Santhera Appoints New Board Directors

Hans Peter Hasler and Martin Gertsch add pharmaceutical and financial expertise

19-Sep-2006

Santhera Pharmaceuticals announced the recent appointments of Hans Peter Hasler, currently Senior Vice President and Head of International Business at Biogen Idec, and Martin Gertsch, who was until recently Chief Financial Officer of Straumann Group, to its non-executive Board of Directors. According to the company, the new members of the Board bring extensive and valuable pharmaceutical and financial expertise to support Santhera's future corporate development.

Hans Peter Hasler has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board and a Member of the Audit Committee. Since 2003, he has managed Biogen Idec's International business. Prior to the merger between Biogen and Idec, he led Commercial Operations for Biogen, based in the company's worldwide headquarters in Cambridge, MA. Hans Peter Hasler joined Biogen in 2001 from Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of American Home Products, where he worked for eight years, serving since 1998 as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Strategic Marketing. He previously held several senior management positions with American Home Product/Wyeth, including Managing Director for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe. Before joining Wyeth, he was Head of Abbott, Switzerland. Hans Peter Hasler holds a Federal Commercial Diploma from the Canton of Bern and received a Marketing Manager Certificate from the Swiss Institute of Business and Economics (SIB), Zurich, Switzerland. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Orexo AB, Uppsala, Sweden.

Martin Gertsch is a seasoned Chief Financial Officer and management consultant with extensive experience in working with rapidly growing companies. As a senior financial professional, Martin Gertsch chairs the Board's Audit Committee. Until the beginning of 2006 he was Chief Financial Officer of Basel-based Straumann Group, a global leader in implant dentistry and oral tissue regeneration. He joined Straumann in 1997 as Head of Group Controlling and Reporting of Straumann Holding AG. From 1986 to 1997 Martin Gertsch worked as Audit Engagement Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Basel, Switzerland. Martin Gertsch, who is a Swiss Certified Fiduciary and Swiss Certified Public Accountant, has completed several executive development programs at IMD (International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

As a result of the changes announced today, Santhera's Board of Directors consists of Michael Lytton (Chairman), Hans Peter Hasler (Vice-Chairman), Martin Gertsch, Rudolf Gygax, Georg Nebgen, Timothy J. Rink and Bernd R. Seizinger.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/57995/santhera-appoints-new-board-directors.html