Daniel Vasella

When Daniel Vasella, M.D., announced in late January that he was giving up the chief executive role at Novartis, the world’s thirdlargest pharmaceutical company, and would stay on just as chairman, it came as something of a surprise to many people in the industry. Vasella is widely viewed as the architect of the company’s successful program of rapid growth. Under his leadership, Novartis executed a set of carefully chosen acquisitions, mergers, divestitures and research investments. Less than a month before relinquishing his operating role, Vasella announced the acquisition of a controlling interest in Alcon, a Swiss eye-care firm, from Nestlé, a purchase that is still subject to approval of the shareholders and the companies’ boards. Vasella’s successor as chief executive is Joe Jimenez, a relative newcomer to the company who headed its pharmaceuticals division. Concurrent with news that Vasella was stepping down as chief executive, Novartis announced a 50 percent increase in profits for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Vasella practiced medicine for eight years before joining Sandoz, a Swiss drug maker, where he quickly rose to become president. Under his leadership, Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy in 1996 to form Novartis. Vasella was Novartis’s first chief executive and became its chairman in 1999. Since becoming chairman, Vasella sold the company’s agriculture businesses, its medical nutrition businesses and its baby foods division. During that same period, he spent $59 billion on acquisitions (not including January’s purchase of Alcon’s shares) to create a company that produces prescription drugs, vaccines, generic medicines and over-thecounter products.

Perhaps most controversial for the chairman of a Swiss-based firm whose oldest antecedent company was started in 1758 was Vasella’s decision to move Novartis’s research center from Basel to Cambridge, Mass., to be near universities like Harvard and M.I.T. In addition, in November 2009, Novartis announced a $1 billion investment to create a research and development center in Shanghai.

Vasella, a 56-year-old Swiss, is a man of many parts. He has been called a risk taker, a strong advocate for cutting-edge R&D, a peopleoriented manager and a passionate family man; he has been observed taking calls from his children during senior-level business meetings. With his decision to leave his operating role at Novartis, Vasella will also be known as someone who understands when it is time to make a change.

Vasella spoke with Joel Kurtzman, editor-in-chief of Briefings on Talent & Leadership, about Novartis and about succession, his new role and the trends he sees for the coming decade.