(Reuters) -GSK named luxury fashion brand Burberry’s Julie Brown as its new chief financial officer on Monday to succeed Iain Mackay, at a time when the British drugmaker is sharpening focus on its core business.
Mackay is retiring after serving as GSK’s finance chief for more than three years. The change comes after GSK spun off its large consumer business, Haleon, to focus on prescription drugs and vaccines.
Brown, 60, has had earlier stints in the health and pharmaceuticals industry.
She joined Burberry in 2017 from medical products maker Smith & Nephew and was a board member at Swiss drugmaker Roche until Sept. 26 when she stepped down. She also served in several finance roles at AstraZeneca.
“(Mackay) has played a very significant role to help deliver the reshaping of GSK and to improve our operating and financial performance … Julie is a highly experienced CFO with a tremendous understanding of the biopharma sector,” GSK’S Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley said in a statement.
With Walmsley as GSK’s CEO, Brown’s appointment also creates a rare, all-female top management at a blue-chip British company and a global pharma major.
Sky News first reported Brown’s appointment on Saturday.
Burberry had said on Friday that Brown would step down as its CFO and chief operating officer in April to take up a role outside the luxury industry.
(Reporting by Amna Karimi and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Louise Heavens)
