Novartis’ new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer: Karen Hale

Karen Hale (pictured) is the new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Novartis, effective April 14, 2025. Following the new appointment, Hale will continue to report to Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, and remain on the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN). The current Ethics Risk & Compliance (ERC) function will thus move under her leadership.

Karen Hale’s predecessor on the role, currently Chief Ethics, Risk & Compliance Officer of Novartis Klaus Moosmayer, decided to leave the company and step down from the ECN to pursue other leadership roles outside Novartis.

Hale’s career journey

Hale joined Novartis as Chief Legal Officer in May 2021, after almost 30 years of sectorial experiences in in the global pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she held a succession of senior roles at AbbVie including vice president, deputy general counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer.

The company

Headquartered in Basel, Novartis specialises in the production of innovative medicines across a plethora of medical areas, including Cardiovascular, renal and metabolic health, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology