The chairman of GlaxoSmithKline is set to depart his role in the coming years, according to news sources.
Sir Christopher Gent, who has been at the firm since 2005 and oversaw the appointment of its current chief executive Sir Andrew Witty, will step down in the next ‘two to three years’, according to The Daily Telegraph. The firm is now headhunting for a replacement for Sir Christopher, the UK paper says.
GSK, which declined to comment on whether these reports were true, is releasing its third quarter financial results this week.
Sir Christopher was previously chief executive of Vodafone and has also served as a non-executive director at Lehman Brothers, and is one of the best-known businessmen in the UK.
Under Sir Christopher and Sir Andrew, GSK emerged from having a tarnished reputation through fraud allegations and poor manufacturing standards at locations such as Puerto Rico, to a having a ‘cleaner’ image.
