Novartis announced that Bertrand Bodson, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer for Sainsbury's Argos, has been appointed to the new role of Chief Digital Officer, reporting to Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis.

He will join Novartis on January 1, 2018, and will be responsible for creating and executing a company-wide digital strategy in close collaboration with the Executive Committee of Novartis, working with leadership teams across the business and external partners. Bodson will lead the digital transformation Novartis has embarked upon to improve the way the Company uses data in drug discovery and development, engages with patients, doctors and other stakeholders, as well as automating business processes.

"Bertrand has a proven track record of creating and implementing successful digital strategies across global companies, and leading cultural change in order to make this happen at scale," said Jimenez. "This is not just about digital helping the business. Bertrand will help us transform our business model using digital technologies."

Bodson has extensive experience as a senior executive and entrepreneur across a variety of industries. In his current role at Sainsbury's Argos, he has led a highly successful transformation from a traditional catalogue business to the third-largest online retailer in the U.K.

Bodson said: "I am very excited to be joining Novartis to play a part in its efforts to reimagine medicine by leveraging digital on behalf of millions of patients and practitioners. While this will be one of the most important and disruptive challenges in the years to come Novartis, as a global leader, is particularly well positioned to drive this, and have even greater and sustainable impact on healthcare worldwide."

He is a Belgian citizen and has lived and worked in Europe and North America. Prior to Sainsbury's Argos he held a senior role at EMI Music and co-founded Bragster.com, a social networking and content sharing website. Bodson also held senior roles at online retailer Amazon, both in Seattle and across Europe. He started his career in 1998 at Boston Consulting Group.