GSK promotes consumer chief Emma Walmsley to CEO designate

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Sharecast News | 20 Sep, 2016

Updated : 12:12

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline announced on Tuesday that Emma Walmsley - the current chief executive of the company’s consumer healthcare division - is to be appointed chief executive designate, and will succeed Andrew Witty as CEO when he retires next March.

The FTSE 100 firm said Walmsley will join the GSK board of directors from 1 January.

“I am very pleased to announce Emma's appointment, after what has been a very thorough and rigorous global selection process carried out by the GSK board,” said GSK chairman Philip Hampton.

Walmsley is currently CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare, which was established in 2015 following completion of the company's three-part transaction with Novartis.

Prior to that, she was president of GSK Consumer Healthcare and has been a member of GSK's corporate executive team since 2011.

Walmsley joined GSK in 2010 from L'Oreal where, over 17 years, she held a variety of marketing and general management roles in the UK, Europe and USA.

From 2007 she was based in Shanghai as general manager, consumer products for L'Oreal China.

“Emma is an outstanding leader with highly valuable experience of building and running major global businesses and a strong track record of delivering growth and driving performance in healthcare,” Hampton added.

“Under Andrew's leadership, GSK has successfully developed into a company with market-leading positions in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare.

“These provide excellent platforms for sustainable, long-term growth, and we are confident Emma will successfully build on these strengths.”

Walmsley said she is “delighted and honoured” to be appointed GSK's next CEO.

“GSK is a company that leads both in science and in the way it does business.

“We have momentum in the group and as the demand for medical innovation and trusted healthcare products continues to rise, we have the opportunity and the potential to create meaningful benefits for patients, consumers and our shareholders,” she explained.

“I'm looking forward to working with Andrew and other leaders over the next few months to ensure a smooth handover and to develop plans for 2017 and beyond.”

Shares in GSK lost ground in early trading on Tuesday, before climbing back to parity by the afternoon.

Analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets noted: "Some more vocal shareholders had wanted an outsider appointed to help push through a change in GSK’s structure, and are selling shares in a show of disappointment."

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