GE HealthCare's Finance Chief Steps Down as Results Turn Up

What pulls a finance chief away from a company the week it beats its own forecast? GE HealthCare's Jay Saccaro is not saying, at least not yet.

The medical-technology group announced on 23 July that Jay, its Chief Financial Officer, will step down on 14 August to pursue an opportunity outside the industry, a role it has not named. On the same day, it told investors its second quarter had come in ahead of plan.

"It has been a privilege to serve as GE HealthCare's CFO and lead its outstanding finance organisation," says Jay, who informed the company of his decision on 21 July.

"I want to thank Peter, the Board, and my colleagues for their partnership over the past three years and I wish the company continued success."

A beat on the way out

The timing is striking. GE HealthCare expects second-quarter revenue to rise 5.7% on a year earlier, or 3.5% organically, with both diluted and adjusted earnings landing above its own guidance, and it reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

That is a turn from the spring, when the company cut its profit forecast at the first quarter, blaming stubborn inflation in memory-chip, oil and freight costs and tariff pressure tied to conflict in the Middle East.

"We are pleased with the momentum in our business, reflecting strong orders, healthy end market demand, traction with new products, and continued commercial execution," says Peter Arduini, President and CEO of GE HealthCare, who thanks Jay for "driving financial discipline and strategic investments" over three years.

An interim from within

Into the seat, for now, steps George Newcomb, the company's controller and chief accounting officer, named interim CFO from 14 August while the board hunts for a permanent successor.

George is a known quantity, with more than three decades in finance, controller of GE's healthcare arm since 2016 and its chief accounting officer since the 2023 spin-off from General Electric, after two decades at GE Capital before that.

The CFO he is stepping in for brings a similarly long track record. Jay arrived from Baxter in 2023, where he had spent eight years as CFO, and before that ran finance at Hillrom, having first joined Baxter in 2002.

His next move takes him beyond medtech entirely, rather than to a sector rival, a mark of how readily a seasoned finance leader's skills travel across industries.

A sector-wide reshuffle

He is not the only healthcare finance chief on the move. The sector is working through a reshuffle at the top of its finance functions, with Pfizer naming an interim chief in June as Dave Denton departs, and Baxter, Jay's old employer, installing an interim CFO in March after Joel Grade left.

For GE HealthCare, the task is now twofold, to find a permanent CFO and to build on a second quarter that arrived just as its architect prepares to move on.