Christina Ackermann joined Sandoz in April 2007 as Global Head Legal and General Counsel from Novartis Pharma where she had served as Head Legal General Medicine since July 2005. She first joined Novartis in 2002 as Head Legal Technical Operations and Ophthalmics for Novartis Pharma.

Christina previously served in Associate General Counsel roles with Bristol-Myers Squibb and DuPont Pharmaceuticals, as well as in private practice, where she focused on securities and mergers & acquisitions work. A Canadian and US national, she has a Post Graduate Diploma in EC Competition Law from the University of London in the UK, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.

Christina is a member of numerous committees and international bodies, including the European Generics Association, the New York Bar and the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Santiago Alonso has been Head Quality Assurance at Sandoz since 2003. Prior to that, he had served, since 1998, as Head QA for Biochemie GmbH in Austria, with responsibility for creating and driving the quality organization for the recently created Generics Sector, later to become the BU Novartis Generics.

Santiago started his professional career in 1975 and occupied a variety of positions in Research and Development, Pilot Plant and Production, QA/QC, before becoming Head Quality Assurance for Biochemie SA in Spain in 1985. A Spanish national, he has a PhD in Chemical Science from the University of Barcelona, Spain.

Roger Bassoul took on the role of Head Commercial Operations Middle East, Turkey and Africa in February 2009.

A Lebanese national, Roger joined Novartis Pharma in 1997 and has held a number of country and general management roles in the Middle East and Africa regions including, most recently, Head of the Maghreb Cluster (which includes Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya).

Before joining Novartis, Roger worked in senior product, brand and strategy roles for companies in pharmaceuticals and other industries. He received a degree in economics from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, and an MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology in the US.

Helmut Fabry joined Sandoz in July 2007 as CEO Sandoz Germany and CEO Hexal AG. In this role, he oversees all operations for the German Sandoz companies and is responsible for growing the business and related brands while maximizing customer satisfaction.

Before joining Sandoz, Helmut served as Managing Director of Germany and Austria for Novartis Consumer Health in the OTC business unit. His experience prior to joining Novartis includes various marketing positions with Henkel, Bongrain and L’Oréal. A German national, Helmut has a degree in Psychology from the University of Muenster in Germany. He has received executive training in general management and leadership from IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland) and Harvard Business School (Boston, US).

Oscar Ferenczi is Head Commercial Operations Latin America. 

Oscar joined Sandoz from Merck and Co., where, since 2006, he had held the role of President of the company’s Brazilian subsidiary, overseeing a period of significant growth for Merck and a sales and marketing turnaround.  Prior to this, he held various senior sales and country management roles within Merck over 20 years, including General Manager positions in Ecuador, Peru and Chile and Head of Sales and Marketing in Mexico. 

A Puerto Rican-American national, Oscar holds a degree in Accounting and Business Administration from Muhlenberg College in Allentown and has undertaken post-graduate studies at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Columbia University; and Harvard University, all in the US.

Cesare Frontini joined Sandoz in July 2007 as Head Global Technical Operations (TechOps). He is responsible for all production-related activities for retail products.

Before joining Sandoz, Cesare was Supply Director Central Europe for Reckitt Benckiser. In this role, he was responsible for four Central European plants and was General Manager of Reckitt Benckiser Produktions GmbH and Kukident GmbH. He was also in charge of Global Supply Operations for the Automatic Dishwashing Category. During a career with the company spanning 12 years, he served in a variety of TechOps roles, including Global Packaging, Plant Manager and Supply Director Southern Europe. Prior to joining Reckitt Benckiser, Cesare served in manufacturing and packaging management positions with Unilever.

An Italian national, Cesare has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Milan Polytechnic, Italy.

Peter Goldschmidt assumed the position of Head Commercial Operations Central and Eastern Europe in January 2009. He joined Sandoz from Novartis Pharma where he was Country Group Head for the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia. Peter had been Country President for Novartis Healthcare in the Philippines from July 2007.

Between 2001 and 2007, he was a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis Pharma Germany, first as Head of Marketing, then Head of Sales. He was Head of Marketing for Novartis Pharma in Sweden between 1999 and 2001. Peter joined the Novartis Group in 1990 and held a number of positions in marketing, sales, strategic planning and organizational development.

A German national, Peter is a graduate in politics and economic geography – and holds a masters degree in sociology – from the University of Muenster in Germany. He has completed post-graduate studies at the London Business School, UK and at the Harvard Business School and Stanford Business School in the US.

Horst-Uwe Groh has been Head Global Human Resources for Sandoz since January 2005. He first joined Novartis from General Electric, where he had worked as a Human Resources executive for a number of GE businesses since 1998, most recently as Senior Vice President of GE Consumer & Industrial for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

Prior to joining GE, Horst-Uwe worked for Boehringer Mannheim in Italy and Germany, and at Hoffmann La-Roche in Basel. A German national, Horst-Uwe holds a PhD and master’s degree in Economics from Trier University in Germany. He has also received executive training in general management and leadership from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, the London Business School, UK and Harvard Business School, Boston, US.

Nick Haggar assumed the role of Head Commercial Operations Western Europe in October 2008. He is responsible for leading the teams across Western Europe and Scandinavia. Nick joined Sandoz from Ranbaxy, where he was regional director Europe, with responsibility for delivering aggressive sales growth across the region.

