Dive Brief:
- Henry Schein is reorganizing its leadership structure in a bid to simplify its business and improve execution on its goals. The dental and medical products provider is creating a new leadership team to replace its executive management committee. It will also integrate its global supply chain and distribution organizations to help speed decision-making.
- As part of the changes, Chief Operating Officer Michael Ettinger, Chief Strategy Officer Mark Mlotek and James Mullins, senior vice president of global supply chain, will step down from their posts effective Oct. 30, Henry Schein said last week. The three longtime executives will remain senior advisers to the company.
- The reorganization, under new CEO Fred Lowery, comes after Henry Schein’s board late last year gave private equity firm KKR the right to increase its stake in the company to up to 19.9%. KKR gained an approximately 12% stake in Henry Schein in May 2025.
Dive Insight:
Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson said the new executive-level reorganization represents the most significant change at the company since Lowery took over as CEO earlier this year.
“We see Fred’s creation of a new [leadership team] as a signal that he is not bound by traditional ways of doing business at Henry Schein and will make large changes if necessary to help the company thrive on a go-forward basis,” Anderson wrote in a note to clients.
Melville, New York-based Henry Schein is a leading supplier of healthcare products to dental and medical offices, with over $13 billion in annual sales. When the company agreed to allow KKR to expand its ownership stake, it expected to improve its operating income by over $200 million over the next few years. Lowery joined Henry Schein as CEO in March from Thermo Fisher Scientific, where he was president of laboratory products and bioproduction.
He succeeded Stanley Bergman, whose tenure as Henry Schein CEO spanned 35 years. In May, Bergman also retired as chairman, and the board elected William “Dan” Daniel, an executive adviser to KKR, to fill that role.
Daniel, a former Danaher executive, joined the Henry Schein board in May 2025 in connection with KKR’s $250 million investment. Max Lin, a KKR partner, also gained a board seat.
Henry Schein is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
