Cipla appoints a new Chief Executive Officer

Cipla, one of India’s leading pharmaceutical companies, is delighted to announce the appointment of  Mr. Subhanu Saxena as its Chief Executive Officer. Subhanu comes to Cipla with rich work experience of 25+ years, having worked with companies such as Citicorp, The Boston Consulting Group, and PepsiCo, across markets in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.

In his last assignment he led the Global Product Strategy and Commercialization functions at Novartis Pharma AG.  In this role, Subhanu was a part of the Global Pharma Executive Committee (USD 30 bn sales), with responsibility for marketing, sales, global medical affairs and health economics.

Subhanu will assume the position at Cipla Ltd. on February 1, 2013.

Subhanu has a graduate degree in Engineering from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD, France.The Board sub-committee entrusted with the search process was particularly impressed with Subhanu’s work experience in diverse industries—non-pharma as well as pharma–in diverse geographies, in successfully managing large and complex profit businesses, and the culture fit with Cipla and its core values. In an immediately preceding assignment, Subhanu, as CEO and Country President of Novartis Pharma UK, led a business turnaround resulting in the company’s pharmaceuticals organization becoming one of the fastest growing UK pharma businesses.

In the last one year, Cipla has staffed senior executives in some of its key business functions, verticals and geographies, including key corporate and business heads in markets such as Europe and Australia, and corporate functions such as HR, IT, Legal and Strategy. Subhanu will report to the Chairman and the Board of Directors of the company.

Speaking of the appointment, Cipla Chairman Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied said: “We are delighted to have found such a good match for Cipla in Subhanu. Cipla has a strong vision for the future. I am confident Subhanu will build on Cipla’s core values to deliver the next phase of growth, competitiveness and return on shareholder value.”