Bavarian Nordic has appointed Tarja Stenvall President and Chief Executive Officer, bringing in a pharmaceutical executive with more than two decades of leadership experience across Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Stenvall will assume the role on October 15, 2026, succeeding Paul Chaplin, whose planned departure was announced earlier in the year.
Her background spans vaccines, specialty care and general medicines across country, regional and global leadership positions.
Stenvall has led organizations containing more than 3,000 employees and has held profit-and-loss responsibility exceeding €3 billion.
Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Franchise for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at Sanofi, overseeing global strategy and long-term planning for a €10 billion franchise.
Her earlier Sanofi positions included Senior Vice President for Europe, Senior Vice President for Key Markets in General Medicines and Vice President for Vaccines in Latin America.
Bavarian Nordic is a global vaccine company with a major position in mpox and smallpox preparedness along with a travel-vaccine portfolio.
The company is positioning Stenvall’s commercial and organizational experience around expanding that platform internationally while continuing to scale manufacturing, supply chain and commercial capabilities.
Bavarian Nordic’s executive management team will also include CFO Henrik Juuel, Chief Commercial Officer Jean-Christophe May and COO Russell Thirsk.
KEY QUOTES:
“Tarja Stenvall brings a proven ability to scale and lead a global life science business, combining strategic vision with deep experience from global pharma and vaccines industry.”
Anne Louise Eberhard, Chair of Bavarian Nordic
“I believe the company has a strong foundation for its next phase of growth, and I am excited by the opportunity to expand the global impact of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccines.”
Tarja Stenvall, Incoming President and CEO of Bavarian Nordic
