BRIEF—GSK nabs industry vet as non-exec chairman

Ending a six month search, GlaxoSmithKline today announced that Jonathan Symonds will succeed Sir Philip Hampton as non-executive chairman of the GSK board with effect on September 1, 2019.

Mr Symonds is currently deputy group chairman of banking group HSBC Holdings and has been an independent non-executive director of HSBC since April 2014.

He is a former chief financial officer of two rival drug majors, Switzerland’s Novartis and Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca, and has been a non-executive director of Diageo and QinetiQ.

He is currently non-executive chairman of Proteus Digital Health, a non-executive director of Rubius Therapeutics Inc and chairman of Genomics England Limited.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Symonds said: “I am delighted to be joining GSK, at what is a really important time for the company as it seeks to create value from its new R&D approach, and to create two, new world-leading companies, one focussed on Pharmaceuticals and Vaccines, the other on Consumer Healthcare.”