Smith and Nephew announces retirement of chief executive

Smith & Nephew has announced the upcoming retirement of Sir Christopher O’Donnell as chief executive of the firm. Sir Christopher will leave his position on June 30th and step down as a member of the board of directors at the end of the following month.

Having joined Smith & Nephew in 1988 as managing director of its medical division, Sir Christopher was appointed to the position of chief executive in 1997. In this role, Sir Christopher was responsible for reorganising the company from nine divisions to its current four.

Chief operating officer of Smith & Nephew David Illingworth will be appointed to replace Sir Christopher as chief executive of the company at the start of July 2007. Mr Illingworth was previously president of the firm’s orthopaedics division.

John Buchanan, chairman of the company, said: “During his ten years as chief executive, Chris O’Donnell has transformed Smith & Nephew into a focused global leader in medical devices and created substantial shareholder value.”

He added that the firm was pleased to announce the promotion of Mr Illingworth as Sir Christopher’s successor, noting his vast experience in the industry including his work at Smith & Nephew and previous employment at GE Medical.

In February 2007, Smith & Nephew announced its financial results for the 2006 fiscal year, reporting an eight per cent increase in revenue to $2.8 billion (1.43 billion pounds).