Galapagos Appoints Chief Financial Officer
Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.
Galapagos has appointed David R. Smith as Chief Financial Officer to Galapagos per February 1, 2006. With this appointment, Galapagos further strengthens its Executive Committee to lead the Company in its next phase of development.
David Smith joins Galapagos from AstraZeneca Netherlands. Upon his arrival, Vicky Gwosdz, currently Head of Finance of Galapagos, will continue as Controller at Galapagos.
“We are very pleased that someone of David's caliber has agreed to join us,” commented Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos.
“David has very relevant experience for us, having worked as a CFO in the pharma industry, having been involved with a number of pharma R&D projects, and having both accountancy and scientific degrees.”
“His international exposure will also be a tremendous asset to the now enlarged Galapagos organization that is based in three countries.”
“I want to thank Vicky Gwosdz for the excellent role as Head of Finance that she has fulfilled during an exciting time for the Company and I am glad that she will take up her controlling activities at Galapagos going forward.”
“I was singularly impressed with the quality of the team, ambition level and product offering that it is a great opportunity to join the recently expanded group,” said David Smith
“I am looking forward to starting at Galapagos and contributing to the further growth of the Company.”
David Smith (40) joins Galapagos after eight years with AstraZeneca. He has spent four years as a Marketing Company CFO, most recently in the Netherlands, where he is also a Board member of the AstraZeneca Dutch Holdings Group.
Initially he was appointed by Zeneca, UK, to undertake a number of change projects in R&D Finance.
After the merger with Astra he moved to Sweden to take up the role of Cardiovascular Therapy Area Finance Director and additionally helped with the integration activities of the enlarged R&D division.
He trained as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, Leeds, and after a period in the receivership group, moved with the firm to Dubai where he was audit manager to a variety of industries and international clients.
He has a degree in Molecular Biophysics from the University of Leeds. David will be based at the BioFocus offices in Saffron Walden, UK.