Lausanne, Switzerland
Andre Calantzopoulos, President and Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International, Inc. has announced a number of significant executive appointments within the company's Research and Development department.
Joining Philip Morris International as the Senior Vice President, Research and Development will be Doug Dean, an executive with more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, specialising in risk exposure assessment and regulatory compliance. Dr. Dean joins the company from a senior role with IBM's Life Sciences practice, and previously worked for the Global Pharmaceutical practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Process Control and Automation Centre of Excellence in the Rockwell International group of companies.
Among the other appointments announced on Monday were those of Frances Bruttin as Vice President Product Regulatory Affairs, Moira Gilchrist as Director Quality Management, and Hugh Brown as Product Risk Management Project Director. Ms. Bruttin, Dr. Gilchrist and Dr. Brown all have extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry in areas related to risk management, product compliance and innovation management and their work has been widely published in professional journals worldwide.
In announcing these appointments, Mr. Calantzopoulos said: "One of Philip Morris International's key strategic priorities is to work relentlessly on harm reduction. Our research and development function is central to the success of this strategy, which includes a sharp focus on our efforts to develop, manufacture and commercialize new products which may have the potential to reduce the harm caused by smoking".
Dr. Dean succeeds Urs Nyffeler, who is retiring after 37 years of exemplary service to the company. Mr. Nyffeler successfully initiated a multi-year strategic transformation of the research and development function at Philip Morris International, to enhance its capabilities and processes for product development and risk assessment.
"Maintaining strong leadership, innovation and executional excellence in research and development is paramount to our future success", said Mr. Calantzopoulos. "The addition of four world-class pharmaceutical industry professionals to the existing strengths and capabilities of our organisation will significantly enhance our ability to meet these goals".
The appointments announced on Monday will be effective July 1st, 2006.
Philip Morris International Inc., with business headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, held a 15.5% share of the international cigarette market in 2005. Its brands, led by MARLBORO and L&M, are sold in over 160 countries around the world. PMI is an operating company of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) More information is available at www.philipmorrisinternational.com.
CONTACT: Philip Morris International press office +41-21-618-4500 pmi.pressoffice@pmintl.com
CONTACT: Philip Morris International press office +41-21-618-4500 pmi.pressoffice@pmintl.com , ,
Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)