Harry Kirsch

Chief Financial Officer of Novartis

Nationality: German/Swiss
Year of Birth: 1965

Harry Kirsch has been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Novartis since 2013. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis.

Mr. Kirsch joined Novartis in 2003 as Head Finance Global Primary Care and, prior to his current position, served as CFO of the Pharmaceuticals Division (now known as the Innovative Medicines Division) from 2010 to 2013. He has been instrumental in focusing Novartis as a leading medicines company by overseeing key divestitures, the acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline’s oncology products in 2015, and the spin of Alcon into a public company in 2019. In prior assignments, he served as CFO of Pharma Europe from 2008 to 2010, and as Head of Business Planning & Analysis for the Pharmaceuticals Division from 2005 to 2008. Mr. Kirsch joined Novartis from Procter & Gamble (P&G) in the United States, where he was CFO of P&G’s global pharmaceutical business. Prior to that, he held finance positions in various categories of P&G’s consumer goods business, technical operations and Global Business Services organization.

Mr. Kirsch holds a diploma degree in industrial engineering and economics from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. From 2015 to 2018, he represented Novartis on the board of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings Ltd.