London: Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) will this week name Philip Hampton, who currently chairs Royal Bank of Scotland, as its next chairman, a person close to the process said on Wednesday.
Hampton is expected to join the GSK board as a non-executive director late this year or early in 2015 and take over from current chairman Chris Gent around the middle of next year.
Reuters reported on Monday that Britain’s biggest drug maker was under pressure to make changes, including a possible early replacement of Gent, after it was hit by a $489 million fine for bribery in China.
The one-time Vodafone chief has chaired GSK for nine years and is due to retire by the end of 2015.
A GSK spokesman said: “Succession planning for the chairman is well under way.” He declined to comment further.
News of Hampton’s pending appointment as chairman was first reported by Sky News. Reuters
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