CordenPharma announced the appointments of Dr Riku Heikki Rautsola as the new CEO and President, Dr Walter Kittl as the new COO and as of May 2018, Heiko Serwe as its new CFO.
Dr Riku Rautsola has an extensive global executive career spanning more than 30 years in life science companies with broad functions and increasing responsibilities along the entire biopharmaceutical value chain.
Rautsola brings knowledge, experience and a positive track record to CordenPharma. His prior experience consists of high level executive and supervisory board level positions within large global companies as well as within medium and small-sized innovative corporations.
On several occasions Rautsola has been an interim executive for CordenPharma, initiating significant and valuable progress for the group. Born in Tampere, Finland, Riku Rautsola holds a PhD in Health Economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany. He is a holder of several applicational patents and awards for his internationally recognised achievements.
Dr Walter Kittl has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, CMO and fine chemical industries. Kittl brings a holistic understanding of pharmaceutical manufacturing operations resulting from a multi-faceted career beginning as a Project Manager in R&D and manufacturing at DSM Fine Chemicals.
Kittl then held various senior management positions with increasing levels of responsibility at Roche, where he became Site Manager of the Basel Chemical Manufacturing site and at Siegfried, where he was President and General Manager of Siegfried US before becoming the Head of Global Technical Operations with oversight over all drug substance and drug product sites.
Kittl is an Austrian citizen and holds a PhD in Chemistry from the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Heiko Serwe will join CordenPharma from the industrial holding company Adcuram Group, where he was Director of Finance and Controlling for a number of portfolio companies.
Prior to that Serwe held various positions of increasing responsibility at Gerresheimer, culminating as Head of Finance and Controlling. Serwe is a German citizen with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hannover and a degree in Economics from the University of Hagen.
Dr Macniell Esua, Chief Compliance Officer, CordenPharma International and Dr Michael Quirmbach, Chief Business Officer, CordenPharma International, remain part of the CordenPharma Management team since their appointments in 2016 and 2014 respectively.
Managing Directors Dr Achim Riemann and Patrick Schnitzer of CordenPharma’s parent company International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) are pleased with the appointments of Riku Rautsola, Walter Kittl and Heiko Serwe as CEO, COO and CFO respectively, and are confident the leadership, business acumen and track record of this new executive team will bring vision and growth to realise the full potential of CordenPharma in the years to come.
