Smiths Group PLC SMIN Smiths Group announces senior management changes

  Smiths Group PLC (SMIN) - Smiths Group announces senior management changes

RNS Number : 5005O
Smiths Group PLC
11 October 2012
 

 

News Release

London,11 October 2012

For immediate release

 

 

Smiths Group Announces Senior Management Changes

Smiths Group plc today announces senior management changes.

Duncan Gillis, an executive with wide international experience in a number  of 
sectors, is appointed President  & CEO of John  Crane.  A US national,  Gillis 
formerly held senior  posts in  a number of  countries for  Procter &  Gamble, 
McKinsey and United Technologies Corporation.  He was most recently  President 
& CEO of  Algeco Scotsman, a  global service company  specialising in  modular 
space and secure storage with annual revenues of €1.4 billion.

At the  same time  Ralph Phillips  is  stepping down  as President  of  Smiths 
Interconnect to further  his career through  opportunities outside the  Group. 
 He will be succeeded by Mark Reckitt, Smiths Group Director of Strategy.

Smiths Chief Executive Philip  Bowman said: "Duncan  has an outstanding  track 
record in  growing multi-country  businesses with  high exposure  to  emerging 
markets. He  has thrived  in performance-driven  cultures and  his  background 
ideally equips him to take John Crane on to the next stage of its development.

"I would like to thank Ralph  for his valuable contribution in growing  Smiths 
Interconnect which  has  almost doubled  in  size  over the  past  few  years. 
 However, different phases in a business's development often require different
leadership skills.   As  with John  Crane,  we felt  the  time was  right  for 
management change at Smiths Interconnect.  I wish Ralph well in the next steps
he takes in developing his career.

"I would  also like  to take  this opportunity  to thank  Tedd Smith  for  his 
interim leadership of John Crane.  Tedd  will ensure a smooth handover  before 
resuming his role as President of Flex-Tek.

"As I commented in our annual  results statement last month, we are  committed 
to continue to  raise the bar  in terms  of talent across  all the  divisions. 
 Mark will lead Interconnect which  has recently been restructured into  three 
discrete business units under new and strengthened management teams.  He  will 
also continue in his role as Group Strategy Director at a time when the impact
of quantitative  easing  on  the Company's  legacy  pension  liabilities  will 
continue  to  significantly  constrain  our  opportunity  to  pursue  material 
acquisition and divestment opportunities."

Before joining Smiths in February 2011, Mark Reckitt had a 21-year career with
Cadbury plc. He held a number of senior finance and commercial posts including
Chief Commercial Officer  and Finance  Director for its  UK confectionery  and 
Europe, Middle  East  and Africa  soft  drinks businesses.  Latterly,  he  was 
Managing Director of Green & Black's.

 

John  Crane www.johncrane.com  is  a  world-leading  provider  of   engineered 
products and services for the major process industries, including oil and gas,
power,   chemical,    pharmaceutical,    and   other    general    industries. 
Smiths Interconnect www.smithsinterconnect.com  is  a  leader  in  technically 
differentiated electronic and radio  frequency products that connect,  protect 
and control critical systems  for the wireless telecommunications,  aerospace, 
defence, space, medical, rail, test and industrial markets.  Both are part  of 
Smiths Group www.smiths.com, a global leader in applying advanced technologies
for markets  in  threat and  contraband  detection, energy,  medical  devices, 
communications and engineered components.  Smiths Group employs around  23,000 
people in more than 50 countries.

Investor Relations

Peter Durman      +44 (0)20 7808 5535

 

Media Relations

Colin McSeveny   +44 (0)20 7808 5534

 

Anthony Cardew  +44 (0)20 7930 0777

                     This information is provided by RNS
           The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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MSCLLFEIIFLLLIF -0- Oct/11/2012 13:00 GMT