New CFO Receives Billion-Dollar Compensation Package.. Aiming to Secure Talent in 'Heart Disease Device Leader'

Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE: EW) has offered its newly appointed Chief Financial Officer, Theodora Mistras, an extraordinary compensation package that includes an annual base salary of approximately $925,000, performance-based incentives equal to 100% of her salary, a cash signing bonus of about $2.01 million, roughly $8 million in new restricted stock units (RSUs), and around $4.5 million in periodic equity awards scheduled for 2026.

The package also features extensive protections—including relocation assistance from New York to Orange County, California; enhanced cash severance multiples and accelerated equity vesting in the event of termination or a change in control—and specifies “at-will” employment, subject to conditions such as drug testing, background checks, and valid work authorization.

In its April 23 SEC filing, Edwards reported first-quarter net sales of $1.65 billion, up 16.7% year-over-year, driven by double-digit growth in its Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies (TMTT) businesses. The company raised its full-year sales and TAVR growth guidance, completed a $500 million share repurchase, and ended the quarter with approximately $2.4 billion in cash and marketable securities and $600 million in debt.

On May 11–12, performance-linked RSUs worth several million dollars vested for CEO Bernard Jobigian, increasing his equity stake. Even after tax withholdings and pre-planned sales under a 10b5-1 trading plan, he continues to hold a substantial direct and indirect ownership position.

In its April earnings release, Edwards noted that first-quarter TAVR revenue achieved double-digit growth and that global market share improved slightly—partly due to a European competitor’s exit—and reconfirmed its structural growth outlook by projecting TMTT revenue of $740 million to $780 million in 2026.

Earlier, in its February report on fiscal fourth-quarter 2025 results, the company delivered double-digit revenue growth across its structural heart device portfolio and raised its 2026 outlook, emphasizing a medium- to long-term growth story supported by an aging population and expanded patient access.

Headquartered in Irvine, California, Edwards Lifesciences is a leading cardiovascular medical device company specializing in artificial heart valves and transcatheter therapies for structural heart disease, as well as surgical and critical-care hemodynamic monitoring equipment.

With the global population aging and valvular heart disease prevalence rising—and as catheter-based procedures increasingly replace open-heart surgery—the structural heart device market, particularly TAVR and TMTT, is emerging as a key growth driver in the medical device industry.