LONDON — Brian McNamara has been promoted to chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline plc’s consumer health business.

Brian McNamara

GSK said McNamara assumes the GSK Consumer Healthcare CEO post and joins GSK’s corporate executive team effective immediately. He takes the reins from Emma Walmsley, who just over a week ago was named to succeed Sir Andrew Witty as GlaxoSmithKline’s chief executive.

Based in the United Kingdom, McNamara also continues as a member of the board of GSK’s consumer health care joint venture with Novartis.

“I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the Consumer Healthcare business at GSK,” McNamara said in a statement. “We have an amazing opportunity ahead of us to deliver on our promise to consumers and grow our business to further extend our position as a leading, global consumer health care company.”

McNamara had served as head of Europe and the Americas for GSK Consumer Healthcare since March 2015. In his new role, he will report to Witty until Walmsley takes the helm as CEO, which is slated to occur when Witty retires on March 31, 2017.

“With his significant experience and expertise, Brian is the clear choice to build on the current momentum we are seeing in our business and fully maximize the future opportunities we have with our brands and to deliver the benefits of the integration,” Witty stated.

McNamara came to GSK in 2015 after the pharmaceutical giant finalized its three-part transaction with Novartis. Most recently in his 11-year career at Novartis, he served as division head of OTC and, prior to that, as Americas OTC president and Europe OTC president.

Before joining Novartis, McNamara spent 16 years at Procter & Gamble Co. in marketing and product supply management roles.