Vodafone Group announced today that Gerard Kleisterlee – currently president and CEO of Dutch electronics giant Philips – is to succeed Sir John Bond as its new chairman. Kleisterlee (pictured) will be retiring from Philips on 31 March 2011 and will be appointed as a non-executive director of Vodafone the following day. “Today’s announcement is the culmination of a succession planning process which the board initiated in February 2010,” said Sir John Bond, who steps down as chairman after almost five years. Kleisterlee has spent his entire career at Philips which he joined in 1974, becoming president and CEO in April 2001. In addition to his role at Philips, Kleisterlee has been a member of the Daimler AG Supervisory Board since April 2009, a non-executive director at Royal Dutch Shell since November 2010, and a member of the board at Dell since December 2010. He was named European Businessman of the year in 2007 by Fortune magazine.

In a statement, Vodafone was generous in its praise to its outgoing chairman. It noted that during Sir John Bond’s chairmanship, Vodafone delivered strong returns for shareholders, with a total shareholder return of 95 percent, compared with 22 percent for the FTSE All-Share Index. This includes an increase in the share price from 115.6p on 25 July 2006 (when Bond became chairman), to 177.0p at the close of business yesterday. “We have been fortunate to have benefited from his leadership, experience and wise counsel in a time of evolution for Vodafone,” said CEO Vittorio Colao.