Earlier this year, Dutch medical device maker Royal Philips reached a $1.1 billion deal to settle thousands of claims stemming from a recall in 2021 of millions of its breathing machines like CPAPs and hospital ventilators, a crisis that dealt the 133-year-old technology company the biggest blow in its modern history.
So dramatic and reputation-damaging was the debacle for Philips—perhaps best known for its Norelco electric razors, electric toothbrushes, and irons—that CEO Roy Jakobs created a new C-suite role—chief patient safety and quality officer—that reports directly to him.
