Reckitt announces the appointment of Kris Licht as Chief Executive Officer to succeed Nicandro Durante. Kris will become CEO Designate as of 1 May and will immediately begin the transition to the CEO role, working alongside Nicandro Durante. Kris will be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director effective 1 June 2023 and will take over as CEO by the end of 2023.

Nicandro Durante will stay with Reckitt up to December 2023 to ensure a smooth transition, at which time he will step down from the Board. Kris has served as President of Reckitt's Health business and as Chief Customer Officer since July 2020. Prior to this, he served as Reckitt's Chief Transformation Officer from November 2019 to July 2020.

He has been pivotal in both setting the strategic direction of the company and returning Health to the strong growth trajectory that it is delivering today. He joined Reckitt from PepsiCo, where he held a variety of senior operational and strategic leadership positions. Prior to PepsiCo, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Co with a focus on the consumer, health and retail practices.

Kris Licht is appointed CEO Designate of Reckitt. Prior to this new role, Kris was President of Reckitt's Health Global Business Unit, as well as Global Chief Customer Officer. The Health GBU encompasses Reckitt's consumer-health focused brands including Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Mucinex, Durex, Biofreeze, Clearasil, Dettol, Airborne and Veet.

In these capacities he was responsible for the total global operations of Reckitt's Health businesses, as well as Reckitt's top customer partnerships and sales capabilities. He also led the design and execution of revenue management program and frontline sales execution initiatives. Under his leadership, Health business grew revenues by £1.4 billion in three years, a like-for-like CAGR of 9%.

Prior to these roles Kris was Reckitt's Chief Transformation Officer, working with CEO and Board to develop the new strategy to deliver sustainable growth, which was launched in 2020. He was responsible for the design of transformation roadmap to organise the business for growth, build new capabilities and accelerate in-market performance and operational resiliency. This transformation is delivering, as evidenced by strong results in recent quarters.

Kris joined Reckitt from PepsiCo in 2019, where he held a variety of senior operational and strategic leadership positions over a five-year span. His last role at PepsiCo was Division President for Pepsi Beverages North America, responsible for a business in the Western United States with revenues of over $4 billion. Prior to that, Kris was General Manager of the North-East region, the home market of PepsiCo in the US.

Earlier roles included leading PepsiCo's global strategy function and leading the transformation of North America Beverages. In these roles, he worked closely with the CEO and executive team to develop the enterprise strategy and assess organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Prior to PepsiCo, Kris was a Partner at McKinsey & Co with a focus on the consumer, health and retail practices.

He served consumer and health clients around the world on commercial and strategic topics as well as planning and executing several large-scale mergers and acquisitions. During his tenure at McKinsey & Co, he worked extensively with the firm's clients in consumer categories such as OTC, beauty, confectionery, snacks and beverages. Kris serves on the boards of the Consumer Brands Association (CBA) in the US and the Global Self-Care Federation.

Kris holds an MA and BSc in Political Science from the New School and Aarhus University respectively.