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Basel,
13 December 2006
Reinforcement and further rejuvenation of Board and top
management
Roche
is reinforcing its Board of Directors with two experienced
business leaders at the next shareholders' meeting and
will move younger managers into key executive positions
in 2007.
Board
of Directors to be expanded
At the next annual general meeting of Roche shareholders
on 5 March 2007, the Board of Directors will propose that
Pius Baschera and Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer be elected as
additional members of the Board.
Prof.
Pius Baschera, a Swiss citizen born in 1950, is currently
chief executive of Hilti Corporation and designated chairman
of the Hilti board. After completing degrees in mechanical
engineering and management studies at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology, Zurich, Baschera joined Hilti
Corporation in 1979. He held a number of positions in
the United States and Europe before being appointed CFO
in 1990. In 1994 Prof. Baschera became chairman of the
executive board, a position he will step down from when
he becomes chairman of the board on 1 January 2007. Baschera
is an honorary professor at the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, Zurich.
Dr
Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, an Austrian citizen born in 1950,
is a graduate of Vienna University of Economics and Business
Administration. Since 2002 he has been CEO and chairman
of the executive board of OMV Aktiengesellschaft, in addition
to heading the company's natural gas and chemicals businesses.
Ruttenstorfer joined OMV in 1976 and was appointed to
the executive board in 1992. From 1997 to 1999 he was
Austria's deputy minister of finance, returning to OMV
in 2000. Ruttenstorfer is a recognised expert on the emerging
markets of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
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Roche
Headquarter in Basel
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Changes to the Corporate Executive Committee
From 1 January 2007 Pascal Soriot, head of Pharma Strategic Marketing,
will become head of Commercial Operations, with responsibility
for Roche Pharmaceuticals' regional and country organisations
and Strategic Marketing. As a new member of the Enlarged Corporate
Executive Committee, he will continue to report directly to the
CEO Division Roche Pharmaceuticals, William Burns.
Eduard Holdener,
head of Global Pharma Development, will retire at the end of 2007.
He will be succeeded by Jean-Jacques Garaud, who joins Roche on
1 January as a new member of the Pharma Executive Committee, reporting
to William Burns. Until the end of the year, Ed Holdener will
take over the function of Chief Medical Officer, with direct responsibility
for Drug Safety and Quality Audit and for establishing a new development
centre in Shanghai. All other Pharma Development functions will
report to Jean-Jacques Garaud as of 1 January 2007.
Claude Schreiner,
head of Roche Pharmaceuticals' Western Europe Region, will retire
at the end of May 2007 after more then 40 years of service in
key functions at Roche. He will be succeeded by Peter Hug, currently
head of Pharma Partnering.
Roche would
like to express its deep gratitude to Claude Schreiner and Eduard
Holdener for their long and very valuable contributions to the
company's success and wish them all the best for the future.
Announcing
the changes, Roche Chairman and CEO Franz B. Humer said, "These
new appointments continue the process we initiated a few years
ago of systematically strengthening the Group's top echelons and
bringing in new blood. It's been our policy for a good many years
to promote young executives from within the company and to strengthen
our organisation by recruiting recognised experts from outside.
In terms of managerial and professional expertise, age structure
and international experience, the Board, the Corporate Executive
Committee and the top management of both divisions are now very
well equipped to meet the challenges of the future."
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's
leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals
and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services
for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving
people's health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in
diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and
transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales
by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 27.3 billion Swiss francs,
and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion Swiss
francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries and
has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners,
including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai.
Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the
Internet (www.roche.com).
Roche
Board of Directors and Corporate Executive Committee
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