Solvias appoints new CEO
Pharmaceutical service provider Solvias announced an upcoming change to its operational management. The Board of Directors of Solvias AG has appointed Dr. Karen Huebscher to succeed Dr. Hansjörg Walther as CEO. Dr. Walther will retire and hand over operational management of the company to Karen Huebscher with effect from March 1, 2014.
Future CEO Karen Huebscher has extensive experience in the pharma sector. After obtaining her PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, she undertook postdoctoral research at Cambridge University. She was awarded an MBA by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne in 2000, after which she became Head of Investor Relations at Novartis. In 2006, she joined the global executive leadership team (Executive Committee) of the Vaccines and Diagnostics division, which has sales of more than USD 1.8 billion, over 6,000 employees (2012), and is headquartered in the US. As a member of the Executive Committee, she was responsible for business development (in- and outlicensing) and M&A. After her return from the US, Karen Huebscher took on responsibility for vaccines marketing in Europe and became Site Head for the Vaccines & Diagnostics division in Basel. In 2012, she founded FibulaMedical AG and was amongst other board commitments also appointed to the Board of Directors of Tecan AG. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Solvias AG since 2013.
Since the spin-off of the company in 1999, Hansjörg Walther has been a member of the Executive Committee of Solvias AG with responsibility for analytics, and became CEO in 2003. In 2013, under his leadership, Solvias completed a turnaround, made the first substantial acquisition in the company’s history, and has since been in a growth phase. Hansjörg Walther will retain his seat on the Board of Directors, and continue to follow and support Solvias with his experience in the future. For the purposes of improved corporate governance, Karen Huebscher will give up her seat on the Board of Directors when she takes over her new role.
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