Royal Philips , the Dutch manufacturer of medical equipment said Tuesday that Roy Jakobs will follow Frans van Houten as CEO in October. Van Houten has held the position for 12 years and is reaching the conclusion of his third term.

Since joining Philips in 2010, Roy Jakobs has held various positions, starting as Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer for Philips Lighting. In 2012, he became Market Leader for Philips Middle East & Turkey across health systems, consumer, and lighting. 

In 2018, Roy Jakobs joined the Executive Committee as Chief Business Leader of the Personal Health businesses. 

Early in 2020, he was put in charge of the turnaround of Connected Care, as Chief Business Leader, where he was at the forefront of managing the COVID crisis response.

Previously, Roy Jakobs worked at Royal Shell, where he held various management positions across Europe. After Shell, he joined Reed Elsevier, where he formulated and executed the digital transformation strategy focused on data solutions and services.

"I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead Philips to improve people’s health and well-being through innovation,” said Roy Jakobs, incoming CEO of Royal Philips.  

Roy Jakobs will further improve and strengthen Philips’ performance as a leading health technology company. Key priorities are to further deepen the quality and patient safety capability across the company, complete the respironics field action in consultation with the relevant competent authorities, and lead Philips to resume its profitable growth trajectory, added the announcement.