Name: Brian Blaser
New title: CEO, QuidelOrtho
Previous title: Executive vice president, diagnostic products, Abbott
QuidelOrtho has appointed Brian Blaser as CEO, the company said Thursday. Blaser is coming out of retirement to take charge of QuidelOrtho about two months after the in vitro diagnostics company fired longtime CEO Doug Bryant.
Bryant led Quidel, renamed QuidelOrtho after its $6 billion acquisition of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in 2022, for nearly 15 years. The board ousted the executive in February in the wake of what an analyst called a “guidance debacle.” Under interim CEO Michael Iskra, QuidelOrtho began laying off less than 10% of its workforce and withdrew a 510(k) filing for a respiratory test.
QuidelOrtho has identified Blaser as the person to help the company recover after a year in which its share price has fallen more than 50%. Blaser spent time at Eastman Kodak and Johnson & Johnson before joining Abbott.
When Blaser takes over as CEO Monday, he will inherit a company that is focused on improving margins by cutting costs and making faster decisions under the interim leadership of Michael Iskra. Speaking at a Raymond James investor conference in March, Iskra said “we’ve got find a way to change our cost basis in a few areas” and discussed how he was making his mark.
“What I’d say, if anything, that might be a little bit different is a heavy emphasis on prioritization, making sure that we have the right focus and disciplined approach on execution and making hard choices, but making them fast,” Iskra said.
The interim CEO cited the acceleration of layoffs as an example of the revised approach.
Kenneth Buechler, chairman of the board at QuidelOrtho, highlighted Blaser’s “proven track record of executing transformational strategies to streamline operations” in a statement. Over the course of 15 years at Abbott, Blaser held multiple positions in the diagnostics division. QuidelOrtho said Blaser had full responsibility for Abbott’s global diagnostics business for seven years.
Blaser retired from Abbott but has remained involved with the medtech industry, becoming an executive adviser at Water Street Healthcare Partners, chairing the audit committee at Rockley Photonics and joining the board of Quanterix.