Smith & Nephew Appoints CFO

British company Smith & Nephew plc has named Julie Brown its new chief financial officer (CFO). She will officially take the post by early February when she also will be appointed to the board as an executive director.

Julie joins Smith & Nephew from AstraZeneca plc, a biopharmaceuticals research company based in London, United Kingdom, where she served as vice president of group finance and recently as interim CFO. In her 25 year career, she has held a number of senior financial and management positions including regional vice president of AstraZeneca’s Latin American operations, marketing company president of the company’s Portugal offices, vice president of corporate strategy, and research and development CFO.

She is qualified as a chartered accountant with auditing firm KPMG, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountancy and a fellow of the Institute of Taxation.

“Julie is an outstanding leader who brings to Smith & Nephew exceptional financial expertise and a deep knowledge of the healthcare market,” said Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive of Smith & Nephew. “Her ability to build teams and her broad experience working across geographies and within senior commercial roles will undoubtedly enable her to be a strong business partner. I look forward to working closely together as we continue to reshape Smith & Nephew for future success.”

“I am excited to be joining Smith & Nephew with the company at such an important point in its development, and I am looking forward to working alongside Olivier and the entire Smith & Nephew team,” said Brown.

The company’s previous CFO, Adrian Hennah, will be leaving to become CFO at Reckitt Benckiser Group plc at the end of December. Upon the announcement of his departure, Hennah said that Smith & Nephew “is performing strongly with a reinvigorated strategic direction and a strong balance sheet,” making it the ideal time for him to hand the reigns over to a successor.

Smith & Nephew’s U.S. offices are in Andover, Mass. and Memphis, Tenn. The company makes devices for orthopedics reconstruction, advanced wound management, sports medicine, and trauma.