GSK appoints former HSBC exec Iain Mackay as CFO

GlaxoSmithKline has appointed HSBC’s Iain Mackay as its next chief financial officer, replacing Simon Dingemans, who is to retire next year.

Mackay will join the company on 14 January next year, and has also been appointed as an executive director to the GSK board.

This is just the latest in a series of top management changes, which began when Emma Walmsley took over from CEO last year, replacing Sir Andrew Witty.

Chief scientific officer Patrick Vallance has gone, and been replaced by former Roche/Genentech whizz Hal Barron and Luke Miels has joined from AstraZeneca to lead GSK’s pharma business.

[caption id="attachment_45392" align="alignleft" width="90"] Iain Mackay[/caption]

Mackay had spent 11 years at HSBC, after being appointed chief finance officer in August 2007, becoming chief financial officer for Asia Pacific Region in 2009, and becoming group finance director in December 2010.

A chartered accountant, Mackay worked at General Electric, Schlumberger Dowell, and Price Waterhouse.

He is also a trustee of the British Heart Foundation and a member of the Court of the University of Aberdeen, where he qualified as an accountant.

But Mackay won’t come cheaply – his base salary is £850,000, with a bonus double this amount if maximum targets are reached.

He can also get £1.7 million in long term incentives for a middling performance and will own shares worth three times his base salary as a requirement of the job.

This is slightly less than Emma Walmsley’s base salary of just over £1 million, and significantly less than chief scientific officer Hal Barron, who was lured away from Calico labs with a dollar-pegged salary of around £1.3 million, plus bonuses and long-term incentives.

Outgoing CFO Simon Dingemans will continue as CFO until March next year.

But there will be a transition period from 14 January, when Mackay will be CFO designate, before taking formal accountability as CFO from 1 April.

Mackay will join the corporate executive team and the board from 14 January.