Franz Bernhard Humer (born 1 July 1946, in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, Austria) is a Swiss-Austrian businessman, and the former chairman of

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

, and of

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

Life and career

Humer studied law at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

and later obtained a doctorate in law. He also earned a master's degree in business from

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

. Between 1973 and 1995, Humer worked for pharmaceutical companies

Schering-Plough Schering-Plough Corporation was an American pharmaceutical company. It was originally the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Schering AG, which was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering. As a result of nationalization, it becam ...

and

Glaxo GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...

in various countries. He became a member of the board of directors and head of the pharmaceuticals division of the Swiss pharmaceutical company

in 1995. From 1996 until 1998 he was COO of Roche, then CEO until 2008, when

Severin Schwan Severin Schwan (born November 17, 1967) is the CEO of the Roche group. He joined in 1993 as a trainee and has stayed with the company ever since. Early life and career He served on the board at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and is the Vice-Pre ...

took over. Additionally, he was chairman from 2001 to 2014. Humer was chairman of

Reed Elsevier RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

from July 2008 to September 2010, when he was succeeded by

Anthony Habgood Sir Anthony John Habgood (born 8 November 1946) is a British businessman. From 1991 to 2005, he was chief executive of Bunzl. He was also the chairman of Whitbread from 2005 to 2014, RELX Group and of the Court of the Bank of England. He has be ...

. He was chairman of

, a British multinational alcoholic beverages company, until January 2017, when he was succeeded by Javier Ferrán. Humer is married and lives in Erlenbach, Switzerland. He obtained Swiss citizenship in 1989.

Other

Humer is chairman of the

International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with a regional presence in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia, is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit global organization. It com ...

, a global non-profit organization that combats

child sexual exploitation Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...

, and

child abduction Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a Minor (law), minor (a child under the age of Age of majority, legal adulthood) from the Child custody, custody of the child's Parent, natural parents or Legal guardian, legally appo ...

. Humer was chairman at the

school of business from 2008 to 2014.

Honors

*2000:

Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

*2006: Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria *2014: Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore) *2016: Honorary Senator of the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university A public university or public college is a univ ...

*Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Sciences at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

*Honorary doctorate from the London School of Pharmacy

References

1946 births Living people Swiss businesspeople Austrian businesspeople Austrian chairpersons of corporations British corporate directors Swiss chairpersons of corporations Diageo people Hoffmann-La Roche people {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub