Roche: Bill Anderson, Mark Schneider, Silke Hörnstein, Akiko Iwasaki, Annette Luther

Roche has announced multiple changes to its board of directors and corporate executive committee, including the resignation of Bill Anderson, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, and the proposal to appoint Mark Schneider and Akiko Iwasaki to the board. 

Anderson will resign effective Dec. 31, and Roche Diagnostics CEO Thomas Schinecker will take over as interim Roche Pharmaceuticals CEO on Jan. 1. The company previously announced that Schinecker will take over as the Roche Group's CEO from Severin Schwan in March, when Schwan will become chairman of the board. Matt Sause will become CEO of Roche Diagnostics on Jan. 1.

Anderson, who has served as CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals since 2019, joined Roche subsidiary Genentech as SVP of the immunology and ophthalmology business unit in 2006 and then took over the BioOncology business unit. In 2013 he became the head of global product strategy and chief marketing officer for Roche Pharmaceuticals, and in 2016 he took over the North American operations for Genentech, later becoming CEO of the subsidiary.

Silke Hörnstein will become head of corporate strategy, secretary to the corporate executive committee, and will become a member of the enlarged committee in April. Hörnstein is currently the global head of strategy and transformation for Roche's diagnostics division. Hörnstein joined Roche in 2001 and has served as director of direct procurement, as well as diagnostics general manager for Denmark. She has also led multiple global programs for Roche, including digital transformation for the diagnostics business. 

The board of directors will propose at Roche's annual meeting in March that Mark Schneider and Akiko Iwasaki be appointed as new members. Schneider has served as CEO of Nestle since 2017 and was previously CEO of the Fresenius Group, a German healthcare company. Iwasaki is a professor of immunobiology and molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University. She is also an investigator at the Howard Huges Medical Institute, a nonprofit medical research organization.

Roche also announced that Annette Luther, secretary to the board of directors, will be appointed head of international government relations in April. Per-Olof Attinger, who is currently secretary to the corporate executive committee, will take over Luther's position.