Medtronic CEO and Chair Geoff Martha [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
That’s according to a new executive pay disclosure from the world’s largest medical device company. Medtronic also offered a precise employment count for the first time since 2022, following years of widespread layoffs and other measures to reduce payroll costs such as the voluntary early retirement program in 2023.
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.
2023 analysis: How does medtech CEO pay stack up to the rank and file?
Medtronic executive pay
Former EVP and Medical Surgical President Bob White was Medtronic’s second-highest-paid executive in fiscal 2024. [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
He also received other compensation of $305,496, including $182,870 worth of personal use of corporate aircraft and a $40,000 business allowance. (All other executives received a $24,000 business allowance.)
Martha’s total compensation increased 30% from his $15.4 million package in fiscal 2023.
Medtronic’s second-highest paid executive was former EVP and Medical Surgical President Bob White, who left the company at the end of fiscal 2024. White received $9.31 million in total compensation, including $794,539 in salary, stock awards of $3.2 million, option awards of $1.2 million and a MIP cash bonus of $794,539. He also received other compensation of $3.3 million, which was primarily severance pay for his termination without cause.
White’s total compensation increased 85% from the $5 million he received in fiscal 2023.
Former Medtronic CFO Karen Parkhill is now the CFO at HP. [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
Parkhill’s total compensation increased 30% from the $6.1 million she received in fiscal 2023.
Medtronic EVP of Global Operations and Supply Chain Gregory Smith received $7.7 million in total compensation for fiscal 2024, including a $872,100 salary, stock awards of $4.7 million, option awards of $1.2 million, a MIP cash bonus $820,537, and other compensation worth $65,018.
Medtronic EVP of Global Operations and Supply Chain Greg Smith [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
Previously: Supply Chain EVP Greg Smith sees fewer suppliers in Medtronic’s future
Medtronic EVP and Cardiovascular President Sean Salmon received $6.6 million in total compensation during fiscal 2024, including a $867,000 salary, stock awards of $3.4 million, option awards of $1.3 million, a $774,952 MIP cash bonus, a $185,359 change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings, and other compensation of $39,684.
Medtronic EVP and Cardiovascular President Sean Salmon [Image courtesy of Medtronic]
Medtronic EVP and Neuroscience President Brett Wall received $6.4 million in total compensation for fiscal 2024, including a $749,358 salary, stock awards of $3.4 million, option awards of $1.3 million, a $670,610 MIP cash bonus, and other compensation of $334,272.
Medtronic did not disclose Wall’s compensation for previous years.
Medtronic EVP and Neuroscience President Brett Wall [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]
“The Company’s compensation programs align the interests of all our executives, including (named executive officers, those for which compensation details are disclosed), with those of shareholders as well as employees. Medtronic’s programs are market-competitive to ensure we attract, retain, and engage highly talented executives,” Medtronic said in an overview of its compensation practices.
“The company’s multi-year comprehensive transformation is taking hold and appearing in its financial results,” Medtronic later continued. “… The company delivered on its commitment of restoring durable revenue growth, delivering mid-single digit organic revenue growth each quarter in FY24. Medtronic advanced its product and clinical evidence pipeline, receiving approximately 130 regulatory approvals in key geographies, including the U.S., EU, Japan, and China. These approvals are expected to contribute to the company’s durable, mid-single digit organic revenue growth over the long-term.”
Medtronic employee count drops
Medtronic — which quantified its global workforce as “95,000+” in recent annual reports — now says it had 100,716 employees as of Feb. 1, 2024. That was 1,151 employees (1%) fewer than the same date in 2022, when the company offered its last precise employee count.
That latest count doesn’t include every employee cut in Medtronic’s 2024 layoffs, which we first reported in May at MassDevice.
Medtronic ranked No. 1 for total revenue, employee count and R&D spending in our 2023 Medtech Big 100 report, but has lost the top spot in at least one of those areas in our 2024 ranking coming out soon.
Medtronic’s employee count does not include leased employees or independent contractors, but does include all employees at companies acquired during fiscal 2024 (ended April 26, 2024) and employees outside the U.S.
The share of Medtronic employees in the U.S. increased from 43% in February 2022 to 44% in February 2024.
January 2024: Medtronic cuts suppliers and manufacturing sites, CEO says in supply chain and operations update
Medtronic pay for the median worker and CEO pay ratio
Pay for Medtronic’s median worker dropped 1% to $67,769 in fiscal 2024. Medtronic is required to provide this figure and calculate its CEO pay ratio (a comparison of the CEO’s total compensation to that of the median worker) under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules.
Medtronic’s CEO pay ratio increased to 296:1 in fiscal 2024, meaning Martha’s pay is 296 times more than the median worker’s pay. That was a wider gap than Medtronic’s 230:1 CEO pay ratio the year before and 215:1 pay ratio in fiscal 2022.
Medtronic 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.
Medtronic’s 2024 annual meeting
Medtronic will hold its annual meeting in Galway, Ireland on Oct. 17. The company held the meeting in Dublin last October, moving the annual shareholder event from December for the first time since its HQ relocation to Ireland.
Investors will vote on Medtronic’s board of directors, executive compensation practices and proposals from shareholders. At last year’s meeting, shareholders overwhelmingly approved Medtronic’s executive compensation packages in an advisory “Say-on-Pay” vote.
More medtech compensation analysis for CEOs, top-paid executives and median workers
- Boston Scientific’s median worker pay plunges in latest executive compensation disclosure
- Stryker pay climbs for top execs and median worker as sales break $20B mark
- 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
- Intuitive pay increases for executives, drops for median worker — but its top-paid employee wasn’t the CEO
- Pay drops for Medtronic CEO and the median employee; bonus plan changes
- BD limits executive severance after ‘golden parachute’ shareholder proposal overcomes board opposition
- Zimmer Biomet changes executive pay plans after shareholder vote
![A photo of the Medtronic GI Genius ColonPro polyp detection system flagging a potential sign of colon cancer during a colonoscopy. [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]](https://www.medicaldesignandoutsourcing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Medtronic-GI-Genius-doctors-150x150.jpg)
