CL Colgate Palmolive Co

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 3/30/16) 
   By Joann S. Lublin and Sharon Terlep 

Colgate-Palmolive Inc. promoted two company veterans as part of a plan to line up an eventual successor to Chief Executive Ian Cook, who has run the company for nine years, according to people familiar with the moves.

P. Justin Skala and Noel R. Wallace are now the front runners to succeed Mr. Cook, who turns 64 next month and is expected to step down within the next five years, the people said. Both men will assume chief operating officer roles starting Friday, according to a regulatory filing by the company. Fabian Garcia, a third potential successor to Mr. Cook, is resigning as a chief operating officer to become the head of Revlon Inc., the embattled beauty company.

Mr. Garcia, 56 years old, was ready to be a CEO and believed Mr. Cook didn't plan to retire soon, people familiar with the matter said.

In their new roles, Mr. Skala, 56, will oversee operations in North America, Europe, Africa and global sustainability; Mr. Wallace, 51, will be in charge of global innovation and growth, and Hill's pet food line.

Mr. Skala and Mr. Wallace will receive options to purchase $2.3 million each in stock that vests gradually over five years. The executives also received performance-based restricted stock that could be worth $750,000 and will vestin five years.

The two executives "are in an absolutely dead heat" to succeed Mr. Cook, one person familiar with the matter said.

Several other executives were reassigned as part of a larger plan to develop a next generation of leaders within the company, people familiar with the moves said.

Franck Moison, another senior executive, will become vice chairman in charge of Colgate's Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations and business development. Mr. Moison, 62, isn't in the running for CEO partly because he is close in age to Mr. Cook, the people familiar said.

A Colgate spokeswoman declined to discuss the moves or make the executives available.

Colgate, historically, has been deliberate in its grooming of future CEOs. Mr. Cook, who has been with the company for 40 years, was picked as the likely successor to then Chief Executive Reuben Mark in 2004, three years before he would assume the role.

This CEO race comes at a time of uncertainty for the maker of its namesake toothpaste, Palmolive dish soap and Speed Stick deodorant.

After decades as a steady and solid performer -- between 1994 and 2014, Colgate stock rose by more than 800%, while the S&P 500 index tripled -- the company has hit some bumps.

Like many consumer-products companies that do business abroad, Colgate sales have been hit hard by the stronger U.S. dollar.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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