Josef H. von Rickenbach
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
As Chairman and CEO of PAREXEL, which he founded in 1982, Mr. von Rickenbach has taken PAREXEL from its pioneering beginnings as one of the first clinical research organizations (CROs) more than two decades ago to its place as one of the top three clinical service providers in the industry. He has led PAREXEL through its IPO, multiple public offerings, and over 35 mergers and acquisitions during the Company’s history of nearly 30 years to expand its portfolio in order to meet changing client needs and market demand. Under his leadership, PAREXEL has evolved to provide a broad range of services to the biopharmaceutical industry, including globally integrated clinical development, regulatory affairs consulting, commercialization services, and technologies that expedite time-to-market.
Foreseeing the globalization of clinical research, Mr. von Rickenbach has worked to expand PAREXEL’s global footprint to over 70 locations in over 50 countries. This extensive geographical presence allows PAREXEL to conduct clinical trials across every continent and in more than 100 countries.
Mr. von Rickenbach has made several innovative contributions to the advancement of the biopharmaceutical services industry through PAREXEL, including conceiving of a complex, multi-disciplinary, systems-oriented approach to outsourced clinical development, bringing efficiencies, speed, scalability and standardization to the business. As part of the S-1 filing to the SEC, he was among the first to define the industry in formal terms. As the biopharmaceutical industry adopted information technology, Mr. von Rickenbach created a leading advanced technology offering, and today PAREXEL’s subsidiary Perceptive Informatics is a front runner in providing eClinical solutions.
Mr. von Rickenbach’s extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical services industries puts him at the forefront of drug development and management. After having begun his career with Schering-Plough, Mr. von Rickenbach also held positions with ENSECO (formerly ERCO).
In 2010, Mr. von Rickenbach was named Executive of the Year in North America, where PAREXEL’s global headquarters are based, in the seventh annual International Business Awards, which celebrate managerial excellence worldwide. He served as Chair of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) in 2005, and is a long-standing member of the ACRO Board of Directors. Mr. von Rickenbach also serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Healthcare Institute and on the Health Policy and Management Executive Council of the Harvard School of Public Health. Additionally, he is a Vice Chair of the American Cancer Society New England Chapter of the CEOs Against Cancer initiative. Mr. von Rickenbach won the Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and has also served as a judge of the program.
Mr. von Rickenbach holds a B.S. degree in Business Economics from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, and a MBA degree from Harvard Business School.