Media Release
Basel, 8. September 2008
Changes in Corporate Communications
After more than 11 years with Roche, Rolf Schläpfer, Head of Corporate Communications, has decided to resign from his position by the end of the year and to pursue his career outside the company. His successor will be announced in due course. Rolf Schläpfer has agreed to oversee important projects ad interim beyond the date of his resignation.
After graduating in business administration from the University of Zürich, Rolf Schläpfer, aged 52, held various positions in banking, marketing and communications. In his role as CEO of a consulting firm, he worked with Roche for several years before joining the company in 1997 as Head of Corporate Communications. At the beginning of 2006, he was appointed member of the Enlarged Executive Committee of Roche.
Rolf Schläpfer has been responsible for building up a professional and truly global communication organization, paving the way for an open and active internal and external communications policy.
The company would like to thank Rolf Schläpfer for his long standing contributions to the company's success and wishes him all the best for the future.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
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