Former Andersen UK tax adviser gets AstraZeneca North America CFO job

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) has announced the appointment of Graham Baker as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AstraZeneca North America. Graham will be responsible for all Finance and Information Services matters in North America, effective January 1, 2009.  He will be a member of the US Leadership Team and will report to Rich Fante, President, AstraZeneca US.

In announcing Baker’s appointment, Fante said, “Graham brings a wealth of expertise and experience that will be central as we deliver continued business success and make a meaningful difference to patient health.”

Graham has 18 years of finance experience, including 13 at AstraZeneca, most recently as Regional Finance Director, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.  In this role, he was accountable for Finance, Information Services and Sourcing across the Asia Pacific Region and the delivery of sales, costs and profits in this key growth region for the company.  As a member of the regional management team, Graham was also closely involved with all major investments across 13 countries, including significant expansions in China, India and Indonesia.

Before that, Graham held several finance leadership positions, including CFO of AstraZeneca Japan, Business Development Director responsible for financial and commercial evaluations of key acquisitions, and Global Marketing Finance Director for the cardiovascular therapy area.  Prior to joining AstraZeneca, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor working for Arthur Andersen.  Graham holds an MA degree in Economics from Cambridge University in England.

About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of meaningful prescription medicines and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infectious disease medicines.  In the United States, AstraZeneca is a $13.35 billion dollar healthcare business with 12,200 employees committed to improving people’s lives. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.