GSK elevates marketing’s role with key senior leadership appointments
As part of a shakeup to its senior leadership team, GSK has promoted two of its marketers to the top level of its business in Great Britain and Ireland.
GSK Consumer Healthcare has promoted Monica Michalopoulou to marketing director of its Great Britain and Ireland (GBI) business, one of three new senior leadership appointments.
Michalopoulou has been promoted from her previous role as GBI marketing lead for GSK’s oral care category, a position she had held since March 2020. She was previously a marketing manager for four years, joining the company in April 2016.
Before GSK, Michalopoulou spent four years at rival healthcare business Johnson & Johnson, latterly as senior brand manager.
Meanwhile, former GBI marketing lead for expert and healthcare professionals (HCPs) Onyeka Anugwom has also been promoted to the senior leadership team, taking on the role of GBI commercial excellence director.
He joined the business in April 2014 as senior customer business manager of Sainsbury’s, before advancing through a number of grocery-oriented roles. Over his 14-year career he has also worked at FMCG companies including Premier Foods, Mars, and Procter & Gamble. Why GSK has created a cross-functional team to ‘future-proof’ its brands
Both Michalopoulou and Anugwom join a new senior leadership team led by vice-president and general manager for GBI, Bas Vorsteveld, who took over from general manager Jonathan Workman in November as he moved into a European role.
“The recent pandemic has shown us that healthcare matters more now than ever before for our consumers. We want to redefine the role that self-care plays in people’s lives, because it can bring long-term benefits for individuals and society, and is a key component of a sustainable healthcare system,” Vorsteveld says.
In 2020, GSK announced plans to separate into two companies by 2022, with one entity to focus on the pharmaceuticals side of the business and the other to remain a consumer healthcare company. According to Vorsteveld, those plans remain “on track”.
Last year GSK unveiled a new purpose-driven strategy with the introduction of its ‘Brands with Humanity’ positioning. Global CMO Tamara Rogers told Marketing Week the company is looking to close in on untapped potential to grow market share by differentiating itself from the “cold” and functional messaging prevalent in the healthcare sector, and by solving problems with data, new technology and compassion.
To deliver on this promise, the business has introduced a central cross-functional team to break down silos within the organisation and ensure its brands remain “future-proof”.
