Henry Schein Executive Exodus Widens Beyond CEO Succession
Henry Schein said its chief operating officer and two other senior executives will step down October 30, 2026, extending a leadership overhaul that began with Chairman Stanley Bergman's board retirement.
Henry Schein (HSIC) said Chief Operating Officer Michael Ettinger, Chief Strategy Officer Mark Mlotek and Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Jim Mullins will leave their current roles effective October 30, 2026, moving into Senior Advisor positions as the dental and medical products distributor replaces its Executive Management Committee with a newly formed Henry Schein Leadership Team. The company also said it will fold its global supply chain organization into its global distribution group. The July 30 release carried no financial results, a break from the standard quarterly earnings format the company has used in each of the prior four periods.
The departures extend a leadership transition that had already reached the top of the company. Bergman retired from the board after 44 years in the May 22, 2026 release accompanying first-quarter results, when the company elected William 'Dan' Daniel as independent Chairman. The exit of three additional senior executives two months later points to a turnover wave that runs deeper than the chairman and chief executive succession already disclosed.
The management change lands against a backdrop of slowing growth. Reported net sales rose 7.7% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2025, the fastest pace in 15 quarters, before decelerating to 6.3% in the first quarter of 2026. Internal sales growth, which strips out currency and acquisitions, fell more sharply, to 2.5% in the first quarter from 4.9% in the fourth quarter, with foreign exchange contributing 3.1 points of the headline first-quarter figure. A larger share of reported growth was coming from currency rather than underlying demand.
Segment performance showed a similar pattern of moderation. Global Technology remained the strongest-growing unit for three straight quarters, though its pace eased to 7.0% in the first quarter of 2026 from 9.7% in the third quarter of 2025. Global Specialty Products swung from 5.9% growth to 14.6% and back to 8.1% over the same stretch, aided in the fourth quarter by implant and endodontics sales. Global Medical Distribution slowed each quarter, to 1.7% growth in the first quarter of 2026 from 4.7% a year earlier, making it the weakest of the reported segments.
Profitability metrics told a comparable story. Non-GAAP diluted EPS rose 14.8% year over year to $1.32 in the first quarter of 2026, yet that figure was down from $1.34 in the fourth quarter of 2025 even as the year-over-year comparison improved. Adjusted EBITDA followed the same shape, climbing roughly 10% to 12% year over year in each of the last three quarters while slipping in sequential dollar terms, to $289 million in the first quarter of 2026 from $295 million in the third quarter of 2025. Full-year 2025 non-GAAP EPS finished flat at $4.97 despite a mid-year guidance raise to $4.88–$4.96 in the third quarter.
The company entered 2026 guiding to non-GAAP diluted EPS of $5.23 to $5.37 on total sales growth of 3% to 5%, a range it reaffirmed without change alongside first-quarter results in May. The July 30 leadership announcement made no reference to that guidance or to the company's value-creation initiative, which targets more than $200 million of operating income improvement with a $125 million run rate by the end of 2026.
Henry Schein gave no updated financial figures alongside the executive departures, leaving the next test of whether the leadership reset coincides with a change in the growth trajectory to its next earnings report.