Novartis Appoints New Sandoz CEO

On April 24, 2019, Novartis announced the appointment of Richard Saynor as CEO of Sandoz effective no later than Aug. 1, 2019. He will be a member of Novartis’ executive committee and report to Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis.

Saynor, currently senior vice-president of classic and established products, commercial and digital platforms at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has more than 20 years of global leadership experience spanning both generics and established pharmaceutical brands. He currently manages a $10-billion established products portfolio, which comprises over 350 brands commercialized in over 120 countries. In addition, Richard oversees the commercial digital platforms across all of GSK's pharmaceutical franchises.

Prior to GSK, Richard held commercial operations leadership roles at Sandoz and oversaw an expansion of Sandoz' generics business across Asia, Latin America, and Turkey. Richard is a pharmacist by training and started his pharma business career as a sales representative at pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle in the United Kingdom.

In March 2019, Novartis announced that Richard Francis would step down as CEO of Sandoz and as a member of the Novartis executive committee effective March 31, 2019. Francesco Balestrieri, region head Europe, Sandoz, has been appointed to act as ad-interim CEO of Sandoz, to report to Narasimhan.

Source: Novartis