| Pascal Soriot | |
| Birth Name: | Pascal Claude Roland Soriot |
| Birth Date: | 1959 5, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | France |
| Education: | École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort HEC Paris |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Years Active: | 1982–present |
| Term: | 2012– |
| Children: | 2 |
| Honours: | Knight Bachelor |
Sir Pascal Claude Roland Soriot (born 23 May 1959) is a French-born Australian businessman and chief executive of the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company AstraZeneca.[1]
Soriot was born in France on 23 May 1959.[2] His father died when he was 20.[3]
He studied veterinary medicine at the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort at Maisons-Alfort in Paris. He later obtained an MBA at HEC Paris.[1]
In April 1986, he joined Roussel Uclaf (formerly France's second largest pharmaceutical company, until bought by Hoechst AG in 1997) as a salesman in Australia.[4] In 1996, he became General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, moving to Tokyo in April 1997.[5]
In 2000 he moved to Aventis in America, becoming chief operating officer of Aventis USA in 2002, which became Sanofi Aventis USA in 2004.[6] [7]
He joined Roche in 2006 as head of marketing.[5] From April 2009 to 2010, he was chief executive of the Roche subsidiary Genentech. He rejoined Roche Pharma AG in 2010 as chief operating officer.[8]
In August 2012 he was named as the new chief executive of AstraZeneca,[9] the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, when aged 53. He took up the post on 1 October 2012.[10] [11]
In July 2017, it was reported that Soriot would become the next CEO of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, succeeding Erez Vigodman, though this was soon denied.[12] [13] [14]
In September 2018, he made headlines commenting on his pay of £9.4m in salary and bonuses. 'The truth is I’m the lowest-paid CEO in the whole industry', he said. 'It is annoying to some extent. But at the end of the day it is what it is.'[15]
In 2023, Soriot was the highest paid CEO of the major European pharmaceutical companies, as he earned $21.3 million. That was a nearly 12 per cent increase over 2022.[16]
In March 2024, Soriot was awarded the President's Medal by the Society of Chemical Industry for leading AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.[17]
He is married and has two children.[18] He has three brothers, all of whom are doctors.
Soriot was knighted in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to UK life sciences and the response to COVID-19. He qualifies for a substantive knighthood rather than an honorary one by virtue of being an Australian citizen.[19]
He counts cycling, horse riding and skiing as hobbies.[5]