GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) chief executive Dame Emma Walmsley will step down at the end of December this year after almost nine years in the role.
The pharmaceutical group has promoted its chief commercial officer, Luke Miels, as CEO designate from today, and he will take on the full CEO role from 1 January 2026.
The Australian joined the FTSE 100 company in 2017, the year that Walmsley became CEO, and in his current role he is responsible for the FTSE 100 company's portfolio of medicines and vaccines.
He joined from AstraZeneca, where he was executive vice president of their European business and, before that, was head of global product and portfolio strategy, global medical affairs and corporate affairs. Prior to that he was head of Asia for Roche, based in Shanghai and Singapore.
Chair Sir Jonathan Symonds hailed Walmsley's "outstanding leadership in delivering a strategic transformation of GSK, including the successful demerger of Haleon".
He said Miels "has outstanding global biopharma development and commercial experience, together with a deep understanding of the company, its prospects and its people. He is extremely well placed to lead, deliver and surpass the ambitions we have set for GSK, and to generate new growth and value for patients and shareholders."
For her part, Walmsley said: "2026 is a pivotal year for GSK to define its path for the decade ahead, and I believe the right moment for new leadership."
She will step down from the board on 31 December 2025, but will remain with the business until her notice period ends on 30 September 2026.
The company said she will "support an orderly transition throughout that period" and "given the potential impact to GSK's operating environment arising from geopolitics and new technologies, the board has asked Emma to support the company and the new CEO on these matters".