Cipla, one of India’s leading pharmaceutical company, has appointed Subhanu Saxena as its Chief Executive Officer. Subhanu will assume CEO position at Cipla on February 1, 2013.

Subhanu will report to the Chairman and the Board of Directors of the company.

Speaking of the appointment, Dr Yusuf K Hamied, Chairman of Cipla said, “We are delighted to have found such a good match for Cipla in Subhanu. Cipla has a strong vision for the future. I am confident Subhanu will build on Cipla’s core values to deliver the next phase of growth, competitiveness and return on shareholder value.”

Subhanu Saxena said, “It is indeed an honour and privilege to be working for Cipla. I am looking forward to working with such a talented and committed team, under the guidance of Dr Y K Hamied and the Board. Cipla has achieved several milestones but a wider canvas lies ahead in terms of opportunity and areas for growth.”

Before joining Cipla, Subhanu, an engineering graduate from Oxford University and an MBA from INSEAD, France has 25+ years of work experience. He had worked with companies such as Citicorp, The Boston Consulting Group, and PepsiCo, across markets in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.

Earlier he led the Global Product Strategy and Commercialisation functions at Novartis Pharma AG. In this role, Subhanu was a part of the Global Pharma Executive Committee (US$ 30 bn sales), with responsibility for marketing, sales, global medical affairs and health economics.

The Board sub-committee entrusted with the search process was particularly impressed with Subhanu’s work experience in diverse industries—non-pharma as well as pharma--in diverse geographies, in successfully managing large and complex profit businesses, and the culture fit with Cipla and its core values. In an immediately preceding assignment, Subhanu, as CEO and Country President of Novartis Pharma UK, led a business turnaround resulting in the company’s pharmaceuticals organization becoming one of the fastest growing UK pharma businesses.

In the last one year, Cipla has staffed senior executives in some of its key business functions, verticals and geographies, including key corporate and business heads in markets such as Europe and Australia, and corporate functions such as HR, IT, Legal and Strategy.