Amgen Appoints Former Medtronic CEO Omar Ishrak to Board

Amgen Inc. announced Thursday the appointment of S. Omar Ishrak, former chairman and chief executive of Medtronic, to its board effective immediately.Ishrak will serve as a member of the corporate responsibility and compliance committee and on the compensation and management development committee for the Thousand Oaks pharma giant.His appointment comes as an addition to the board, which will now be composed of 12 people.In addition to this previous role with Medtronic, Ishrak held three leadership positions in his 15-year career at GE Healthcare, including chief executive of GE Healthcare Systems. He is also currently the chairman of the board at Intel.“Omar is an accomplished business leader with deep experience in a fast-paced, technology-driven sector of the health care industry,” Robert Bradway, chief executive of Amgen, said in a statement. “I’m confident he will add great value to Amgen as we look to harness advances in science and technology and accelerate our pace of innovation to reach more patients.”Shares of Amgen (AMGN) fell 92 cents to $241.54 on the Nasdaq Friday, a day when the Nasdaq was down a fraction of a precent.