Name: Anita Zielinski
New title: Chief accounting officer, Cardinal Health
Current title: Interim CFO, chief accounting officer and controller, Baxter
Anita Zielinski, Baxter’s interim CFO, is leaving the company for an executive position at Cardinal Health.
Zielinski will leave Baxter on Sept. 15 and start as Cardinal’s chief accounting officer on Nov. 5. Both companies announced the leadership change in the first week of August.
Zielinski had worked for Baxter since February 2025, joining the company as chief accounting officer and controller. In March, when former CFO Joel Grade left the company, Zielinski was named interim CFO. Before working for Baxter, Zielinski had worked for Sysco for seven years and Ernst & Young for more than 20 years.
Zielinski will succeed Cardinal’s current chief accounting officer, Mary Scherer. Zielinski will receive a cash sign-on bonus of $750,000 and $1 million in restricted share units that vest over three years, according to a securities filing.
Baxter has not yet named a new CFO. The company has undergone other recent leadership changes, naming a new CEO in July 2025 after Baxter recovered from hurricane damage to a manufacturing plant and divested its kidney care and biopharma solutions units.
