Jean-Pierre Garnier elected as Chairman of Actelion's Board of Directors

09-30-2011: Actelion Ltd announced that Jean-Pierre Garnier has become Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss biopharmaceutical company. The Board of Directors elected him at their meeting, 27 September 2011. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Robert Cawthorn, who has been Chairman since the inception of the company, will stay on the Board as planned until the 2012 Annual General Meeting.

Jean-Pierre Garnier was elected to Actelion's Board of Directors at the company's Annual General Meeting on 5 May 2011.

From 2001 to 2008, Jean-Pierre Garnier was the first Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline. He assumed this role on the merger of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome. He joined SmithKline Beecham in 1990 as President of its pharmaceutical business in North America and served as Chairman, Pharmaceuticals from 1994 until his appointment as Chief Operating Officer in 1995. He was elected to the company's Board of Directors in 1992. He became Chief Executive Officer of SmithKline Beecham in April 2000.

Prior to SmithKline Beecham, Jean-Pierre Garnier served as President of Schering-Plough's US business. During his 15 years at Schering, he held various management positions, including General Manager of several overseas subsidiaries.

From 2008 to 2010, Jean-Pierre Garnier was CEO of Pierre Fabre Labs, a pharmaceutical and cosmetics company located in France

He serves on the Boards of Directors of the United Technologies Corporation and Renault S.A. He is Chairman of the US biopharmaceutical company NormOxys (biotechnology), serves on the Board of the French biotech firm Cerenis and acts as operating partner at Advent International, a global private equity firm.

Jean-Pierre Garnier holds a PhD in pharmacology and an MSc in pharmaceutical science from the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg in France. As a Fulbright Scholar, he earned an MBA at Stanford University, California, in 1974.