WARNER-LAMBERT NAMES LODEWIJK DE VINK TO HEAD U.S. OPERATIONS

WARNER-LAMBERT NAMES LODEWIJK DE VINK TO HEAD U.S. OPERATIONS in a "realignment of executive responsibilities" announced March 19. De Vink was previously in charge of international operations. As exec VP and president-U.S. operations, de Vink assumes a role and a title not used since 1985, when the position was occupied by company President/Chief Operating Officer Melvin Goodes. John Walsh succeeds de Vink as president of the international operations. De Vink, 45, now appears to be the number three man at Warner-Lambert. He will report to Goodes and assumes some of Goodes' current duties in his new post. Reporting to de Vink will be Parke-Davis President Joseph Smith, 51, Consumer Health Products Group President Raymond LeFebvre, 51, and American Chicle President Robert Serenbetz, 45. De Vink joined Warner-Lambert in his current post with the international group in 1988, after a long career at Schering-Plough. During his 20 years at Plough he held a variety of marketing and general management positions in the firm's pharmaceutical and consumer products businesses in the U.S., Canada and Europe. De Vink capped his career at Plough as Schering International president from 1986-88. Williams, commenting on de Vink's joining Warner-Lambert in the company's 1988 annual report, said the management team had been "significantly strengthened" by his appointment and highlighted de Vink's "experience and stature." Walsh, 47, has been with Warner-Lambert for 23 years, most recently as president of the Canada/Latin America group. He will report to Goodes. Under Walsh's directions will be Jay Gwynne, president of the Asia/Australia/Capsugel group, and Sam Maugeri, the former Parke-Davis president and now president of the Europe/Middle East/Africa group. Succeeding Walsh as the head of the Canada/Latin America group is Frank Lazo, 42. Lazo, who will also report to Walsh, has been president of the Brazil/Chile/Peru/Uruguay group. A native of Peru, Lazo also has been elected a corporate VP. In a release on the reorganization, Williams suggested the changes were part of a smooth transition of power in preparation for his mandatory retirement in 1991. "These actions," he explained, "are designed to enhance the development and experience base of our senior executives and to help assure the sustained growth of Warner-Lambert in the years to come." The realignment was preceded last March by other executive shifts also designed to pave the way for the succession of Melvin Goodes to chairman ("The Pink Sheet" March 6, 1989, T&G-8). They included the creation of the unit Gwynne directs and Maugeri's move from Parke-Davis.