The world’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Group PLC recently announced that it has appointed current Heineken Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer as the new Chairman of the company. Boxmeer will be succeeding Gerard Kleisterlee from November this year.
The British company said Van Boxmeer will join as a non-executive director on July 28. He has been Heineken’s CEO since 2005 and will hand over the role to his successor in June. The new announcement from Vodafone comes more than a year after searching for the executive.
Current Chairman of Vodafone Gerard Kleisterlee, a former Philips Electronics NV boss, has spent nine years in the role and will now leave the board. U.K. corporate governance guidelines say companies can keep their chairman for a maximum of nine years, and Kleisterlee has reached the limit. On his watch, Vodafone closed one of the biggest deals in history when it sold a 45% interest in Verizon Wireless for $130bn.
Boxmeer started his career at the brewer in 1984 as a trainee and since then has worked his way up. He has headed various divisions around the world including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Poland, and Italy. Heineken’s shares have risen three-fold during Van Boxmeer’s 15-year tenure as CEO of the drinks maker.
In a statement released by Vodafone, Chief Executive Officer Nick Read said, “Van Boxmeer is “highly-regarded as one of the longest standing and most successful CEOs in Europe.”
