Speakers

Frans van Houten is CEO of Royal Philips, a position he has held since April 2011. He is also Chairman of the Board of Management and the Executive Committee.

Frans is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and business transformation. He is leading Philips on a course to leadership in health technology, dedicated to making the world healthier and more sustainable, with the aim of improving three billion lives per year by 2025.

Frans first joined Philips in 1986 and has held multiple global leadership positions across the company on three continents, including the role of co-CEO of the Consumer Electronics division. From 2004 to 2009 he led the successful Philips spin-off NXP Semiconductors. Between 2009 and 2010 he ran his own consultancy practice and was, among other roles, senior advisor to the board of Dutch financial services business ING Group, where he was responsible for the separation of the company’s banking and insurance activities.

Frans launched Philips’ global Accelerate! program in 2011 with the objective of improving customer focus, transforming the portfolio, driving innovation and operational excellence and improving competitiveness throughout the company in order to boost growth. Accelerate! remains the engine of the company’s improved results today.

Frans’ team has driven the transformation and revitalization of the portfolio to become a focused health technology company through targeted divestment, acquisition and organic business development. This is exemplified by the sale of the television business in 2012; the audio and video businesses in 2014 and the IPO of Philips Lighting on the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange in May 2016. At the same time, Philips has invested in acquiring complementary health technology businesses, including  US image-guided therapy leader Volcano and population health analytics leader Wellcentive, while stepping-up in-house R&D to establish new businesses in areas like Digital Pathology, Medical Wearables, and Health Informatics. With these steps, Royal Philips is poised to accelerate growth and performance and capture the opportunities in the EUR 145+ billion market for health technology. As a stand-alone company, Philips Lighting is able to leverage its leadership in the EUR 65+ billion market for digital lighting solutions.

Frans holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and is a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists, an advocacy organization comprising the 50 largest European multinationals.

Since May 2016, he has been vice chairman and a member of the supervisory board of Philips Lighting. He was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis in February 2017.

Married with four children, Frans lives near Amsterdam and enjoys contributing to community projects, sailing, skiing, running, gardening and art.