MAI appoints Dr. Anders Harfstrand as head of its European Operations

The Makhteshim Agan Group announced the appointment of Dr. Anders Harfstrand as President & Chief Executive Officer of its Europe Region. The appointment is effective as of January 1, 2013.

Dr. Harfstrand, who will be based in the Company’s headquarters in Switzerland, has also been appointed a member of MAI’s senior management team. In his new role, he will work closely with MAI’s European Leadership Team, as well as promote cooperation between MAI’s Europe Region and its other regions to better facilitate the Company’s holistic business approach. He replaces Ignacio Dominguez, that is taking over the position of the Company’s Chief Commercial Officer and head of its Products & Marketing Division.

Dr. Harfstrand brings to MAI two decades of experience as a senior business executive at leading pharmaceutical companies. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Humabs Biomed SA, a Swiss-based company engaged in the discovery of human monoclonal antibodies and CEO of NITEC Pharma AG. Dr. Harfstrand was also the Senior Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales in charge of Central and Eastern Europe, the Nordic, Asia, Latin America and Canada at Serono International SA. Prior to that, he held a number of executive positions at Pfizer, including Executive Vice President of Specialty Products and Business Development of Pfizer Japan, as well as Vice President of Pharmacia in charge of several of the global main therapy areas.

He is a member of the boards of public and private Swiss pharmaceutical companies, as well as the Chairman of Harfstrand Consulting Company. Dr. Harfstrand received his PhD in Medical Science and MD from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.