Appointment
Picture: Galapagos NV

New CEO for Galapagos

Co-founder and former board member of Galapagos NV Dr Paul Stoffels will take over the position of Chief Executive Officer at the Belgian company from April. He succeeds long-time CEO Onno van de Stolpe, who is retiring.

For more than 20 years van de Stolpe led the company, which was founded in 1999 as a joint venture of the biotech companies Crucell and Tibotec in Mechelen (B). Stoffels (born 1962) was also involved in the founding and he was a board member of Galapagos until 2002. He therefore knows the company very well, whose development he has, according to his own statements, always followed in the past years. For a transitional period, van de Stolpe will assist the new CEO in an advisory capacity.

Before joining Galapagos, van de Stolpe, who holds a doctorate in medicine, worked for Johnson and Johnson – most recently as deputy CEO and CSO. He started there after the takeover of Tibotec-Virco, which he co-founded in April 2002.