Roy Jakobs to succeed Egbert van Acht as Chief Business Leader of Philips’ Personal Health businesses

 Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that Roy Jakobs, who currently leads Philips’ Domestic Appliances business group, will succeed Egbert van Acht as Chief Business Leader of Philips’ Personal Health businesses, effective October 1, 2018. In this role, Mr. Jakobs will join Philips’ Executive Committee and report to CEO Frans van Houten. Mr. Van Acht, who joined Philips in 2002, has decided to leave Philips to pursue other career opportunities.

“I want to thank Egbert for his valuable contributions to our company over the past 16 years, most recently his leadership of our Personal Health businesses,’’ said Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips. “Although we will miss him, we respect Egbert’s decision to leave Philips to take a different course in his career. On behalf of Philips’ Executive Committee, I would like to wish him all the best with his next steps. At the same time, I am pleased to announce Roy Jakobs as his successor from within the company. Roy has extensive global experience and a track record of accomplishments in strategy, innovation, new business development, and marketing and sales. I am convinced that Roy’s leadership and deep industry knowledge will enable him to ensure that Philips’ Personal Health businesses continue to deliver on their strategy to provide integrated, connected solutions that support healthier lifestyles and those living with chronic disease.”  

Mr. Jakobs (Dutch/German, 1974) joined Philips in 2010 and held various management positions, including the role of Chief Marketing Officer for Philips’ former lighting businesses and Market Leader for Philips Middle East & Turkey. Since 2015, Mr. Jakobs has led the Domestic Appliances business group at Philips from Shanghai, China, and since 2017 from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In this role, he has led a global team of more than 5,000 employees. Prior to his career at Philips, Mr. Jakobs held various management positions at Royal Dutch Shell and Reed Elsevier. He holds a master degree in Business Administration from the Radboud University Nijmegen and the Università degli Studi di Bologna, Italy.

Under Mr. Jakobs’ new leadership the Personal Health businesses remain committed to delivering sustained mid- to high-single-digit comparable sales growth and high teens Adjusted EBITA margin. Philips’ Personal Health businesses generated approximately EUR 7.3 billion in sales in 2017.