Karen Roscher Joins Welch Allyn as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Manufacturing and high tech industry veteran brings nearly 30 years of experience; merger and acquisition and financial planning expertise to the company

SKANEATELES FALLS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Welch Allyn, a leading global manufacturer of frontline medical products and solutions, today announced that Karen Roscher has been named the company’s new senior vice president and chief financial officer. In this capacity, Roscher will be responsible for leading the company’s global finance team, overseeing all financial appropriations and expenditures, aligning finance and business strategies, and assisting with the design and execution of a long-term growth strategy for the company. Roscher succeeds Kevin Cahill, who retired in February after more than 20 years of service at Welch Allyn.

“Karen’s merger and acquisition and international financial planning experiences in the manufacturing and high tech industries will be a great benefit to us, particularly given the challenging economic environment”

“Karen’s merger and acquisition and international financial planning experiences in the manufacturing and high tech industries will be a great benefit to us, particularly given the challenging economic environment,” said Julie Shimer, president and CEO at Welch Allyn. “Her equally extensive tax, financial planning and analysis, accounting and operations management expertise are very relevant to helping us execute against our strategic plan. We are very excited to have someone of her caliber join the Welch Allyn family.”

In addition to leading the Welch Allyn worldwide financial organization, Roscher will work on analyzing and disseminating financial data, as well as monitoring a number of other global financial initiatives. She will develop capital investment plans and work closely with the board of directors—including fourth generation family leadership—in order to drive the Welch Allyn financial vision as a highly successful and profitable, global medical technology business.

Roscher most recently served as senior vice president and CFO of Conexant Systems, a $500 million, publicly-traded semiconductor company specializing in broadband communications. Her prior experience includes 26 years in a variety of senior financial management positions with Motorola, Inc. and Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. At Freescale she served as vice president of corporate financial planning and analysis, helping the company become private in a $17.6 billion deal with a Blackstone-led consortium of private equity firms, which at time of close was the largest leveraged buyout ever done in the technology sector.

At Motorola, she served as vice president and financial planning and analysis director for the semiconductor products sector where she successfully achieved a $1.6 billion initial public offering for Freescale. Prior to that, Roscher was the division CFO of Motorola’s $1.5 billion Networking and Computer Systems Group.

Roscher earned both her bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business administration, from Arizona State University. She is also a certified public accountant and will be relocating with her family from Irvine, CA to the Welch Allyn global headquarters in Skaneateles Falls, NY.

About Welch Allyn

Founded in 1915 and headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, NY (USA), Welch Allyn is a leading global manufacturer of medical diagnostic equipment and a complete range of digital and connected solutions. With over 2,500 employees working in 20 different countries, Welch Allyn specializes in helping doctors, nurses, and other frontline practitioners across the globe provide the best patient care by developing innovative products, breakthrough technologies, and cutting-edge solutions that help them see more patients, detect more conditions, and improve more lives. More information about Welch Allyn and its complete line of connected products and solutions may be found at www.welchallyn.com.