About Robert Ford

Robert Ford is President and Chief Executive Officer of Abbott, a global healthcare company with a leading portfolio of products and technologies in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals.

Before being named to this role in 2020, Robert served as the company’s president and Chief Operating Officer since 2018. Previously he served as Executive Vice President of Abbott’s Medical Devices business, overseeing the successful integration of St. Jude Medical. Since joining the company in 1996, he’s held management positions across several of Abbott’s businesses, including Diagnostics, Nutrition, and Medical Devices.

Discovering, developing and bringing to market life-changing technologies is what drives Robert’s ambitions. He believes that medical innovations must be broadly available and affordable so they can do the most good for the greatest number of people possible. He and the company are focused squarely on helping people who are dealing with some of the most serious health conditions live their best and fullest lives through new and better technologies.

Robert earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a master’s in business administration from UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Robert loves playing guitar, cooking and spending time with his family.