Gerhard Roiss: OMV CEO

Gerhard Roiss was born in 1952 in Austria. He studied economics in Vienna and Linz universities before studying further economics at Stanford University. At the beginning of his professional career he joined OMV in 1990. His responsibilities were as head of Marketing while at the same time also being responsible for Exploration and Production. It was a busy start since he was also appointed to the board of PCD Polymere and Borelais.

Gerhard has been indispensible to OMV holding multiple roles in many instances. He was appointed to the board of OMV in 1997 and was made responsible for the Chemicals and Plastics division of the company and in 2000 also took responsibility for the Exploration and Production. On top of this Gerhard was also appointed chairman of Borealis in 2001. As testament to his importance he was promoted deputy CEO of the OMV Group in 2002.

Still serving in the above capacities, Gerhard was also appointed directed on the board of Aabar Investments in 2008, chairman of Nova Chemicals in 2009 and vice chairman of SPN Petroleum also in 2009.

He finally became CEO of OMV in April 2011.  OMV began as a state-owned company in Austria in 1956. It has since developed into one of the most successful industrial corporations in Austria.

Dr. Severin Schwan: Roche CEO

Dr. Severin Schwan was born in Austria, in 1967.  He studied economics at the universities of Innsbruck, York and Oxford earning a degree in 1991. He obtained a Doctorate in Law at the University of Innsbruck in 1993.

 Dr. Schwan has been a Roche company man all his life. He began his career as a trainee at Corporate Finance at Roche in Base, Switzerland.  Dr. Schwan earned a promotion in 1995 when he became Head of Finance & Administration at Roche Brussels.

He continued his rise through the ranks becoming Head of Finance and Informatics at Roche Grenzach, Germany and Member of the Executive Board of Roche Deutschland Holding GmbH in 1998. Dr. Schwan continued his fast rise in the organization becoming Head of Global Finance & Services, Roche Diagnostics, Basel in 2000.  

In 2004 Dr. Schwan became had Head of Region Asia Pacific, Roche Diagnostics, Singapore. In 2006 he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer Division Roche Diagnostics. Dr. Schwan finally got the prized job of Chief Executive Officer, Roche Group in 2008.

While company employees can work their whole life and not be promoted to the top position, Dr. Schwan reached the top post in around 15 years.  The company he leads it by no means a small one. Roche is one of the largest firms in the world.

Roche is a researched-focused healthcare company which discovers, develops and provides diagnostic and therapeutic products and services. The pharmaceutical company was founded on October 1, 1896. The founder Fritz Hoffman-La Roche, was among the first to recognize that the industrial manufacture of standardized medicines would be a major advancement in the fight against disease.  The firm today, has more than 80,000 employees and its products are sold in over 150 countries.

Roche is among the world’s leading healthcare companies with two strong core businesses: diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. In 2012 group sales was at 45.5 billion Swiss francs coming from oncology sales, and clinical laboratory businesses.

Dr. Schwan continues to lead the company through more milestones.