Harold van den Broek has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of Reckitt Benckiser’s (RB) Hygiene Home business unit, shifting from his current CFO role.
The move comes after it was announced that Hygiene Home’s President, Rob de Groot, had stepped down from his post with immediate effect. He will leave the company in February next year after a handover period with Van den Broek who will also join the company’s executive committee, reporting directly to group CEO Laxman Narasimhan
The changes follow the recent appointments of former PepsiCo exec Kris Licht as Chief Transformational Officer and Jeff Carr from Ahold Delhaize as Group Chief Financial Officer.
“I would like to thank Rob for his 32 years of distinguished service. As president of Hygiene Home he has led the significant improvement in performance of the brands and created a strong purpose-led organisation, passionate about sustainability,” said Narasimhan.
“I look forward to working with Harold, who has been a strategic partner to Rob throughout the establishment of Hygiene Home business unit, and is known for inspiring teams to deliver growth, with operational rigour.”
Narasimhan added: “I am extremely pleased to welcome Kris, Jeff and Harold to the leadership team of RB. They will help write the next chapter RB’s history. I look forward to working with this exceptional group of leaders.”
In its last quarterly update, RB cut its full-year sales forecast for the second time after its Health division was hit by weaker demand for its products in key markets. However, the Hygiene Home unit delivered robust results, with revenue growth of 4.5%.
