AbbVie president and COO to move into corner office

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) recently announced that its board of directors has decided to promote the company’s president and COO Robert A. Michael into the corner office.

Michael will succeed Richard A. Gonzalez, who is retiring as CEO on July 1. Gonzalez will stay as executive chair of AbbVie’s board.

“On behalf of AbbVie’s board, I am extremely excited that Rob has agreed to serve as AbbVie’s next CEO,” Gonzalez said in a Feb. 20 news release.

“As a key member of the executive leadership team, he has had a tremendous impact on AbbVie. From establishing our financial planning organization, to the development of our diversified business strategy, to successfully navigating the end of exclusivity for Humira in the U.S., Rob has been integral to AbbVie’s impact since inception. Rob has also played an important role in key business development opportunities that have been critical to delivering on our long-term growth strategy, including the acquisitions of Allergan and ImmunoGen and the pending Cerevel Therapeutics transaction. I have known and worked with Rob for many years, and he has the experience, leadership capabilities and strategic vision to accelerate AbbVie’s success well into the future.”

Gonzalez added that AbbVie’s strong business performance means that it’s an opportune time for leadership transition. “Our pipeline contains multiple promising candidates to sustain our future strong growth. It has been a privilege and immensely gratifying to serve with all my AbbVie colleagues for the past 11 years growing AbbVie into what it is today, and I look forward to continuing to work with Rob as executive chairman of the board.”

Michael has a 31-year career serving in leadership roles in multiple businesses, including pharmaceuticals, aesthetics, diagnostics, diabetes care and nutrition. Starting out at Abbott, he was Abbvie’s VP of financial planning and analysis upon its spinout from Abbott in 2013. He continued to move into increasingly important roles at the company. The company appointed him CFO in 2018, vice chairman, finance and commercial operations in 2021, vice chairman and president in 2022, and president and COO in 2023.

Said Michael: “I would like to thank the board for expressing its confidence in me, and I look forward to working with Rick and the entire board to deliver results for our patients, our employees, our shareholders and our communities.”