Nick started his career at Baxter in a Logistics and Manufacturing role. He then moved to the Glaxo Group where, over a period of 14 years, he held roles in operations, marketing, business development and general management for companies throughout the group. His final position at Glaxo was Vice President and Commercial Director for the Hospital and Vaccines division, GlaxoSmithKline Italy, where he led a team to accomplish a turnaround of the business.

A British national, Nick holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and a degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire, both in the UK.

Dr. Friedrich Hillebrand joined Sandoz in September 2009 as Head Global Oncology Injectables Business Unit. 

Before joining Sandoz, Friedrich was CEO of EBEWE Pharma, an Austrian-based company specializing in the development, production and supply of generic injectable products.  EBEWE was acquired by Sandoz in September 2009 as part of the company’s strategy of focusing on differentiated generic medicines.

Friedrich had worked at EBEWE since the late 1970s in senior roles encompassing operations, development and quality and helped to turn the company into a leader in its markets.

An Austrian national, Friedrich was awarded a PhD and masters degree from the University of Chemistry and Technology, Vienna, Austria.

Ameet Mallik joined Sandoz as Head Biopharmaceuticals in August 2009.  Previously, he was Brand Director for Tekturna for Novartis Pharma in the US.  Ameet joined Novartis Pharma in 2005 as Head of Global Strategic Planning and was a member of the Pharma Executive Committee.   

Before joining Novartis, Ameet spent five years at McKinsey & Company in the US.  He started his career at Abbott Labs in the US, holding roles in engineering and business development.  A US national, Ameet graduated with a BSc in Chemical Engineering and an MSc in Biotechnology from Northwestern University, US.  He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, US.

Ernst Meijnders has been Head Anti-Infectives at Sandoz since 2005 and CEO of Sandoz GmbH in Austria since June 2006. Ernst joined Sandoz in 2004, initially as Head Industrial Products.

Ernst started his career with six years spent in various technical roles with Esso in the Netherlands. In 1988 he began work with DSM where he held various senior management positions in the areas of plant maintenance, manufacturing and research & development, and since 1996 in general management positions with regional and global responsibilities in fine chemicals.

A Dutch national, Ernst completed his university training in the area of Mechanical/Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Delft, Netherlands.

Christine Mundkur joined Sandoz in January 2009 as President & Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz US Inc. and Head of Commercial Operations North America. In this role, she is responsible for Sandoz business in both the US and Canada.

Christine’s appointment at Sandoz followed a distinguished 15 year career at Barr, where she held executive leadership positions in Legal, Quality and Regulatory, most recently as global CEO responsible for the worldwide generics business. She previously served as Executive Vice President of Global Quality, Safety and Regulatory Affairs and, prior to this, was Senior Vice President Quality and Regulatory Counsel.

Christine is a US national and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Saint Louis University in the US and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Saint Louis University School of Law.

Kevin Plummer has been CFO Sandoz since August 2004. He began his career in consultancy and central/corporate finance roles before becoming Group Financial Controller for Guinness plc (now Diageo) in 1993. Following this, Kevin held the post of Chief Financial Officer for several of the affiliates within the Campbell’s Soup Company, ending his Campbell career as European CFO. In this role, he had extensive experience of successfully integrating acquisitions in a rapidly growing and highly profitable business.

A British national, Kevin completed a degree in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge in the UK before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers and Lybrand in London, UK.

Nathalie Ponnier joined Sandoz as Head Global Communications in July 2009. 

Previously, she was Global Head of Media & Stakeholder Relations for Novartis Group, a position she held from early 2008.  During a career with Novartis spanning several years, she moved from management positions in Pharma sourcing for local and regional marketing teams to Global Champion for Innovation, Quality and Productivity (IQP) in Pharma Affairs, then to Head Country Communications within the Corporate Communications team. 

Before joining Novartis, Nathalie held a number of senior sales and marketing roles, both in-house and with PR / Communications agencies.  A German national, Nathalie is a graduate in Marketing / Communications from the Academy of Marketing in Cologne, Germany, and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Richard Saynor joined Sandoz in 2005 as Head of Commercial Operations Asia-Pacific. In this role, he is responsible for growth and performance across this very wide and diverse range of countries, as well as for the Sandoz Global Injectables Business worldwide.

Before coming to Sandoz, Richard was European Area Director for Merck Generics Europe. He has more than 13 years' experience in business development, marketing and sales for companies including Merck Generics, Roche, GD Searle and Ivax.

Richard is a British national and is a qualified pharmacist.

Gerhard Schaefer joined Hexal AG as Head Business Development in February 2001 from Stada AG, where he had served as Head Business Development for Research and Development and as a board member in Biogenerics. In 2003, Gerhard became a Member of the Board of Directors for Hexal AG Development and Research.

Gerhard’s previous roles include positions in business development for BASF/Knoll AG, where he focused on the business areas of generics and melt-extrusion technology. He began his corporate career with Azupharma GmbH, working in the areas of pharmaceutical development, quality control, quality assurance, regulatory affairs and business development. A German national, he has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Stuttgart in Germany.