Boston Sci names new cardiac boss

For Fred Colen, the news coming out of Boston Scientific Corp. Tuesday was a bit emotional.

The Natick, Mass.-based medical technology company announced that it was promoting Colen, 55, to head its long-suffering cardiac rhythm business in Arden Hills. As a young engineer fresh out of school, Colen's first job was with Guidant's predecessor company, Cardiac Pacemakers Inc. (CPI), more than two decades ago.

"It's humbling to be able to say I started in this organization as an engineer and worked my way up through the ranks," Colen said Tuesday.

Colen also worked at St. Jude Medical Inc. at a time when the Little Canada company was diversifying its signature heart-valve business. In 1999, he joined SciMed (later bought by Boston Scientific) as vice president of research and development and he's been promoted to a number of positions within the company since then. The title on his new business card will read: President, Cardiac Rhythm Management group.

When Boston Scientific's president and CEO Jim Tobin needed someone to take over the former Guidant operation, he said the choice was an easy one.

"Fred has been involved in the cardiac rhythm business for 20 years of his career, so he was the logical candidate," Tobin said Tuesday.

Tobin was the architect behind Boston Scientific's $27 billion purchase of Guidant in 2006. The $2.2 billion business, which makes heart defibrillators and pacemakers, employs about 3,000 in the Twin Cities. But it has been racked by a series of safety-related recalls and a now-resolved warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration which prevented the division from introducing new products for about a year.

"We spent one year getting to the bottom of the issues that had caused the problems in the first place," Tobin said. "Then we spent a second year executing the pipeline [of new products] and making sure that things were ready for prime time."

Along the way, the division has laid off several hundred employees -- but it also plans to launch 10 new product families this year. Colen said he's excited about the division's impending "comeback."

Boston Scientific also announced Tuesday that Tobin, 63, will remain CEO for the "foreseeable future" -- a term he says will last "as long as they want me." Also, Chief Operating Officer Paul LaViolette, 50, will be retiring after nearly 15 years with the company.

Tobin's 2007 compensation was $2 million, while LaViolette was paid $3.2 million in salary, bonus, stock options and awards, and Colen was paid $1.2 million in salary, bonus and stock awards.

"I think there was some angst about [Tobin] leaving, since he was viewed as a key guy to turn the ship around," said Timothy Nelson, an analyst with FAF Advisors.