Philips Names Van Houten New CEO as of April 2011

Royal Philips Electronics (PHG) named Frans van Houten as its new CEO, effective April 2011.

Van Houten, 50, will replace Gerard Kleisterlee, Bloomberg News reported. Van Houten was a member of the Philips management board until 2006, and led the spinoff of the company's semiconductor business.

"It's a solid appointment," Joost de Graaf, a senior portfolio manager who helps oversee about $700 million at Kempen & Co NV in Amsterdam, told Bloomberg News. "He knows Philips well and has a lot of experience in different fields."

Van Houten joined Philips in 1986, working in several different positions within the company, including co-head of consumer electronics and CEO of semiconductors.

Kleisterlee, 63, has worked at the company for over 30 years and will retire.