How splitting from GSK taught Haleon a spin-off is not a finish line

Brian McNamara spent six years running the group behind Advil, Centrum, and Sensodyne before GSK spun off its consumer health division in 2022. Perhaps a fifth of that job is comparable to what his role is now, as CEO of Haleon, he estimates, such was the difference in responsibilities.

As CEO of a standalone company with its own London listing, he needed to educate a new board, manage a debt overhang, and make capital allocation decisions across a far bigger strategic playing field than the one that had been open to him under his former parent company.

McNamara also wanted to create a performance-focused, consumer-centric drive in a business that had grown up under the umbrella of a more cautious pharmaceutical company. But he discovered that “the organization was quite tired” after its efforts to separate the company from GSK, and before that, to integrate two large mergers.

“The team that took us through separation did a phenomenal job,” McNamara says, but he concluded that he needed to bring in new skills and energy. His response was to change 13 members of his 15-strong leadership team, bringing in fresh talent from leading consumer brand companies like Procter & Gamble, Estée Lauder, Unilever, and L’Oréal.

With the initial sprint to define a new company and strategy behind him, here’s how he describes the lessons from its spin-off, and why you shouldn’t see such a milestone as a finish line.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson: The split from GSK was four years ago. How do you think about this moment in the story?

Brian McNamara: I think about the journey of the company in phases. Phase one was to separate, build all the corporate functions, and deal with our leverage. At about the two-year mark, we got through all that. Then the next phase was laying out the new strategy, with our ambitions of reaching a billion more consumers and delivering industry-leading shareholder returns. Now, the last phase for me is to create a truly agile, performance-focused, consumer-centric company.

What was the culture you inherited? And what are you trying to do with it?

GSK was a great owner, but it was a pharma company, and the speed of a consumer business is very different. I joined GSK in 2015 through its Novartis joint venture, but we spent three years integrating that business. Then we announced the next deal, with Pfizer, and spent two years integrating that business. Then we spent a year separating [from GSK], and then we had to stand up [Haleon as a new] company. These are all incredibly internally focused things. So we needed to step back from that and create the right external focus and the right growth mindset and the right performance culture. 

What’s changed in your own leadership role?

I ran this business for six years as a division of GSK. I think there was maybe 20% of that role that was the same. It’s that big a difference. [Other CEOs] would talk to me about what it’s like to be a listed company CEO. And to a person, they said, “Listen, Brian, logically, we can tell you. But until you’re in the seat, you really won’t understand it.” And they were absolutely right.

I had a fantastic board, but they were relatively new to the business, so they needed to be educated on it. Despite all our efforts to separate and have everything set up the way we wanted to, these things are hard and they’re a little messy, so we needed to make some changes.

The other change was my external role, ensuring that I’m staying current on technology changes and what’s happening geopolitically, and talking with other CEOs on how they’re navigating these situations. I found people are extremely generous with their time. When you’re in that kind of role, it’s a unique place to be, and you need a different kind of support and advice.

You said the organization was quite tired. What have you learned about injecting energy at those moments?

As we moved to separation, I think a lot of people viewed it as the end, like we were getting to the finish line. And, by the way, they probably had an unrealistic view of how great it was going to be as our own company. I was the division head for 21 quarters, and I got maybe 10 questions [on GSK analyst calls] over those 21 quarters, so we were a bit protected by the umbrella of GSK. If I could do it over again, I might change a bit of the messaging for people going into this. Because I probably didn’t realize in my gut how different it was going to be, to be a listed company.

What I found is that purpose was really important to this company. So as we created the purpose, to deliver better everyday health with humanity, this organization connected to that. As we created a business that we wanted to be more agile, more consumer-focused, more performance-edged, for some people that really worked, and some people decided to make a different choice. But that’s part of the evolution of the company.

Is your strategy of pursuing “innovation-led premiumization” while expanding your reach to low-income consumers a bet that the economy will stay K-shaped for a while?

That’s right, and we see that on the premium side, there’s tremendous opportunity. On the low-income side, there’s tremendous opportunity. In the middle, there’s quite a bit of stress and pressure on the consumer. That’s a US thing, but that’s also a Europe thing, and we’re seeing that more globally.

People in the US are under tremendous uncertainty, whether it’s because they’re not sure what the [effects] of tariffs are going to be, or what’s going to happen with the war in Iran. Consumers are quite reticent here but the opportunity still exists to drive growth. I feel fortunate that we’re in consumer health because health really matters to consumers, and in health, brands really matter. But people can still make different choices, like, am I going to buy a cold and flu product ahead of having a cold and flu, or am I going to wait until I need it? Those behaviors have started shifting a bit, which has taken a bit of the growth rate off in the US, even in our categories.