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François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of
Royal Philips Electronics Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...
(known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded
Gerard Kleisterlee Gerard Johannes Kleisterlee (born 28 September 1946) is a Dutch businessman and engineer. He is the chairman of Vodafone, and the former president and CEO of Philips. Early life Born in Germany in 1946 to Dutch and German parents, he was raised ...
.


Biography

The son of a member of the board of directors of Philips, Frans van Houten studied Economics at
Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humani ...
, and started his career at Philips in 1986 in marketing and sales at Philips Data Systems. He held several positions in the company, becoming co-head of the consumer electronics division in 2002. In November 2004, he became CEO of Philips Semiconductors, where he led the spin-off of the division, resulting in the formation of
NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...
on 1 October 2006. Van Houten left his position as Chief Executive Officer at NXP on 31 December 2008. On 8 July 2010, van Houten was nominated to succeed Gerard Kleisterlee as CEO of Philips in order to focus more on healthcare. Since then, he and his team has driven the transformation and revitalization of the Philips portfolio to become a focused health technology company through targeted divestment, acquisition and organic business development. Under his first five years at Philips, shares moved mostly sideways, underperforming the benchmark
AEX index The AEX index, derived from Amsterdam Exchange index, is a stock market index composed of Dutch companies that trade on Euronext Amsterdam, formerly known as the ''Amsterdam Stock Exchange''. Started in 1983, the index is composed of a maximum ...
by about 10 percent. In 2016, he floated Philips Lighting, the company's original business dating back to 1891, allowing the parent to focus on healthcare equipment. His strategy is also exemplified by the sale of the television business in 2012; the audio and video businesses in 2014. At the same time, Philips has invested in a number of acquisitions that strengthen the company's portfolio, among them medical device leaders Volcano and Spectranetics, respiratory care leader RespirTech, and population health management leaders Wellcentive and VitalHealth, as well as others in digital pathology, neurology, pregnancy & parenting, healthcare informatics and ultrasound. He's also driven increased investment in R&D to establish new businesses in areas like digital pathology, medical wearables and healthcare informatics. On 16 August 2022, Phillips announced that they had parted ways with van Houten due to a mass product recall that halved the company's stocks.


Leadership Beyond Royal Philips

Frans served as Co-Chair at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2017. He was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis in February, 2017.


Sustainability and the

Circular Economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aim ...

Van Houten was one of the initiators of the Compact for Responsive and Responsible Leadership, which aims to create a corporate governance framework with a focus on the long-term sustainability of corporations and the long-term goals of society. He is an avid supporter and advocate of sustainability and the implementation of a circular economy, and received the ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' Award for Circular Economy Leadership at an event around the 2018
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
Meeting in
Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alps, Alpine resort town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...
. He is one of the original leaders at the World Economic Forum on the
circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aim ...
, currently serving as co-chair of the Board of Directors and leading Royal Philip's overall engagement in
Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...
(PACE). PACE is a public-private collaboration platform and project accelerator focused on building the circular economy. Philip's engagement in PACE includes membership in PACE's Capital Equipment Coalition and a project on e-waste in Nigeria.


Single European Market

A proponent of a united, single European market, Frans is also a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists, an advocacy organization comprising the 50 largest European multinationals. He is co-founder and advocate of NL2025, a platform of Dutch influencers who support initiatives to create a better future for the Netherlands in the areas of education,
sustainable growth Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desi ...
and a vital society.


Other activities


Corporate boards

*
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-lo ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2017)


Non-profit organizations

*
European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and Europea ...
(ERT), MemberMembers
European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and Europea ...
. * NL2025, Co-Founder


Recognition

In 2018, Philips was named in 19th position in
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
magazine's ranking of the ''World's Most Reputable Companies''; among the ''Top 25 Companies That Get Design Right'' by
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
magazine and among the ''Top 100 Global Innovators'' for the fifth consecutive year by Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters Intellectual Property & Science business). In addition, Van Houten was named among the ''Top 20 Global Business Leaders'' in 2017 by
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
magazine. Its citation stated: “We lean toward CEOs with vision — those impacting the world beyond their companies. The 20 star executives are doing nothing less than defining the future of business.”


Notes


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Houten, Frans van 1960 births Living people Dutch chief executives in the manufacturing industry Dutch chief executives in the technology industry Dutch businesspeople Dutch corporate directors Chairmen of Philips Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni People from Waalre