First woman to head research & development at Sanofi in Germany

Marion Zerlin succeeds Jochen Maas, who is retiring

20-Jun-2023 - Germany

Marion Zerlin

Sanofi Deutschland

The Supervisory Board of Sanofi in Germany has appointed Dr. Marion Zerlin to succeed Prof. Dr. Jochen Maas as of August 1, 2023. Jochen Maas is retiring after around ten years as Managing Director and more than 30 years of service to Research & Development (R&D) at Sanofi. The plan is for him to take on a Supervisory Board mandate for Sanofi in Germany at a later date. The change in management will be the first time a woman has headed Sanofi's R&D in Germany.

Marion Zerlin, an internationally experienced scientist and manager, succeeds Jochen Maas, who is very well networked and known within the company across functions and national borders. The biologist, who holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry, will retain her global role as Global Head of CMC Project Management, which she has held since 2020, in parallel to her management role. In her more than 22 years with Sanofi, Marion Zerlin has led teams in various roles in Germany, France, the UK, the US and China. From 2018 to 2020, she supported the Global Chief Research Officer in transforming the R&D organization worldwide.

Started in early-stage research in chemical drug discovery, Marion Zerlin has moved into the development of advanced biologics and contributed to the approval of many drugs in Sanofi's portfolio. Most recently, as Managing Director, Marion was responsible for the acquisition and integration of Kiadis, a new cell therapy platform based in the Netherlands.

Marion Zerlin is a strong advocate for diversity and, as a board member, drove the creation of the German Gender Network at Sanofi. She is also a member of the German-French as well as the Hessian Mentor Network.

Fabrizio Guidi, Chairman of the Management Board of Sanofi in Germany: "We are delighted that Marion will enrich our management team in Germany as Managing Director Research & Development. She brings all the prerequisites and experience to follow in Jochen's big footsteps. She succeeds him at an exciting stage of our Play to Win strategy, where we are exploring the wonders of science to improve people's lives at our BioCampus in Germany. I am very much looking forward to working with Marion and wish her a great start in her new role."

As Head of Research, Jochen Maas has made a formative contribution to Sanofi's R&D at its German site and far beyond. He has given Sanofi a voice in the external scientific world like no other. With his profound scientific expertise, he has driven forward the strategic transformation of the Sanofi BioCampus in Frankfurt in a way that is fit for the future and, last but not least, has left a lasting mark on the corporate culture.

Fabrizio Guidi: "Jochen is an outstanding scientist with an outstanding leadership personality who will be greatly missed. Extremely respected and approachable, he has been as committed to innovative research in Germany and Europe as he has been to the interests of our Sanofi employees. We thank him very much for this and wish him all the best for his retirement."

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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