Bristol-Myers Squibb appoints new senior vice-president

Sandra Leung has been named as the new incumbent of the senior vice-president role at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Ms Leung will also be on the general counsel and is to be responsible for the New York-based company’s legal division while continuing with her previous membership duties on the executive committee and management council.

Reporting to chief executive James Cornelius, the new vice president is also expected to act as the primary legal adviser to the pharmaceutical firm’s board of directors.

Formerly an assistant district attorney in New York, Ms Leung joined Bristol-Myers Squibb 15 years ago and worked with the litigation unit.

Since then she has been promoted to the position of corporate secretary where she was accountable for shareholder relations and saw her role widened to encompass duties as chief ethics officer.

The company recently revealed its full-year results for 2006 which showed a decline in net sales of seven per cent to $17.9 billion (9.2 billion pounds) in comparison to a posting of $19.2 billion for 2005.

Fourth quarter net sales during 2006 also saw a decline from the previous year with the company recording $4.2 billion in the last three months of last year, compared with $5 billion in 2005.