Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

(CEO) of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

Early life

Pascal Soriot was born in France on 23 May 1959. His father died when he was 20. He studied veterinary medicine at the

École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort The National veterinary school of Alfort ( or ''ENVA'') is a French public institution of scientific research and higher education in veterinary medicine, located in Maisons-Alfort, Val-de-Marne, close to Paris. It is operated under the superv ...

Maisons-Alfort Maisons-Alfort () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Maisons-Alfort is famous as the location of the National Veterinary School of Alfort. The Fort de Charenton, constructed betw ...

in Paris. He later obtained an MBA at

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fin ...

Career

Roussel Uclaf

In April 1986, he joined

Roussel Uclaf Roussel Uclaf S.A. was a French pharmaceutical company and one of several predecessor companies of today's Sanofi. It was the second largest French pharmaceutical company before it was acquired by Hoechst AG of Frankfurt, Germany in 1997, wit ...

(formerly France's second largest pharmaceutical company, until bought by

Hoechst AG Hoechst AG () was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999. With the new company's 2004 merger with Sanofi-Synthélabo, it became a subsidiary of th ...

in 1997) as a salesman in Australia. In 1996, he became General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, moving to Tokyo in April 1997.

Aventis

In 2000 he moved to Aventis in America, becoming chief operating officer of Aventis USA in 2002, which became

Sanofi Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. Originally, the corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Syn ...

Aventis USA in 2004.

Roche

He joined Roche in 2006. From April 2009 to 2010, he was chief executive of the Roche subsidiary

Genentech Genentech, Inc., is an American biotechnology corporation headquartered in South San Francisco, California. It became an independent subsidiary of Roche in 2009. Genentech Research and Early Development operates as an independent center within ...

. He rejoined Roche Pharma AG in 2010 as chief operating officer.

AstraZeneca

In August 2012 he was named as the new chief executive of

, the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, when aged 53. He took up the post on 1 October 2012. In July 2017, it was reported that Soriot would become the next CEO of Israel-based

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (also known as Teva Pharmaceuticals) is an Israeli multinational pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel. It specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include ...

, succeeding Erez Vigodman, though this was soon denied. In September 2018, he made headlines commenting on his pay of £9.4m in salary and bonuses. 'The truth is I’m the lowest-paid CEO in the whole industry', he said. 'It is annoying to some extent. But at the end of the day it is what it is.'

Personal life

He is married and has two children. He has three brothers, all of whom are doctors. Soriot was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...

in the

2022 Birthday Honours The 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to UK life sciences and the response to COVID-19. He qualifies for a substantive

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

rather than an honorary one by virtue of being an Australian citizen.

References

External links

Roche
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soriot, Pascal 1959 births Living people AstraZeneca people HEC Paris alumni Chief operating officers Chief executives in the pharmaceutical industry French chief executives French veterinarians Genentech people Hoffmann-La Roche people Sanofi people French expatriates in Australia Australian Knights Bachelor