Novo Nordisk Names Maziar Mike Doustdar as President and Chief Executive Officer

Author(s):

Current Novo Nordisk executive vice president of internal operations is named new president and CEO.

Effective August 7, 2025, Maziar Mike Doustdar will succeed Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen as Novo Nordisk president and chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk.
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Effective August 7, 2025, Maziar Mike Doustdar will succeed Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen as Novo Nordisk president and chief executive officer (CEO). Jørgensen will step down from his current role serving as president and CEO on the same day Doustdar is expected to take over.

Key Takeaways

August 7^th will see an organizational restructure for Novo Nordisk.
Doustdar brings a proven track record of success to his new leadership position.
Novo Nordisk’s foundation and board members approve the change in leadership.

Lead by example

In his current role, Doustdar established a respected track record of generating value while also stimulating growth. During his time as Novo Nordisk’s executive vice president of internal operations, sales were more than doubled to an estimated $17 billion in 2024.

Current Novo Nordisk chair, Helge Lund, spoke on the reasoning behind Doustdar’s promotion, saying, “Mike is an exceptional leader and has the unanimous support of the Board. We are confident that he is the best person to lead Novo Nordisk through its next growth phase. Mike has consistently demonstrated the ability to drive growth through strong commercial execution and building high-performing teams. This is an important moment for Novo Nordisk. The market is developing rapidly, and the company needs to address recent market challenges with speed and ambition. I believe Novo Nordisk will build on its strengths as a global leader in obesity and diabetes, and Mike has a clear vision of how to unlock the full potential of the opportunities ahead.”¹

Doustadr wasn’t alone in the search to find who would proceed Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, as Doustdar competed in an overarching process internally as well as including external candidates in the process. With Doustadar’s proven track record of success with the company, the Novo Nordisk foundation fully endorsed the board’s decision to appoint Doustdar as the next president and CEO.

Doustadr touched on what the decision meant to him, saying, “It’s an enormous privilege to lead this company at a time of tremendous opportunity and change. I come to this role with a sense of urgency, a laser focus on high performance, and a fierce determination for Novo Nordisk to aim higher than it’s ever done, and to deliver to many more patients the innovation they need. From my decades in leadership roles across Novo Nordisk, I know the extraordinary talent and commitment of our people and the excellence of our science. This has enabled us to achieve great things in the past and will ensure we continue to do so in the future.”¹

Changes all around

Along with the change of leadership, Novo Nordisk will undergo several additional organization changes on August 7. The first will see Novo Nordisk merging its research & early development area with its development EVP area. This will condense the two into one research and development department, under the leadership of Martin Holst Lange, MD, PhD, who will be appointed as chief scientific officer. Lange plans on quickly advancing new therapies and focusing on growing the success of early and late-stage pipelines.

With the combination of the two departments, Marcus Schindler, executive vice president, research and early development and CSO, has elected to retire. Schindler served as CSO since 2021 and will remain at Novo Nordisk to ensure a smooth transition during these next few weeks.

With all the changes, Novo Nordisk chair, Helge Lund, made sure to thanks Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, saying, “Under Lars’s leadership, Novo Nordisk has undergone a profound period of growth and now reaches millions more patients with life-changing medicines. On behalf of Novo Nordisk’s Board of Directors and our employees, I want to thank Lars for 34 years of unstinting commitment to the company and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”¹

Sources

Maziar Mike Doustdar appointed as president and chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk Global July 29, 2025 https://www.novonordisk.com/content/nncorp/global/en/news-and-media/news-and-ir-materials/news-details.html?id=916408

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