Anna Richo will leave Amgen to join UCB as the Belgian biopharma company’s new executive VP and general counsel.
Richo (pictured) is currently senior VP and chief compliance officer at Amgen, a role that will be taken over by Cynthia Patton from October 22.
In her new position at UCB, Richo will become a member of the company’s executive committee and report directly to the CEO Roch Doliveux. She succeeds Bob Trainor, who retires at the end of the year after six years in the role.
“I am very happy to welcome Anna’s wealth of legal and leadership qualities, which will be a great natural fit with the global teams Bob has led, as well as with UCB’s ongoing journey to becoming the patient-centric global biopharma leader,” said Doliveux.
“At the same time it is with immense appreciation and regret that we say goodbye to Bob, who has been instrumental in driving UCB’s transformation.”
Richo has been in her current position since 2008, having spent the previous five years serving as VP law, responsible for managing the company’s corporate litigation and law department operations.
Prior to joining Amgen, she spent 12 years at Baxter Healthcare where she held several law-related positions, eventually becoming VP law for Baxter BioScience.
Her replacement at Amgen, Patton, is promoted from a role as VP in the company’s law department, with responsibility for commercial legal activities in the US.
Previously, Patton served as the lead commercial lawyer for both Amgen’s oncology and inflammation business units.