Samanta Cimitan to (re)join Lonza from Celonic

Samanta Cimitan will join Lonza as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Senior Vice President and a member of the Extended Executive Committee on 1 January 2027. In the newly created role, she will lead Strategic Enterprise Account Management, Global Marketing and Commercial Excellence, with direct commercial responsibility for Lonza’s strategic accounts and responsibility for developing a unified go-to-market approach across the company’s three Business Platforms.

Cimitan joins Lonza from biologics CDMO Celonic, where she has served as Chief Executive Officer for more than three years. During her tenure, she led the company’s strategic transformation into a focused biologics CDMO and strengthened its commercial, operational, regulatory and innovation capabilities.

New hub of Celonic in Basel

Under her leadership, Celonic strengthened GMP performance at its Heidelberg site in Germany and secured an extension of its Manufacturing and Import Authorization for its mid-scale commercial manufacturing asset. The company also established its Biologics Development Center in Basel, Switzerland, focusing on next-generation bioprocessing technologies including process intensification and advanced perfusion.

Cimitan previously spent almost 13 years at Lonza in commercial and strategy leadership positions. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Lonza Group Operations Strategy, where she developed and led transformation programmes spanning Commercial, R&D and Operations.

Cimitan will leave Celonic towards the end of 2026. According to the company, the CEO succession process is well advanced and a successor has already been identified. An announcement is expected shortly. Cimitan will work with Celonic’s Chairman and the incoming CEO to ensure a smooth transition.