Basel, Switzerland
I'm Mark Grossien — Global Corporate Affairs & Reputation Leader
For 25 years I have advised chief executives, Board members and global leadership teams across pharmaceuticals, biosimilars and medical technology — steering reputation through compliance crises, spin-offs, launches and policy fights in some of the world's most regulated markets.
25+
Years in corporate affairs
USD 2.3bn
Global franchise supported
12,500
Employees served by one org
100%
Crisis message pull-through
Executive summary
I lead corporate affairs where the stakes are highest: healthcare businesses whose science, pricing and conduct are examined daily by regulators, investors, patients and the press. My career spans global, regional and country roles — Basel, Nürnberg, Tokyo, Brussels and New York — and three quarters of it has been spent inside Novartis and Sandoz, the rest advising clients such as F. Hoffmann-La Roche and the European medical technology sector.
As Head of Strategic Communications at Sandoz, I direct global communications for the generics and biosimilars portfolio through the company's spin-off and stock-exchange listing. I advise the Chief Commercial Officer, chair industry engagement at the IGBA, and built the governance framework — endorsed by the CEO and Executive Committee — that determines how Sandoz leaders speak to the world.
Earlier, as Vice President and Global Head of Communications for a 12,500-person Novartis services organisation, I led a team of more than 30 across five service centres and carried the narrative for a transformation that delivered USD 500m in productivity, with employee engagement held at benchmark. In Tokyo, I rebuilt trust in Novartis' third-largest pharmaceutical market during a compliance crisis, moving the organisation from reactive defence to proactive engagement.
What connects the work is method: understand the business economics first, define the narrative that can withstand cross-examination, align the people who must repeat it, and measure what changed. Reputation, handled this way, is not a communications output. It is an asset on the balance sheet.
Command of the moments that decide corporate credibility. I design and run tiered crisis responses — containment, scientific validation with regulators and KOLs, Board-level alignment — that hold a single defensible narrative across top-tier media without analyst or share-price damage.
Image idea: an empty press auditorium with lectern and microphones, cool neutral light.
Advocacy that moves regulated markets. I convene policy-makers across the EU, United States and Japan on intellectual property, biosimilar access, supply-chain resilience and environmental legislation, pairing evidence-based narratives with earned visibility in Politico, the Washington Post and Nikkei.
Image idea: a roundtable policy chamber with name plates, daylight, no people.
Counsel to the people who make the final call. I build the governance and measurement frameworks that define who speaks, on which platform and to what standard — earning formal CEO and Executive Committee endorsement — and craft the earnings, spin-off and Board communications behind them.
Image idea: an overhead briefing document with fountain pen and reading glasses.
Narrative discipline for organisations in motion. I have guided a USD 500m productivity programme and a corporate spin-off and stock-exchange listing, holding employee engagement at or above benchmark while operating models, teams and reporting lines were rebuilt.
Image idea: a modern boardroom at dawn with a city skyline beyond the glass.
Let's speak
I work with boards, executive teams and communications leaders who need clarity, speed and credibility at the same time.