Stryker names new leader

Stryker ($SYK) has a new CEO, 7 months after Stephen MacMillan resigned under a cloud of rumors that he may have been forced out for dating an ex-employee.

The Michigan device maker said Kevin Lobo is now both the company's president and CEO. He moves up the ranks fairly quickly, most recently having served as president of Stryker Orthopedics, according to mLive.com. Before that, he ran Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Medical Products division in Canada and was also head of Ethicon Endosurgery, according to the story.

After MacMillan's departure, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Curt Hartman became interim CEO. He will be leaving the company, but in the short term remain as an adviser until Stryker can hire a new CFO, according to the story.

The company has had some setbacks recently, having had to issue a new failure warning and subsequent recall for some of its all-metal hips. Stryker and its competitors are facing thousands of lawsuits over safety concerns stemming from metal-on-metal hip implants. Recently, Stryker announced a global recall of a chest fluid pump device that caused a patient death.

Stryker has also started layoffs in response to the pending 2.3% device tax that becomes effective in January, as part of the national health reform law.

- read the mLIve.com story
- here's Reuters' brief coverage
- more from MarketWatch