Athira Sethu
Kochi, 1 October 2024
The Dutch electronics company, Royal Philips NV has announced the appointment of its very first female Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and management board member-Charlotte Hanneman, who will take the charge from today. She will replace Abhijit Bhattacharya who has been in that position since 2015.
Prior to this appointment, she worked for Stryker Corp, the US-based medical equipment company.
Philips is also struggling to win back its shareholders and customers. This came after several malfunctions in the group’s sleep apnea machines. Recently, Philips settled claims on these devices for a sum at much higher price. On the other hand, two of its major shareholders, Exor NV and Artisan Partners GP LLC increased their investment in the company to depict rising optimism about the profitability prospects.
To address such challenges, the company had cut 10,000 jobs under its new CEO, Roy Jakobs. Jakobs also intends to improve the leadership chain for the company and make it operate better.
“Charlotte is the right leader for this role,” Jakobs stated. He complimented her broad and deep knowledge acquired through more than 20 years in medical technology and pharmaceuticals, operating markets in Asia, Americas, and Europe.
Philips began recalling sleep apnea products in June 2021 due to health concerns. The issue was disintegrating noise-dampening foam in the devices, which the US Food and Drug Administration classified as a Class 1 problem, the most serious. This recall caused Philips to stop selling in the US. The estimate from Bloomberg shows that it lost approximately $5 billion due to such concerns.
As Hanneman assumes her new post, she has her tasks cut out in overcoming these downturns and regain the company’s position in the medical equipment industry.
