CHICAGO—Ventas, Inc. has just named Robert F. Probst as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer. Probst will join the company in October and work with retiring chief financial officer Richard A. Schweinhart through the transition. Probst will also join the Chicago-based REIT's executive leadership team and report directly to chairman and chief executive officer Debra A. Cafaro.
“What we were looking to do with this hire was bring on a strong CFO who had familiarity with public companies, international experience and knew how to build a large team,” Raymond Lewis, president of Ventas, tells GlobeSt.com. The company has made significant investments in Canada and the UK, and plans to continue investing internationally “so Bob's experience will be a great addition to our team.”
Ventas' portfolio of more than 1,500 assets in the US, Canada and the UK consists of seniors housing communities, medical office buildings, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals and other properties.
Probst, 46, served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Beam Inc. from 2008 to 2014. He helped establish the former unit of Fortune Brands as a standalone publicly-traded spirits company in 2011. Probst was Beam's chief financial officer from its inception as an independent, S&P 500 company to its $16 billion sale to Suntory Holdings Limited earlier this year. And from 2005 to 2008, Probst was vice president of finance, strategy and M&A for Baxter International Inc.'s $4 billion medication delivery business. Prior to that, he was with London-based Diageo plc from 1997 to 2005.
Perhaps most importantly, Ventas wanted a chief financial officer with “a successful track record of creating shareholder value at every stop they've made,” Lewis adds. “And I think Bob checks off all those boxes.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
