Infant nutritional products maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) Said Friday that President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Golsby announced his intention to retire from the positions by the 2013 annual meeting of stockholders. The company plans to promote Chief Operating Officer Kasper Jakobsen to CEO, and named him CEO-elect and as a director, effective immediately.
Golsby has agreed to support the succession plan in the months ahead, and will continue to serve as a director following his retirement.
Golsby has led Mead Johnson for over eight years, as president since 2004 and as CEO since 2008. He led the company through a successful IPO separation from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) in February 2009.
Prior to that, Golsby was president of Mead Johnson International from 2000 to 2004. He joined the organization in 1997 and served as senior vice president and general manager for Mead Johnson and Clairol in Asia-Pacific from 1998 to 2000.
Golsby came to Mead Johnson from Unilever, where he served as chairman of the detergent, home-care and personal-care businesses in Greece. He had a 15-year career at Unilever.
"Steve has been an extraordinary leader of the Mead Johnson Nutrition team since the Company's initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in February 2009, and for many years prior to that, while MJN was a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb," Chairman Jim Cornelius said in a statement.
The Glenview, Illinois-based maker of infant formulas and other nutritional products noted that Jakobsen is expected to succeed Golsby as president and CEO upon his retirement in mid-2013. Meanwhile, Jakobsen will continue in his role as COO , and the current senior leadership structure and reporting relationships will remain in effect.
CEO-elect Jakobsen has been serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer since January 2012. He previously served as president, Americas and senior vice president, Asia-Pacific.
Jakobsen joined Mead Johnson in 1998 and advanced through several positions of increasing regional responsibility since then. He came to Mead Johnson after serving for nearly a decade at Unilever PLC in various marketing roles.
"As Steve's replacement, Kasper Jakobsen has the confidence of the full Board, reflecting his experience as a 14-year veteran of Mead Johnson, including operational leadership responsibility for the businesses in Asia, North America and Latin America prior to becoming Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer earlier this year," Cornelius added.
In Friday's regular trading session, MNJ is currently trading at $85.10, down $0.62 or 0.72% on a volume of 1.31 million shares.
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