Press Release : Novartis announces change to the Executive Committee

 
   -- Shannon Klinger, Chief Legal Officer, to leave Novartis on March 15, 2021 
 
   -- Thomas Kendris appointed Chief Legal Officer ad interim 
 
 
   Basel, March 5, 2021 -- Novartis announced today that Shannon Thyme 
Klinger, Chief Legal Officer, has decided to resign from Novartis and 
return to the US to take an executive role at a biotechnology company. 
Ms. Klinger will step down from the Executive Committee of Novartis 
(ECN), effective March 15, 2021. 
 
   Thomas N. Kendris, currently Global Head Litigation and US Country 
President, will be appointed Chief Legal Officer ad interim and attendee 
to the ECN in this capacity. Novartis has started an executive search 
process to evaluate internal and external candidates for the role of its 
Chief Legal Officer. 
 
   As Global Head of Litigation, Mr. Kendris has been accountable for 
leading Novartis Group material litigations and investigations globally. 
In his more than 25 years with Novartis, he was Novartis US Country Head 
of Legal, and held country-level responsibility for Legal across all 
Novartis US Divisions. He also served as Vice President and General 
Counsel of US Pharma at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, as well as 
Global General Counsel for Novartis Oncology and for Novartis Vaccines 
and Diagnostics. 
 
   Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis said: "I thank Shannon for her 
leadership, counsel, and impact on our businesses over 10 years with our 
company. She has created one of the most respected legal departments 
within the industry, including for its commitment to diversity and 
inclusion. I wish her the very best for her future. We are pleased that 
Tom Kendris, with his 25 years of experience across Novartis businesses, 
will serve ad-interim as Chief Legal Officer." 
 
   Disclaimer 
 
   This press release contains forward-looking statements within the 
meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 
1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words 
such as "to leave," "ad interim," "started," "potential," "will," "may," 
"could," "would," "expect," "wish," "commitment," or similar terms, or 
by express or implied discussions regarding the appointment of Mr. 
Kendris as Chief Legal Officer ad interim and attendee to the ECN in 
this capacity, and regarding the executive search process to evaluate 
candidates for the role of Novartis Chief Legal Officer. You should not 
place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking 
statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding 
future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks 
and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties 
materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual 
results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking 
statements. There can be no guarantee that the executive search process 
to evaluate candidates for the role of Chief Legal Officer will achieve 
the desired outcome, or that it will do so in any particular time frame. 
In particular, our expectations regarding the outcome of the forward 
looking statements in this press release could be affected by, among 
other things, the availability of qualified and interested candidates 
for the role of Novartis Chief Legal Officer; general political, 
economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts 
to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19, and other risks and 
factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the 
US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the 
information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake 
any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in 
this press release as a result of new information, future events or 
otherwise. 
 
   About Novartis 
 
   Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. 
As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and 
digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of 
great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently 
rank among the world's top companies investing in research and 
development. Novartis products reach nearly 800 million people globally 
and we are finding innovative ways to expand access to our latest 
treatments. About 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work at 
Novartis around the world. Find out more at  https://www.novartis.com/ 
https://www.novartis.com. 
 
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 05, 2021 01:00 ET (06:00 GMT)