Ring exchange at Roche’s top executive level

The Roche Board of Directors will propose Severin Schwan as new Chairman at the general meeting on 14 March 2023 to follow Christoph Franz who has decided to resign, which came as a surprise. Christoph Franz was elected to the Roche Board of Directors in 2011 and has served as its Chairman since 2014: ”After serving twelve years on the Board of Directors, nine of which as Chairman, I have decided not to seek re-election to the Board next year. We have achieved many important milestones and with the conclusion of Roche’s 125th anniversary, it is now the right time for a change in leadership.”

Severin Schwan has been a member of the Corporate Executive Committee since 2006 and has served as CEO of the company since 2008. He has been a member of the Roche Board of Directors since 2013. He commented: ”I am honoured to stand for the position of Chairman of the Roche Board of Directors and will continue to dedicate all my efforts to the future of this company.” André Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and representative of the Oeri and Hoffmann shareholder group stated: “Thanks to Christoph’s long term strategic vision, he has steered our company confidently and successfully through challenging times. Roche’s continued success is in no small part due to his personal contributions. I would like to thank him sincerely, also in the name of our families. As in the past, we are able to secure the succession to the Chairman and CEO roles with excellent leaders from within Roche. This is a great quality of our company.”

In another “ring exchange” effective 15 March 2023, the Board of Directors has appointed Thomas Schinecker, currently CEO of the Diagnostics Division, as CEO of Roche succeeding Severin Schwan. Thomas Schinecker holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and has been working for Roche in different leadership positions since 2003. He became CEO of the Diagnostics Division and a member of the Corporate Executive Committee in August 2019. Severin Schwan praises his successor: ””I am very pleased that the Board has appointed Thomas as the new Roche CEO. He is a highly qualified successor who has been working for Roche in leadership positions around the globe for twenty years. Thomas successfully set up our Diagnostics Division for the future. Under his leadership our Diagnostics organisation also made considerable contributions in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.””