Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RKT) has announced that Jeff Carr (61), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director, has notified Reckitt of his intention to retire as of 31 March 2024. We are delighted to announce that Shannon Eisenhardt will join Reckitt on 17 October 2023, as CFO designate to succeed Jeff. Upon joining Shannon will also be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director.
Jeff has been instrumental in driving financial discipline, leading our world-class productivity programme, reducing our net debt, and driving sustainable long-term shareholder value. Jeff joined Reckitt in 2020 as we launched our transformation programme and has ensured its delivery despite the challenges of Covid and geo-political crises. His strong contributions will stand us in good stead during the next chapter for Reckitt.
Shannon Eisenhardt will join Reckitt from NIKE, Inc., the world’s largest athletic footwear and apparel company, where she currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of NIKE Consumer, Brand & Marketplace. In her role, Shannon leads the finance function for the NIKE geographies, the Global NIKE Direct business, which comprises NIKE-owned retail stores and its digital platforms, and Global Marketing. She also holds leadership responsibility for Global Business Planning, including Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis, and the Converse brand. Prior to taking on her current role, Shannon led Finance for NIKE North America, the company’s largest market, and NIKE Emerging Markets. Before joining NIKE, Inc. in 2015, Shannon spent close to two decades at P&G in a range of finance roles working at corporate, country and regional levels.
Chris Sinclair, Chairman of the Board, commented:
“On behalf of the Board and the entire company, I would like to sincerely thank Jeff for his excellent service to Reckitt Benckiser. Jeff began his career in Reckitt and returned in 2020 because of his commitment to the company and the fantastic opportunity to grow its leading brands. He has been instrumental in driving our strategic and cultural transformation, embedding a strong capital allocation process and delivering a world-class productivity programme over the past three and a half years. He is a highly valued member of the Executive Committee and Board.”
“We are delighted to announce that Shannon will succeed Jeff as Chief Financial Officer. Shannon brings extensive experience across consumer and retail, having worked with some of the most globally recognised brands, and an impressive and highly relevant international background. Shannon is a proven strategic and operational leader with a track-record of building highly successful teams and delivering strong and consistent performance.”
Shannon Eisenhardt commented:
“I am excited to be joining Reckitt as CFO. The business is built on strong brands with category-leading positions, a unique entrepreneurial culture and a clear and compelling strategy for growth. I look forward to working with Kris Licht, Jeff Carr and the management team to help deliver outperformance.”
Jeff Carr, Chief Financial Officer, commented:
“It has been a great privilege to serve as CFO of Reckitt. It is an exceptional company with great brands and talented colleagues. Under the leadership of Kris and Shannon, the business is well-placed to win and grow and I look forward to watching its continued success.”
There are no other details to disclose relating to Shannon Eisenhardt under paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules.
For remuneration details, please see Appendix 1 below.
For Shannon Eisenhardt’s biography, please see Appendix 2 below.
Appendix 1
Remuneration
Shannon Eisenhardt
As CFO of Reckitt Benckiser Group, Shannon Eisenhardt will receive a salary of £760,000. She will receive a pension allowance of 10% of salary in line with the wider Reckitt workforce in the UK, and other benefits in line with Reckitt’s Remuneration Policy. She will be eligible to participate in the Company’s existing annual bonus plan with a target opportunity of 100% of salary; in line with our Remuneration Policy this has a maximum of 3.57 times and one-third of any bonus awarded will be deferred into Reckitt shares for a period of three years. Her annual bonus will be pro-rated for first year of employment. She will receive an initial LTIP grant of 29,453 performance shares and 58,905 performance options, for the three-year performance period 2023-2025; this has been calculated as a pro-rata award of the CFO’s annual LTIP award of 40,000 performance shares and 80,000 performance options, pro-rated for the period employed during the performance period. All LTIP awards will be subject to a two-year holding period. The share ownership requirement will be 100,000 shares and there will be a formal post-employment shareholding requirement, for two years after departure. As Shannon is moving from the US to the UK, she is eligible for relocation benefits.
Shannon will also receive awards to compensate for remuneration arrangements forfeited on leaving her previous employer. These will remain subject to performance conditions where appropriate and mirror the time horizons of forfeited awards. As Shannon is participating in the 2023 LTIP at Reckitt, she will not be compensated for any 2023 LTI awards made by her previous employer.
All remuneration arrangements for Shannon are consistent with the terms of the Directors’ Remuneration Policy approved by shareholders at the AGM in May 2022. Further detail will be set out in the 2023 Directors’ Remuneration Report.
Jeff Carr
Jeff Carr will be treated in accordance with the Company’s approved Remuneration Policy and his service contract, remaining eligible for salary, benefits and bonus until the date he retires from the Company. There will be no payment in lieu of notice. Any bonus paid for 2023 and 2024 will be subject to one-third deferral into Reckitt shares, in line with our Remuneration Policy. Any bonus paid in respect of 2024 will be pro-rated based on the portion of the performance year employed. All Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) awards which are in the performance period at the point that Jeff Carr retires from the Company will be pro-rated to the date of leaving and remain subject to performance conditions and the original time horizons. No further LTIP awards will be granted. Upon retirement, after pro-rating, Jeff will retain an interest under the LTIP in approximately 46,667 performance shares and 93,333 performance options, vesting dependent on performance to 2024 and 2025, and subject to further two-year holding periods. In addition, he remains subject to the Company’s post-employment shareholding requirement.
Full details will be disclosed on the Company’s website in due course in compliance with Section 430(2B) of the Companies Act 2006 and in the Directors’ Remuneration Report within the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023, and subsequent years, as appropriate.
Appendix 2
Shannon Eisenhardt’s biography
Shannon Eisenhardt will join Reckitt from NIKE, Inc., the world’s largest athletic footwear and apparel company, where she currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of NIKE Consumer, Marketplace and Brand. In this role, Shannon leads the finance function for the NIKE geographies, the Global NIKE Direct business, which comprises NIKE-owned retail stores and its digital platforms, and Global Marketing. She also holds leadership responsibility for Global Business Planning, including Corporate FP&A, and the Converse brand.
During her time as Chief Financial Officer of NIKE Consumer and Marketplace, Shannon has led the development of the future marketplace vision for the NIKE brand globally; including driving significant growth through NIKE Direct (both digital business and physical owned) as well as reshaping wholesale distribution and redefining what it means to be a Strategic Partner with NIKE.
Prior to her current role, Shannon led Finance for NIKE North America, the company’s largest market. As CFO of NIKE North America, Shannon had responsibility for $ 17 billion externally reported geography segment of NIKE Inc. spanning United States and Canada. Prior to this role Shannon was the CFO for NIKE Emerging Markets, which was a $4 bln externally reported geography segment of Nike Inc. spanning Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Before joining NIKE, Inc. in 2016, Shannon spent close to two decades at P&G in a range of finance roles working at corporate, country and regional levels. Her last role at P&G was Finance Director for the E-IMEA Baby Care business, where she was tasked with turning around financial performance and developing plans for consistent value creation for the division’s largest sales region. Before that, Shannon was Finance Director of P&G Shared Service Centre in Manila, where her team provided financial and accounting leadership to ensure world Class accounting services (including Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Treasury & Banking and Cost & Profit forecasting) for 40+ markets, including oversight of certification of results as required by Sarbanes-Oxley.
Shannon joined P&G in 1996 after studying Finance at the University of Notre Dame.
