- After about three and a half years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Conterno
- Thane Wettig taking over temporarily
- Conterno kept it short and said 48 words
(exechange) — San Francisco, California, July 25, 2023 — Enrique Conterno, chief executive of FibroGen, leaves his position. As announced by FibroGen Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, Enrique Conterno has left his post as chief executive officer at the biopharmaceutical company, after about three and a half years in the role, effective July 22, 2023.
Enrique Conterno’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Thane Wettig, most recently Chief Commercial Officer at FibroGen Inc., as interim Chief Executive Officer.
“Personal reasons”
The management change is explained as follows. FibroGen stated: “Mr. Wettig succeeds Chief Executive Officer Enrique Conterno, who resigned due to personal reasons.”
Precise information regarding Enrique Conterno’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Resigned”
FibroGen said: “[Wettig] succeeds Enrique Conterno, who has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and from the Board, and who will remain with the Company as Special Advisor to the Interim CEO through August 8, 2023.”
“Not the result of any disagreement”
FibroGen stated, regarding the change: “Mr. Conterno’s resignation on July 21, 2023 was not the result of any disagreement with the Company.”
Share price decline since July 2022
The announcement follows a decline in FibroGen Inc.’s share price of 82% since July 2022.
In the position of CEO since 2020
Enrique Conterno became CEO of the Company in 2020.
To support Wettig, Conterno will serve as a Special Advisor to the CEO during a transition period.
Enrique Conterno joined FibroGen, Inc. as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board in January 2020.
Before coming to FibroGen, Conterno was a Senior Vice President for Eli Lilly and Company, serving as President of Lilly USA from January 2017, and President of Lilly Diabetes from 2009, until his retirement from Lilly in December 2019.
Prior to 2009, Conterno served in various other roles for Eli Lilly and Company, including President, U.S. Operations, Vice President for the U.S. Neuroscience Business Unit, President and General Manager, Mexico, and Executive Marketing Director, Intercontinental Operations and Japan.
Conterno earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke University.
Conterno is a member of the Board of Governors at the American Red Cross.
48 words by Enrique Conterno
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of FibroGen Inc., Enrique Conterno received praise and thanks.
In announcing his departure, Enrique Conterno kept it short and said 48 words.
“Accelerate development of our early-stage oncology pipeline”
Enrique Conterno stated: “I have worked with Thane for many years and am confident that he will lead our world-class management team in continuing to execute on our late stage pamrevlumab programs, expand our rapidly growing roxadustat business in China and other territories, and accelerate development of our early-stage oncology pipeline.”
39% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 314 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (July 25, 2022, to July 24, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 6.1, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, time with family or pursuit of other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 39% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, three in eight departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Push-out Score for Enrique Conterno’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Enrique Conterno’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
Read the full story in the exechange report 31.2023 ($).