Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) plans to evaluate four senior executives to new top roles, a move that would publicly identify candidates to succeed returned chief executive officer A.G. Lafley, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Last Thursday, P&G said that Lafley is returning to take over the reigns of the company, succeeding Robert McDonald, who will retire on June 30 after 33 years of service. Lafley took over as chairman, president and CEO of the company and has also been elected to the board of directors.
According to the WSJ report, Lafley is not expected to stay for more than two or three years at P&G's helm, and one of his top priorities is to prepare a lineup of P&G executives who could replace him. Lafley turns 66 in June.
The company's two vice chairmen, Werner Geissler and Dimitri Panayotopoulos, who report to Lafley, are not likely to succeed him. Geissler turned 60 in April, while Panayotopoulos will turn 62 in October.
P&G is reportedly working on a reorganization that will regroup the company's consumer brands and products into four sectors that will each be headed by a president. The four individuals will report directly to Lafley and assume responsibility for the financial performance of their respective sectors.
The candidates for the four sector president spots include Melanie Healey, group president of North America; David Taylor, group president of global home care; Martin Riant, group president of global baby care; Giovanni Ciserani, group president of global fabric care; and Deborah Henretta, group president of global beauty care.
These five executives are currently two levels down from the CEO. The WSJ reported that the four sector presidents will not be the only candidates for CEO.
Lafley had in his earlier stint joined P&G in June 1977, and most recently served as its full-time chairman from July 2009 to January 2010. He retired from the company, effective February 25, 2010.
Lafley served as the president and CEO of P&G from June 2000 to 2009. He was also elected as the chairman of the board of directors in July 2002 after being appointed to the board in 2000.
PG closed Thursday's trading at $79.09, up $0.19 or 0.24 percent on a volume of 14.76 million shares.
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