Alcon Names Robert Karsunky as CFO
Alcon, an eye care company, has appointed Robert Karsunky as senior vice president (SVP) and chief financial officer (CFO), effective 1 November 2010. Karsunky comes to Alcon from Novartis, where he was most recently CFO in the consumer health division of Novartis. Novartis became Alcon’s majority shareholder on 25 August 2010, when it completed the acquisition of 52% of the company’s shares from Nestle.
Karsunky will succeed Richard Croarkin, who has served as Alcon’s CFO since August 2007. Croarkin will remain a member of the executive leadership team until 30 November, during which time he will assist in the transition of his responsibilities to the new CFO. Upon completion of this orderly transition, Croarkin will return to a financial position at Nestle.
Karsunky joined Novartis in 2006 as CFO in the consumer health division. In this role, he was responsible for the division’s finance, information technologies, procurement and merger and acquisition activities. Prior to joining Novartis, he served for four years as the vice president of finance for the international division of Medtronic.
He began his career with Eli Lilly in 1991, where he had a variety of increasingly responsible financial positions to become the executive director of finance for intercontinental and Japan from 2000 to 2002. He studied Business Administration at the University of Cologne and New York University, and obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Aachen in Germany.