Lonza Appoints Samanta Cimitan as Chief Commercial Officer

In a strategic move to strengthen its commercial operations, Lonza, the world's leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced the appointment of Samanta Cimitan as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Senior Vice President and Member of the Extended Executive Committee. Cimitan will join Lonza by January 1, 2027, bringing extensive business leadership experience across the CDMO industry, most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Celonic Group.

The newly created role is designed to further enhance customer engagement, commercial delivery, and a harmonized go-to-market approach across One Lonza. Cimitan will lead Strategic Enterprise Account Management, Global Marketing, and Commercial Excellence, holding direct commercial responsibility for Lonza's strategic accounts. Her mandate includes shaping a unified go-to-market strategy that makes it easier for customers to access Lonza's full end-to-end offering globally and across all three Business Platforms.

Wolfgang Wienand, Chief Executive Officer of Lonza, commented: "Samanta's appointment to the new role of Chief Commercial Officer is another important step in building One Lonza and making the full power of the Lonza Engine work for our partners in the pharmaceutical industry. Our ambition is clear: Every customer should benefit from the unique breadth of our science, technology and manufacturing capabilities, helping them translate their breakthrough innovations into viable therapies for patients worldwide. Samanta brings deep CDMO expertise, commercial leadership experience and first-hand knowledge of Lonza. She understands what it takes to build trusted partnerships, execute with commercial discipline and create value across the full development and manufacturing journey. I am very pleased to welcome Samanta back to Lonza as we continue to sharpen our commercial focus and deliver on our purpose of making the medicines of tomorrow."

Cimitan's career includes nearly 13 years at Lonza in commercial and strategy leadership roles, including Vice President of Lonza Group Operations Strategy, where she developed and led transformation programs spanning Commercial, R&D, and Operations. At Celonic Group, she led the company's evolution into a focused biologics CDMO, strengthening its commercial, operational, regulatory, and innovation capabilities. This background positions her well to drive Lonza's commercial strategy and execution.

This appointment is a key element of Lonza's One Lonza strategy, which aims to integrate its offerings and provide a seamless customer experience. By creating a dedicated CCO role, Lonza is underscoring its commitment to being customer-centric and commercially disciplined. The move is expected to have significant implications for Lonza's ability to secure and manage strategic accounts, potentially influencing its competitive position in the CDMO market.

Lonza, with approximately 20,000 employees across five continents, generated sales of CHF 3.4 billion with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 1.2 billion in the first half of 2026. For more information about Lonza, visit www.lonza.com.