BD Life Sciences President Dave Hickey plans to retire on July 1, the company said Tuesday. BD is yet to name Hickey’s replacement but plans to have a successor in place before the executive retires.
Hickey joined BD as general manager of microbiology in 2014 and was promoted to president of diagnostic systems two years later. After another promotion in 2019, Hickey took up his current post at the company in 2021.
He is currently responsible for BD’s biosciences and integrated diagnostic solutions units, which respectively sell products such as flow cytometry devices and equipment used in the collection, transport and testing of specimens. BD’s life sciences segment contracted by almost 8% in the company’s 2023 financial year, driven by a more than 13% drop in reported sales at the diagnostic unit.
The segment’s sales declined again in the first quarter of BD’s 2024 financial year, sliding 1% on a reported basis, as growth in microbiology platforms and molecular in vitro diagnostic assays failed to offset falling revenues in other parts of the segment.
“China and respiratory were the primary drivers of Q1 revenue growth under indexing our full year goal,” BD CFO Christopher DelOrefice said on an earnings call with investors in early February. “The respiratory season alone impacted total company growth by about 150 basis points.”
BD is yet to say who will take responsibility for growing the life sciences segment after Hickey retires. Last time, the company promoted from within, handing Hickey the title when Patrick Kaltenbach stepped up to replace the retiring John DeFord as chief technology officer. BD hired Brooke Story to replace Hickey as president of integrated diagnostic solutions in 2021 but moved her to president of the surgery business last year.