Robert Befidi

PRESIDENT, SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION SCIENCES DIVISION,

3M

Currently, Robert is President of the Separation and Purification Sciences Division at 3M: a global filtration technology leader with sales to B2B and B2C customers. In this role, he led the division’s growth from $790 million to almost $1 billion in sales within 24 months. Prior to that, he led the global commercial go-to-market transformation for the Medical Solution Division, a $4.5 billion business that resulted from the internal merger of two divisions at 3M. Prior to that, he held several senior executive roles in the 3M Health Care Business Group, including leading Strategy, M&A, Data Security & Compliance, and Marketing Transformation for the $7 billion business group. He started his career at 3M as the leader of Strategic Business Development focused on inorganic growth for the Health Information Systems Division, driving transformational partnerships in a macro environment marked by the accelerated digitization of medical records across health systems in the US.

Prior to 3M, Robert worked in private equity, consulting, and investment banking research at Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR). He co-founded Gordian Capital, a private equity company where he led capital raising, deal origination, industry research, transaction structuring, and portfolio management. The fund was successfully raised within 6 months and evaluated ~1,000 deals in 18 months. While at Gordian, he served as Chief Executive Officer of a portfolio company specializing in providing HR business outsourcing services.

He started his career in software engineering, working in research for IBM at Winona State University, and at State Farm Insurance. He then worked in consulting, helping FORTUNE 50 customers transform their businesses and adopt emerging internet and web technologies. As a software expert, he joined UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) and led the technology function that built the payment integrity business of Ingenix (now OPTUM).

Robert serves on the board of the Regions Hospital Foundation. He previously served on the board of the Minnesota Children’s Museum and was a trustee of the Winona State University Foundation.

He holds an MBA with Honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Software Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Computer Science, summa cum laude, from Winona State University.

Robert lives in Minnesota and enjoys travelling around the world with his wife and three kids.