Christina Ackermann joined Sandoz in April 2007 as 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 in Canada.

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

Santiago Alonso has been Head QA 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.

Helmut Fabry joined Sandoz in July 2007 as Country Head 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`Oreal. 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, USA).

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.

Eric Gorka has been Head Commercial Operations Europe/Middle East/Africa for Sandoz since February 2006. Before assuming this position, Eric was General Manager for the Netherlands and later for Benelux. He also served as interim President and CEO of Sandoz in the US, where he led the integration of Sandoz and Eon Labs in 2005.

Eric joined Multipharma (later Sandoz) in 1984 as Medical Representative where he went on to assume various Marketing and Sales functions and was, in 1995, made Head Marketing and Business Development. In 1997, he joined Biochemie in Austria and was appointed Head of Marketing and Sales in 1998. A Dutch national, Eric has a post graduate degree in marketing, a Certificate in Pharmaceutical Economics, and a college degree (HBO) in Clinical Chemistry from Dr. Struycken Institute (Etten-Leur, Netherlands). In November 2007, he was elected president of the European Generics Association.

Horst-Uwe has been Head 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.

Bernhard Hampl is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sandoz Inc, the US operating unit of the company. He assumed this position in July 2005 following completion of the merger of Eon Labs and Sandoz.

Bernhard joined Hexal AG in 1995, charged with developing opportunities in the US generics market. In October 1995, Hexal acquired 50 percent of Eon Labs Inc, and 100 percent ownership in 2000. During this time, Bernhard served as President and CEO, until the merger with Sandoz in July 2005. Bernhard previously served with Cyanamid GmbH and its business units, Lederle and Durachemie GmbH. His experience includes roles as Department Head of Research and Development, Technical Director and Plant Director. A German national, Bernhard has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and a bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, both from Ludwig Maximillian University, Munich, Germany.

Hermann Hofmann joined Sandoz in February 2008, and has overall responsibility for developing the Sandoz communications strategy in line with the corporate business strategy. He leads global Sandoz activities in the areas of internal and external communications, corporate branding and donations / sponsoring.

Hermann joined Sandoz from the Pro Generika Verband in Berlin, the trade association of the German generics industry, where he served as managing director since 2004. He previously spent three years as director of communications and deputy general manager at the Federal Association of the German Pharmaceutical Industry. Prior to that, he worked for seven years for the Christian Social Union (CSU), the leading political party in the German state of Bavaria, including as head of communications and spokesman for the party leadership. He also has experience as a journalist, including as a correspondent for the leading “Welt am Sonntag” newspaper.

A German national, Hermann has a Masters Degree in Catholic Theology with minors in Political Science, Law, Sociology and Philosophy from the University of Frankfurt.

Ernst Meijnders has been head of the Anti-Infectives business unit since its creation in 2005. He joined Sandoz in 2004 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, as well as general management with local, regional and global responsibilities. A Dutch national, Ernst completed his university training in the area of Mechanical/Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Delft, Netherlands.

Werner Messner has been head of the Biopharmaceuticals business unit since its creation in June 2007. An Austrian national, he joined predecessor company Biochemie more than 40 years ago and has remained with Sandoz ever since.

Before assuming his current position, Werner spent two years as Head Strategy and M&A for Sandoz, based in Holzkirchen. Prior to the 2005 Sandoz-Hexal merger, he was Head Portfolio and Business Development & Licensing for Sandoz, based in Vienna. Werner is an Austrian national.

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.

Susanne Raehs joined Sandoz in 2007 with responsibility for the company’s five year strategic plans, both at the corporate and core business area levels. She comes to the organization from Altana Pharma AG, where, as VP Corporate Strategy and M&A, she managed the divestment of Altana Pharma.

Susanne’s previous experience includes seven years with management consultants Arthur D. Little, where her assignments covered strategy development, post-merger integration and restructuring.  From 2001 to 2004, she was with F. Hoffmann La-Roche’s Diagnostics Division as head of the Applied Science BU, in which role she successfully completed a restructuring of the business unit.

Susanne is a German national and holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and a PhD from the University of Bonn in Germany.

Richard Saynor joined Sandoz in September 2005 as Head Commercial Operations Asia Pacific. In this role, he is responsible for all commercial activities for the Asia Pacific region, including the key markets of China, Japan and India, as well as Latin America, Canada and Turkey.

Before joining Sandoz, Richard served with Merck Generics Europe as European Area Director. He has more than 12 years’ experience in the generics industry in the areas of business development, marketing and sales with Merck Generics, Roche, GD Searle and Ivax. A British national, Richard is a qualified pharmacist.