Belén Garijo

Belén Garijo took on a turnaround job when she became CEO of Sanofi in April, the first woman to hold the role. The French drugmaker is in an R&D slump, its shares trail Big Pharma rivals, and blockbuster asthma treatment Dupixent faces a looming patent cliff. Sanofi turned to a veteran pharma leader: Garijo, a Spanish national and physician, most recently led Germany’s Merck KGaA, whose businesses span pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and electronics materials. Her earlier stint running Sanofi’s European operations should ease the transition.