Bubendorf/Basel, November 28, 2013 – At its latest meeting the Board of Directors of Bachem Holding AG (SIX: BANB) passed a resolution to propose Mrs. Prof. Dr. Helma Wennemers for election to the Board of Directors at the annual general meeting on April 28, 2014. She is the designated successor to Mr. Prof. Dr. Hans Hengartner, who has served on the Board of Directors since 2003 and under the provisions of the company’s by-laws is no longer eligible for re-election.
Dr. Kuno Sommer, Chairman of the Board of Directors:
“We are very pleased to nominate Mrs. Prof. Dr. Helma Wennemers, a scientist of international renown and an opinion leader in the field of peptide chemistry, for election to the Board of Directors. Her engaging personality and pioneering spirit make her a valuable addition to the board.”
Professional history
Helma Wennemers is a German national and has been Professor at the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at ETH Zurich since 2011. She was born in Offenbach am Main in 1969 and graduated with a diploma degree in chemistry from Johann-WolfgangGoethe University in Frankfurt in 1993. Three years later she earned a doctorate degree from Columbia University, New York. She then pursued post-doctoral studies at Nagoya University before accepting the “Bachem-Stiftungs-Assistenzprofessur” at the University of Basel in 1999, where she became Associate Professor in 2003 and Professor in 2011. Helma Wennemers research has been recognized by several awards including the “Leonidas Zervas Award” (2010) and the “Goering Visiting Professorship of the University of Wisconsin, Madison” (2004). She has also been awarded with numerous honorary lectureships such as the “David Ginsburg Lectureship” at the Technion in Haifa (2010) and was named a “Fellow of the Royal
Society of Chemistry” (2013).
Early end to extended weekly working hours
At the same meeting the Board of Directors supported the motion introduced by the Corporate Executive Committee to end the extended weekly working hours, which had been raised to 43 in April 2012 for a period of two years, earlier than scheduled on January 1, 2014.
The Board of Directors, the Corporate Executive Committee and the local management teams of the operating sites in Bubendorf and Vionnaz express their gratitude to all employees for their support and their contribution to the sustained improvement in the company’s operating performance. Thanks to this measure as well as the better business environment and more stable exchange rates, Bachem Group has significantly improved its operating results in recent years and created ideal conditions for future growth.