With summer finally here, executives around the world are asking themselves an important question: Is it time for a vacation or another opportunity?
At Boardroom Insiders, it’s our job to know what’s top of mind for C-suite executives. Here’s a look at three companies with new leaders eyeing brighter days ahead.
Philip Morris taps new CEO to go smoke-free
Longtime tobacco giant Philip Morris International is looking to change its ways, and a new CEO is leading the charge. The company announced in May that it had promoted COO Jacek Olczak to the chief executive role.
Olczak, a Philip Morris lifer, joined the company in 1993 as finance and administration manager of the company’s Poland division. He served in a variety of roles in central Europe before ascending to CFO in 2012 and COO in 2018.
Most recently, Olczak helped lead commercialization of IQOS, a new smokeless product that heats tobacco to 350 °C. So far, the smokeless transition has proven to be more than optics. Today, smokeless products are responsible for more than a quarter of PMI net revenues, according to a company release.
Olczak takes the helm after what has been a notable year for the company, which has seen stock prices grow more than 40% year over year. Philip Morris has also released a plan to buy back as much as $7 billion in shares over the next three years. Outgoing CEO André Calantzopoulos is expected to remain with the company as executive chairman.
Tyson Foods C-suite: Game of chicken?
Another CEO has flown the coop at Tyson Foods. The meat processing leader announced on June 2 that President and CEO Dean Banks would step down for personal reasons after only eight months in charge. His replacement is COO Donnie King, effective immediately.
The transition is just the latest development in what has been an era of considerable turnover at Tyson. Less than a year ago, Banks’ hire was touted in a company release as “part of the board’s deliberate, long-term succession planning.” Today, King is Tyson’s fifth CEO in five years.
But King is no stranger to the industry. He is a longtime Tyson veteran with more than three decades in the industry. His poultry experience began in the early 1980s when he worked part time at a Tyson plant in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, while studying at the University of Arkansas.
King’s promotion comes at a crucial time for Tyson, with pandemic-related labor shortages and plant-based meat gaining traction. Tyson announced a new line of plant-based burgers and sausages in May.
New VMware CEO leads post-spinoff
Sometimes, bigger is not always better. That seems to be the reasoning at computing giant Dell Technologies as the company pushes through on plans to spin off longtime virtualization subsidiary VMWare at the tail end of the year. The two companies promise to still be friends, at least for the time being, and the move will result in two separate, publicly traded companies.
“By spinning off VMware, we expect to drive additional growth opportunities for Dell Technologies, as well as VMware, and unlock significant value for stakeholders," said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies, in a company release last April. “Both companies will remain important partners, providing Dell Technologies with a differentiated advantage in how we bring solutions to customers.”
Although Dell is expected to remain as chairman of both companies, VMware is preparing to take flight with new CEO Raghu Raghuram, most recently the co-CEO of products and cloud services. Raghuram takes over for interim CEO, EVP and CFO Zane Rowe.
The spinoff is expected to enable VMware to expand into other cloud computing ecosystems.
Under Raghuram’s leadership, VMware is expected to lean heavily into SaaS and subscription offerings, while still utilizing Dell as an infrastructure partner.
More executives on the move…
- Beck Bailey is now Managing Director, Inclusion and Diversity, Accenture plc.
- Scott Beasley is now CFO, Frontier Communications Corporation.
- Joseph Bedewi is now CFO, Uhnder, Inc.
- Scott Bomar is now CFO, Deluxe Corporation.
- Lim Cheng Cheng is now Group Chief Corporate Officer, Singtel.
- Tom Cibelli is now CISO, Bentley Systems, Incorporated.
- Tracey Clements is now CEO, Convenience Europe and South Africa, BP Plc.
- Matthew Cotter is now CEO, PairSoft.
- Glenn David is now EVP and Group President, Zoetis Inc.
- Melanie Fitzpatrick is now Head, Global Digital Transformation, Workplace and Culture, Clarivate Analytics.
- David French is now Chief Revenue Officer, Apiiro Ltd.
- Shawn Guertin is now EVP and CFO, CVS Health Corporation.
- Tarun Gupta is now Managing Director and CEO, Stockland Corporation Limited.
- Iris Jones is now Chief Marketing and Client Development Officer, Akerman LLP.
- Michael Lampert is now CEO, State Group Inc.
- Anthony Lombardo is now Group CEO, Lendlease Corporation.
- Jackie Marks is now CFO, Conde Nast Publications Inc.
- Kevin McMahon is now Head, Engineering and CIO, BBVA USA, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
- Jamie Miller is now CFO, Cargill, Incorporated.
- Chaly Moyen is now Chief Strategy Officer and President for Foodservice and International, Conagra.
- Rachel Mushahwar is now Managing Director, Americas Channel and Partner Chief, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
- Shelley S. O'Connor is now Head, External Affairs, Morgan Stanley.
- Jeremie Papin is now Chairman, Nissan Americas and SVP, Nissan Motor Company Limited.
- Jonathan Pruzan is now EVP and COO, Morgan Stanley.
- Michael Pulcanio is now SVP, Human Resources, Schwan's Company.
- Michael Roberts is now CEO, US and Americas, HSBC Holdings plc.
- Scott Roe is now CFO, Tapestry, Inc.
- Vijay Sankaran is now VP and CTO, Johnson Controls International plc.
- Andrew Saperstein is now Co-President, Morgan Stanley.
- Brian Savoy is now EVP and Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Duke Energy Corporation.
- Eash Sundaram is now Operating Executive, Tailwind Capital.
- Michael Taylor is now Executive Director, Data Strategy and Data Science, BBVA USA, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
- Joshua Walden is now COO, Footprint.
- Armin Zerza is now CFO, Activision Blizzard Inc.
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