Lawrence Kinet Appointed as an Executive Director
Smiths Industries PLC
1 February 2000
Smiths Industries appoints Lawrence Kinet
as an Executive Director
Smiths Industries plc has appointed Lawrence Kinet as an executive director
with effect from today. A US citizen, Mr Kinet, 52, joins the company with
over 25 years' international experience in the field of healthcare services
and equipment, bringing with him a track record of building businesses through
profitable sales growth.
It is intended that Mr Kinet will succeed George M Kennedy CBE as head of
Smiths Industries Medical Systems (SIMS), one of the company's three operating
divisions, reporting to Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, Chief Executive. Mr Kennedy
retires on his 60th birthday on 4 August this year, after completing 28 years'
service, including 17 as a Board member.
Commenting on the appointment, Keith Butler-Wheelhouse said: 'George has built
up a very successful medical engineering business for Smiths Industries, and
Lawrence is the ideal successor for the next stage of its development. His
extensive involvement in the healthcare industry is entirely relevant for the
role and, as an American who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, his
career experience closely matches the profile of our medical activities.'
Most recently, from 1994-1999, Lawrence H N Kinet was Chairman, President &
CEO of Aksys Ltd, a publicly-held medical equipment company involved in
automated home dialysis for kidney patients. From 1991-1994 he was Chairman &
CEO of Oculon Corp, a specialist in cataract inhibition. Mr Kinet led these
companies during periods of rapid growth and product development, and was
actively involved in raising venture and public equity capital to fund their
further development. From 1989-1991 he was Managing Partner of healthcare
consultant The Kensington Group.
From 1973-1988, Mr Kinet held a number of increasingly senior posts at Baxter
International Inc. He was successively General Manager of a Travenol division
in the Middle East, Managing Director of Travenol in the UK and then President
of Baxter's Americas and Pacific division, which included Japan. He was
subsequently appointed Corporate VP & President, World Trade Group, comprising
all of Baxter's world trade operations outside the US, with operating and
strategic responsibility for $1.5 billion in sales and 12,000 employees.
Lawrence Kinet obtained his BSc at the University of Birmingham in the UK in
1968 and his MBA at the University of Chicago in 1970. He will relocate with
his family from the US to the UK to join Smiths Industries and will be based
at the company's HQ in London.
Smiths Industries Medical Systems (SIMS) is a major supplier of single-use
medical devices used during critical and intensive care, and is now also
building a market-leading position in specialised equipment for infusion
therapy. The division has 11 main manufacturing locations in North America and
Europe, and a worldwide distribution network for its products. In financial
1999 SIMS earned profits of £76m ($123m) on sales of £376m ($609m). In
addition to Medical Systems, Smiths Industries is a world leader in aerospace
electronics and specialised industrial products.
Further enquiries:
Russell Plumley office: +44 (0) 20 8457 8203
home: +44 (0) 20 8992 9751
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