Exec Roundup: Novartis Names New CEO

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. in Basel, Switzerland, appointed Ludwig Hantson CEO of its U.S. pharma business. He succeeds Alex Gorsky who resigned in February to become chairman of the Ethicon surgical products division of Johnson & Johnson. Hantson had been head of Novartis's speciality medicines unit here in the U.S. Gary Rosenthal was named president and CEO of Novartis Corp., the North American corporate entity.

Textron Systems named Fred Strader chief operating officer. The position was left vacant when Frank Tempesta became president of Textron Systems in 2006. Strader, 55, was president of AAI, an operating unit of Textron.

Privatebankcorp in Chicago named Kevin Van Solkema chief risk officer, a new position at the financial-services company. He also joins the executive management committee. Van Solkema had been deputy chief credit officer of LaSalle Bank, owned by Bank of America Corp.

E*Trade Financial Corp. elected Frederick W. Kanner, a partner at the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York City, to its board. Kanner, 64, will serve on the board's finance and risk oversight committee and nominating and corporate governance committee.

TD Bank Financial Group in Toronto has named Nadir Mohamed to its board of directors. Mohamed is the president and CEO of Communications Group, Rogers Communications' Communications Group.