Movers & shakers: Another Farrell to head ResMed

Mick Farrell, son of Dr Peter Farrell, will take over as CEO of ResMed while his father transitions to non-executive chairman.

It’s a family affair at ResMed, although the elevation of Mick Farrell to the CEO’s chair, currently warmed by his father Dr Peter Farrell, on 1 March was apparently vetted by the company’s board, the nominating and governance committee and an executive search consultancy.

On the same day, Rob Douglas will become the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer and Dr Jim Hollingshead has been named President, Americas.

Present CEO, chairman and founder Dr Peter Farrell will become executive chairman and will consult with Farrell Jr and Douglas through to the end of 2013 when he will transition to a non-executive chairman role.

“It was easily determined that members of the very talented and experienced team that have driven much of the company’s great success over the past decade would be best suited to lead the company to its next stages of growth and development,” said Dr Gary Pace, lead director of ResMed’s board and chairman of the board’s succession committee.

“Mick led the team in the Americas that grew sales over 30% during the seven quarters that he was president of that region.

“He also established a vision for the organisation that extended beyond driving revenue and market share to include a focus on the number of lives enhanced by ResMed products.

“Mick’s strengths and accomplishments leading sales, marketing, business development and commercial strategy teams equip him well to become ResMed’s next CEO.

“Rob’s expertise and excellent track record of increasing productivity and efficiencies of global operations, as well as success in growing sales, make him the ideal choice for COO and president. In addition, he was instrumental in creating our successful manufacturing presence in both Australia and Singapore.”

Peter Farrell also had kind words to share about Mick and Rob.

“I have little doubt that Mick and Rob will build on ResMed’s momentum as a global driving force in sleep and respiratory medicine, and as a leader in the medical device industry,” he said.

“Mick has been with us for more than 12 years; Rob for more than 11. This is a deeply experienced and accomplished duo to lead ResMed. They have also played an integral role in developing and preserving the unique culture established within ResMed which has proved to be an extremely important component of the success of the company.”

Michael ‘Mick’ Farrell joined ResMed in 2000 and became president, Americas in 2011, responsible for Americas sales and commercial operations. Previously, Mick was senior vice president, sleep strategic business unit from 2007 to 2011, where he led the global team that executed the design, development and launch of the S9 platform of flow generator products.

Before that, he held the positions of vice president, marketing for the Americas and vice president, business development.

Before joining ResMed, Mick worked in at Arthur D. Little, Genzyme Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company and BHP Billiton. Mick holds a bachelor of engineering, with first-class honours, from the University of New South Wales, a master of science in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

ResMed (ASX:RMD) dropped 1c to $4.21 in morning trading.