BackApollo’s Reddy makes succession plan ready
Reddy's daughters get independent responsibilities of different business verticals of the company
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Mumbai: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, India’s largest hospital chain and healthcare services company, has announced a leadership reshuffle and put in place a succession plan for the company that is currently being led by its 81-year-old founder chairman Prathap C. Reddy.
Apollo group, which runs hospitals, health and lifestyle clinics, a pharmacy chain, hospital development consultancy, health insurance and education, had appointed a group of consultants to work on the restructuring and succession plan.
Under the new management structure, Reddy’s daughters—Preetha, Suneetha, Shobana and Sangita—currently executive directors, have been re-designated and given independent responsibilities of different business verticals of the company.
While Preetha, the eldest daughter, will now assume an expanded role as executive vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Suneetha will take over as managing director of the company with direct responsibilities of corporate strategy, finance, funding and investments. She will also oversee the mergers and acquisitions of the group. Shobana, who has also been re-designated as executive vice-chairperson, will now spearhead Apollo Pharmacy that is presently the fastest growing retail business within the group, while Sangita will assume responsibilities including creating an IT-enabled patient centric operation across the Apollo group as the new joint managing director.
“As the healthcare landscape in the country and the region changes and expands, this strategic realignment, we believe, will enable Apollo to focus on growth opportunities in hospitals, pharmacies, clinics and health insurance while furthering its clinical leadership and service excellence," said chairman Prathap C. Reddy, while announcing the new management changes.
He added that the group intends to deepen its focus in each of these verticals.
“The re-organization of business responsibilities is part of a succession plan within the group, and we have been working with a group of consultants on this exercise for some time now," said Suneetha Reddy, the new managing director, Apollo Hospitals, in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Along with these key changes, Apollo board also approved on Wednesday the appointment of Vinayak Chatterjee as an additional director.
Apollo Hospitals currently runs 51 hospitals across the country with a capacity of 5,000 beds and has at least 8,000 doctors on its rolls. The group posted total revenue of ₹ 3,800 crore for the fiscal year ended March.
Under the new role as executive vice-chairperson, Preetha Reddy will now focus on Apollo’s core strength and will work closely with the company’s 8,000 odd clinicians in reviewing global medical advancements and in introducing contemporary practices. She will also directly lead the company’s international portfolio.
Suneetha, as managing director, will directly steer the hospital vertical and will also handle branding and marketing.
As the head of pharmacy business, Shobana will oversee the planning, design and execution of new projects and will also lead the Apollo global projects consultancy division. Apollo’s pharmacy unit is currently the largest pharmacy chain and one of the top five retail companies in India in terms of size of retail operations and geographic presence. Shobana, as a whole time director of the groups’ insurance arm, Apollo Munich Health Insurance, will also continue overseeing this business.
Sangita Reddy, as the new joint managing director of the company, will continue to steer Apollo’s thrust on research, innovation and healthcare initiatives. This includes growing its retail healthcare entry— Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd. She will also lead the human resources and IT functions across all divisions of the group and will continue to be the chairperson of Apollo Knowledge, the education vertical of the group.
Apollo shares surged 3.82% to close at ₹ 1,026.75 apiece on BSE on Wednesday, while the benchmark Sensex rose 1.27% to close at 25,841.21 points.
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