Retail News Breaks

McDonald named CEO of Procter & Gamble

P&G's Robert McDonald

CINCINNATI – Procter & Gamble Co. on Wednesday said Robert McDonald has been elected president and chief executive officer. He takes over the CEO post from A.G. Lafley, who is slated to move full-time into his role as chairman.

The changes become effective on July 1, P&G's board of directors announced.

McDonald, 55, who had served as chief operating officer since 2007, also has been appointed as a board director.

Jim McNerney, presiding director of P&G's board, said in a statement that McDonald is "the most broadly and globally experienced CEO in P&G history."

McDonald has nearly 30 years of brand management, market development, global business unit and global operations leadership experience across P&G and worldwide and has worked side-by-side with Lafley for almost a decade.

He joined P&G in 1980 as a brand assistant and spent most of the 1990s in vice president positions leading P&G's businesses in the Philippines, Japan and Korea.

Before assuming the COO post, McDonald served as vice chairman of global operations and, prior to that, was president of the Global Fabric & Home Care division and P&G's Northeast Asia unit.

Lafley, 61, has served as CEO since 2000 and chairman since 2002. P&G said it has more than doubled its sales since the start of the decade and has grown its portfolio of billion-dollar brands from 10 to 23.