Novartis welcomes new Chief Legal Officer Karen L. Hale

Novartis welcomes new Chief Legal Officer Karen L. Hale Photo credit: abbvie.com

(PRESS RELEASE) BASEL, 22-Mar-2021 — /EuropaWire/ — Swiss multinational pharmaceutical Novartis appoints Karen L. Hale as Chief Legal Officer. She succeeds Shannon Klinger. Karen will be based in Basel, Switzerland and will join the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN) and will report to Vas Narasimhan, M.D., CEO of Novartis, effective May 15, 2021. Tom Kendris will continue as Chief Legal Officer ad interim until Ms. Hale joins.

Karen brings to Novartis over 20 years of deep, global legal and compliance experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She joins Novartis from AbbVie where she held the role of Vice President, Deputy General Counsel. Prior to this, she held the position of Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer at AbbVie for 6 years, leading the global compliance program and acting as a trusted advisor to AbbVie’s Executive Leadership Team and Board of Directors. Ms Hale joined Abbott in 1997 and transitioned when AbbVie was created. She has overseen and managed complex commercial litigation globally and provided counsel on a variety of significant corporate issues.

Prior to joining Abbott, she was an associate attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin in Chicago, Illinois. Karen earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

“Karen is a proven senior legal leader with extensive global experience across key healthcare legal and compliance domains. She also brings to the Novartis executive team deep US experience and a passion to advance racial justice,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis. “I welcome her to Novartis and look forward to her contributing to Novartis’ journey of reimagining medicine. I want to thank Tom Kendris for his continued service in this time of transition and for his ongoing commitment to Novartis.”

Karen Hale said, “I am excited to join Novartis, a company dedicated to addressing some of society’s most challenging healthcare conditions using innovative science and technology.  As a member of the ECN, I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued success.”

Novartis Media Relations
E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com

Richard Jarvis
Novartis Strategy & Financial
Communications
+44 7966 118 652
richard.jarvis@novartis.com

Julie Masow
Novartis US External Engagement
+1 862 579 8456
julie.masow@novartis.com

Novartis Investor Relations
Central investor relations line: +41 61 324 7944
E-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com

Central
Samir Shah
+41 61 324 7944

Thomas Hungerbuehler
+41 61 324 8425

Isabella Zinck
+41 61 324 7188

North America
Sloan Simpson
+1 862 778 5052

SOURCE: Novartis AG