F. Michael Ball, president of Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc., is the new chief executive of Hospira Inc.
Ball, 55, will start his new job at the end of March. He will succeed Chris Begley, the Lake Forest, Ill.-based drug and device maker’s founding chief executive, who moves to an executive chairman role.
Allergan said that Chief Executive David Pyott will resume the president’s role, which he vacated in 2006 when Ball was elevated to that job.
Hospira makes injectable drugs and devices that deliver drugs. It was created in 2004 in a spinoff from Abbott Laboratories, a Chicago diversified drug and medical device maker.
Hospira is also the longtime core customer of San Clemente medical device maker ICU Medical Inc.
Ball, who is Canadian, came to Allergan in 1995. He held several roles at the company, including executive vice president and president, pharmaceuticals, before assuming the president’s job.
His resume also includes 12 years at Syntex Corp., which is now part of Switzerland’s Roche Holdings Ltd.
In an earlier interview, Ball discussed life as part of Allergan’s executive committee under Pyott, as well as Allergan’s philosophy of agility in decision making.
“If we’re not agile, we will meet a bad fate,” Ball said.
