The News

Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures Host Inaugural CEO Day Conference

20/03/2003

Over 40 CEOs from Europe and the US came together on the island of Corsica for a trans-Atlantic meeting of the minds

We're pleased to announce that we recently held our inaugural Sofinnova CEO Conference, which we co-hosted with Sofinnova Ventures of San Francisco from March 20-22. Our goal was to provide our CEOs with constructive and thought-provoking workshops, as well as the opportunity to network with an international peer group. The conference brought unique trans-Atlantic value to our portfolio companies.

The event was a real success. Despite the coinciding outbreak of war, 43 CEOs from Europe and the US flew to Corsica to attend the 2-day event. Special guests who addressed the group included information technology keynote Jean-Francois Pontal, CEO of European telecommunications giant Orange SA; life science keynote Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline; Ken Alwyn, a senior partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers' global organization; and Marco Landi, former president of BMC Europe, former COO of Apple Computer and former president of Texas Instruments Europe.

The CEOs discussed their business challenges and shared best practices regarding critical business issues such as surviving in an adverse economic environment, development of a global strategy, strategic business plan development, optimal sales force management, development of a customer-focused organization, corporate governance, and, of course, "managing your board."
We will host CEO conferences annually, alternating the locale between Europe and the U.S.