Thomas Cueni of Switzerland has been named the next director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), the Geneva-based organisation which represents the global research-based pharma industry.
Cueni moves over from his post as secretary-general of Interpharma, the Swiss pharma association, where he has been for 28 years. He will take office at IFPMA on 1 February.
According to IFPMA, the appointment was made on 29 November but embargoed until today. The IFPMA annual general assembly was held on 30 November in Washington, DC.
He will succeed Eduardo Pisani who recently announced his departure after seven years at the helm of IFPMA (IPW, Public Health, 23 November 2016).
Cueni, a trained economist, has also served as a Swiss journalist and a Swiss diplomat earlier in his career, according to his short bio on the Interpharma website, which was active as of 1 December. It stated:
“Thomas B. Cueni is Secretary General of Interpharma, the association of the Swiss pharmaceutical research companies. He is a member of the Board and Council of the European Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industries’ Associations (EFPIA) and of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA). Prior to his appointment with Interpharma, Mr. Cueni had a career as an economic and political journalist for two leading Swiss newspapers and spent four years as a London correspondent. After that he joined the Swiss Foreign Service as a career diplomat with postings in Vienna (UNIDO, UN, IAEA) and in Paris where he was a member of the Swiss Delegation to the OECD. Mr. Cueni has a degree in economics (University of Basel) and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics.”
Image Credits: Interpharma