Biomet discloses pay packages for top executives and its median employee
- Edwards Lifesciences reports $14.6M in pay for CEO’s first full year; median employee pay jumps
- Baxter CEO pay surged before his departure — along with the median employee’s wage
- Stryker increases pay for top execs, reports slightly lower wage for median employee
- Solventum paid CEO Bryan Hanson $40M in spinoff’s first year
- Intuitive Surgical discloses pay for execs and median workers while urging votes against shareholder proposals
- Boston Scientific CEO pay breaks $20 million for the first time since Ray Elliott
- Abbott’s device leader got a big pay bump as sales surged
- Cardinal Health CEO pay climbs to $25M; Median worker pay dropped
- Johnson & Johnson discloses executive pay and new security measures
- Medtronic CEO pay jumps 30%, employment and median worker pay drop
- No bonuses for Penumbra execs despite growing sales 25% to $1B
- Integer discloses executive pay, including separation payments for ex-EVPs
- Outset Medical investors target executive pay after recalls and warning letter
- BD limits executive severance after ‘golden parachute’ shareholder proposal overcomes board opposition
