CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals Stepping Down; Successor To Be Named

Roche reports that Bill Anderson, CEO Roche Pharmaceuticals and member of the Corporate Executive Committee, has decided to pursue opportunities outside of Roche, effective December 31, 2022. A successor will be appointed by March 2023. Thomas Schinecker, currently CEO of Roche’s Diagnostics Division, will become the ad interim CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals starting January 1, 2023, when he hands over the CEO Roche Diagnostics role to Matt Sause, currently Head of Roche Diagnostics’ North America Region. Roche has two main Divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics.     

In July (July 2022), Schinecker was named as Roche Group CEO, effective March 15, 2023. As previously reported, Roche’s Board of Directors plans to propose Severin Schwan, currently Roche Group CEO, as the new Chairman at the company’s annual general meeting in March 2023. Schwan will take over from Christoph Franz, Roche’s current Chairman, who announced in July (July 2022) that he would not seek re-election to the Board of Directors at the company’s annual general meeting in March 2023. 

Anderson joined Roche’s Genentech as Senior Vice President of the Immunology and Ophthalmology Business Unit in South San Francisco, California in 2006, before leading the BioOncology Business Unit. He moved to Basel, Switzerland  and became Head of Global Product Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer for Roche’s Pharma business in 2013. By 2016, he returned to San Francisco to lead  North American Operations of Genentech and, shortly thereafter, was appointed CEO of Genentech before taking over his current role in 2019.  

Source: Roche