During Omar Ishrak's nearly nine years as Medtronic CEO, he has been tasked with growing revenue in emerging markets, navigating value-based care and stabilizing the company's spine business, MedCity News reports.
When Mr. Ishrak took over in mid-2011, Medtronic's stock price was about $38. Today, it's around $118.
With his time at the company's helm coming to an end April 26, when he'll hand the reins to Geoff Martha and transition to an executive chairman role, Mr. Ishrak reflected on his legacy at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
Mr. Ishrak's biggest regret is not paying closer attention to free cash flow sooner than he did, he said in response to a MedCity News reporter's question.
"We got too focused on the adjusted EPS number and the fact that the free cash flow is just there and everything is open in terms of currency and one-time events and all of that," he said. "We could have done better if we just paid more attention. And we've seen how quickly we moved the needle on that by getting everyone engaged. We could have done that two years before that or three years before that."
Click here to read more takeaways from the conference.
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