Having been critical in the past about Michael Smurfit's determination to hold both the chairman and chief executive's job, Current Account would be a bit of a curmudgeon if he didn't applaud Michael's belated decision to step down as chief executive and allow Gary McGann step into his shoes.
But now that Smurfit has adopted conventional corporate governance, can we expect other double-jobbing chairman/chief executives to do likewise.
Two names immediately come to mind, Elan's Donal Geaney and Kingspan's Gene Murtagh.
In Elan's case, the company is so US-focused (its primary listing is the NYSE and the vast bulk of trading takes place in New York) that it probably believes that US corporate governance is more appropriate for the company - the Americans are not too fussed about combined chairman/chief executive positions.
But Kingspan, for all its expansion in Britain and continental Europe, is very much an Irish company and it is simply no longer tenable that Gene Murtagh holds both positions.
The fact that he controls almost 24 per cent of Kingspan shares is no justification for continuing to combine the two positions and he should follow the Smurfit example and split the two roles.
