Baxter International Inc.

listen-only mode until the question and answer segment of today's call. At that time, if you have a question, you will need to press the star one on your touchstone phone. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star then zero on your touchstone phone. As a reminder, this call is being recorded by Baxter and is copyrighted material. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without Baxter's permission. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Claire Trackman. Senior Vice President, Chief Investor Relations Officer at Baxter International. Ms. Trachman, you may begin.

Good morning and welcome to our fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Brent Schaefer, Baxter's Chair and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Joel Graade, Baxter's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Heather Knight, Baxter's newly appointed Chief Operating Officer. On the call this morning, we will be discussing Baxter's fourth quarter and full year 2024 results, along with our financial outlook for the first quarter and full year 2025. With that, let me start our prepared remarks by reminding everyone that this presentation, including comments regarding our financial outlook for the first quarter and full year of 2025, the anticipated impact of our strategic actions, the potential impact of various regulatory and operational matters, and the macroeconomic environment on our results of operations, contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. And of course, our actual results could differ materially from our current expectations. Please refer to today's press release and our SEC filings for more details concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. In addition, on today's call, non-GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand factors ongoing business performance. A reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures being discussed today to the comparable GAAP financial measures is included in the accompanying investor presentation and available in our earnings release issued this morning, which are both available on our website. As a reminder, continuing operations excludes Baxter's kidney care business and Baxter's former biopharma solutions business, which are both reported as discontinued operations. During the Q&A session this morning, Brent, Heather, Joel, and I will be available to address questions. Questions on our results and outlooks will be addressed by me and Joel. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Brent. Brent?

Thank you, Claire, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you joining us. As you know, I recently stepped into the role of chair and interim CEO at Baxter. Joel Lameda led the business through a period of significant evolution over his nine-year tenure. and we're sincerely grateful for his dedication to the company. One of the board's top priorities, of course, is the identification of a permanent CEO. The board is actively engaged in the search process with the support of the leading firm, evaluating both internal and external candidates. We're moving expeditiously, but most importantly, we're taking a rigorous approach to ensure we identify the right candidate to lead Baxter into the future. During the transition period, I'm committed to helping ensure we remain focused on a crisp execution of our priorities and delivering strong, consistent results. I'm pleased to be working with the entire leadership team on these shared goals. We're continuing to move the company forward into a new era, and as recently announced, we closed the sale of Vantiv on January 31, 2025. This significant milestone was the final step of three strategic actions outlined in January of 2023 to transform the business. You'll recall these actions included the implementation of a new verticalized operating model. As a director and in my role as interim CEO, I can confirm that this segment-driven approach has created increased focus and execution-related benefits, bringing greater clarity and agility to how we pursue opportunities globally. And as part of our transformation efforts, we completed the divestiture of Baxter's non-core biopharma solutions business in 2023. Since joining Baxter's board in 2022, I've observed and supported these shifts in the company's strategic direction, and I'm extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of our teams to reach this stage. These actions have positioned Baxter to accelerate innovation for patients and customers and to drive profitable growth for our shareholders. Later in this call, Joel will provide details on our quarterly and full year performance, as well as our outlook for 2025. As you have seen in this morning's release, we finished 2024 on a high note, beating our fourth quarter guidance for continuing operations on both the top and bottom lines. And we're starting 2025 building on this positive momentum. During this interim period, I'll be working closely with Heather, Joel, and the rest of Baxter's strong leadership team to ensure we maintain that momentum. I've been very impressed by what I've experienced in the last few weeks. An engaged, talented, highly motivated team that is squarely focused on Baxter's mission to save and sustain lives. A truly collaborative spirit and an intense focus on delivering on our commitments. This includes initiatives focused on innovation, profitable growth to enhance performance, deliver increased value, and to better serve the needs of our patients and customers. To support these efforts, and as we've shared earlier this month, we've instituted a new chief operating officer position as a next step in leveraging the potential of our vertical operating model. We're fortunate to have Heather Knight step into this role as COO. Heather brings extensive experience and a proven track record to this position after a successful tenure as head of our largest segment, medical products and therapies, among other key leadership roles at Baxter and prior large healthcare companies. She'll be leading day-to-day operations across our three segments encompassing global commercial operations, R&D, supply chain, medical, and regulatory affairs. Her leadership will be critical as we navigate the next phase of growth. Now, I'd like to turn it over to Heather to share her perspective. Heather?