Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that its Supervisory Board intends to propose the re-appointment of Frans van Houten as President/CEO and member of the Board of Management, and Abhijit Bhattacharya as member of the Board of Management fulfilling the role of CFO, at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM), to be held on May 9, 2019.
“The Supervisory Board is very pleased that Frans van Houten and Abhijit Bhattacharya remain available as members of the Board of Management,” said Jeroen van der Veer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips. “We recommend their re-appointment in view of the fundamental progress of Philips’ transformation into a solutions-driven health technology company with an improved growth and profitability profile. We are impressed by their continuing drive to further unlock Philips’ potential to grow its market positions and expand margins, as the company aims to make the world healthier and more sustainable through innovation.”
Frans van Houten (Dutch, 1960) became President/CEO and member of the Board of Management of Philips in 2011. He led the transformation and revitalization of the Philips portfolio to become a focused health technology company through productivity programs, targeted divestments, organic business development and acquisitions. This is exemplified by the IPO of Philips Lighting in May 2016, the increased investments in R&D to strengthen the core businesses and establish new businesses in adjacent areas such as digital & computational pathology and healthcare informatics, and the acquisitions that further extended the company’s portfolio across the health continuum, including medical device leaders Volcano and Spectranetics, and care management pioneers Wellcentive and VitalHealth.
Abhijit Bhattacharya (Indian, 1961) became CFO and member of the Board of Management of Philips in 2015. In this role, he successfully led the multi-year productivity programs and improved Philips’ working capital, balance sheet efficiency and cash conversion to enhance the company’s growth and profitability profile and provide for the required investments for growth. He leads the digital transformation of the company’s business processes for faster and more efficient procedures, and to pioneer new business models with recurring revenue streams.