Basel, Switzerland, 10 May 2016 – Lonza today announced that its Board of Directors appointed Rodolfo Savitzky as new Chief Financial Officer for Lonza. In this function he will be succeeding Toralf Haag, who after 11 years of service for Lonza accepted an offer from the Voith Group in Germany to become their new CFO and member of the Corporate Board of Management. The change will be effective as of 1 October 2016, when Rodolfo Savitzky will also succeed Toralf Haag as a member of the Lonza Executive Committee.
Rodolfo Savitzky (54) joined Lonza in March 2015 as Head of Finance & Controlling for the Pharma&Biotech segment. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer for the Animal Health Division of Novartis. Prior to this position, Rodolfo Savitzky held various financial management positions with increasing responsibilities at Novartis and Procter & Gamble. He holds an MBA in Finance/Economics from the University of Chicago. With his broad financial and industry background, his thorough understanding of Lonza's strategic direction and his contributions to the Pharma&Biotech segment, Rodolfo Savitzky brings the necessary skillset to his new position.
Toralf Haag joined Lonza in 2005 as CFO and since then successfully led the financial organization of Lonza. He was significantly involved in the strategic development of Lonza and managed M&A projects successfully, as well as refinancing projects and the deleveraging of the company.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Toralf for the services he has provided to this company. He led the finance department vigilantly and managed to steer the financial activities of Lonza successfully also through difficult times. Today he can hand over a financially solid company with a healthy balance sheet,” said Lonza CEO Richard Ridinger. “With Rodolfo Savitzky we found an excellent internal solution; and with the handover in early October, we can benefit from a well-planned and thought-through handover process, in which Toralf will continue to support a number of important projects.”