Covidien said Wednesday president and CEO Richard J. Meelia will step down July 1, to be replaced by medical device division boss Jose "Joe" Almeida.
Meelia, 62, will then serve a non-executive role as chairman of the board for nearly a year after his retirement, the company said in a press release.
Meelia took the reins of Covidien, then called Tyco Healthcare, in June 2007 after it was spun off from parent company Tyco International.
Almeida, 48, joined the company in 1995 and was appointed head of the device division 11 years later. His business accounts for nearly two-thirds of Covidien's total yearly sales and three-quarters of its operating profit, according to the company.
Last year, Covidien posted revenues of around $10.4 billion. Its U.S. headquarters is in Mansfield, Mass.
