Novartis announced that effective March 2, 2011 Naomi Kelman is appointed head of the Novartis OTC division and will become a permanent attendee to the executive committee of Novartis (ECN), reporting to Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis.

Kelman joins Novartis from Johnson & Johnson where she has held several leadership roles within both the consumer and medical device and diagnostic sectors. Her successful leadership across several businesses has demonstrated a strong focus on innovation, which in turn delivered strong financial results.

"With the upcoming Alcon merger, we have decided to put additional focus on two important businesses which today comprise the consumer health division: OTC and animal health, by streamlining and simplifying our decision making process," said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis. "We look forward to Naomi joining our leadership team - her experience in consumer businesses, combined with her drive for results make her well suited to run our OTC business. George Gunn's extensive experience in Animal Health will increase the focus and growth prospects for this business."

The Novartis OTC and animal health businesses will become separate Novartis divisions, in addition to the Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz (generics), vaccines & diagnostics divisions. As previously announced, following the completion of the merger between Novartis and Alcon, CIBA Vision and Novartis ophthalmic medicines will be merged into the new Alcon eye care division of Novartis. Until the close of the Alcon transaction, George Gunn will continue to manage the CIBA Vision business. Gunn will remain a member of the ECN in his new role as Head of Animal Health and, on March 2, 2011, will additionally become responsible for Corporate Social Responsibility for Novartis (CSR), elevating CSR to the executive committee level.