Europe’s pharmaceutical companies guard some of the most valuable intellectual property in the world, from drug formulas and clinical trial data to the manufacturing systems that produce medicines at scale. The five CISOs below protect pharmaceutical groups in France, Italy, Finland, and Denmark, and several have built their careers inside the companies they now defend. One has led information security at Servier for more than 28 years. Another started as a database administrator before spending more than two decades at Chiesi. A third serves as a cyber reservist in the French Navy, and two have returned to former employers to take the top security seat.
Stéphane Tournadre – Head of IS Audit and Security (Group CISO), Servier
Stéphane Tournadre managed information systems at Groupe Explorer France before joining Servier in 1998, where he has led information systems audit and security for more than 28 years and serves as Group CISO. In 2025 and 2026 he took part in the national session of France’s Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defense (IHEDN), majoring in digital sovereignty and cybersecurity. INCYBER profiled him in 2025 as a builder of digital defenses, and in 2026 he shared his view on AI as a force multiplier for both attackers and defenders.
Enrico Riccardi – Group CISO, Chiesi Farmaceutici
Enrico Riccardi spent four years as an Oracle and SQL Server database administrator at DS Data Systems before joining Chiesi in 2003 as an IT project manager. He became Group CISO in 2011 and has held the role for 15 years, defining an information security strategy aligned with the business, leading the Information Security Committee, and reporting regularly to the board and executive committee. Riccardi leads the ICT security team, owns the cyber incident response plan, conducts security audits across corporate and affiliate operations, and drives security awareness among employees, management, and IT colleagues.
Ulla Palmila – CISO, Orion Pharma
Ulla Palmila started as a PC advisor at Arthur Andersen and spent eight years at EY in Finland, rising from IT specialist to systems manager responsible for technology infrastructure and IT security. She joined Orion in 2010 as infrastructure owner and from 2012 led information security as head of information security, building its ISMS, leading its security incident response team, and overseeing OT security. After six years as cyber security manager at Neste, Palmila returned to Orion Pharma as CISO in June 2025. She holds engineering degrees in ICT and industrial management and CISM, CRISC, CISSP, and GSTRT certifications.
Elise Babelaere Roeland – CISO, Laboratoires Pierre Fabre
Elise Babelaere Roeland began as a trainee in Airbus’s corporate security department and worked as an information security consultant at Altran for France’s civil aviation authority, defining risk management processes and security policies. After building cyber compliance programs for clients at Sopra Steria, she served as data protection officer for Airbus Defence and Space, setting up its GDPR compliance program. At Airbus Aircraft she worked as cyber security GRC business partner and led its supply chain security program with European and international aerospace bodies. Babelaere Roeland became CISO of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre in May 2026. Since 2024 she has also served as a cyber specialist reservist in the French Navy, training personnel on cyber regulation and EBIOS risk analysis.
Torben Voigt Olsen – CISO, Lundbeck
Torben Voigt Olsen worked as an IT security consultant at Devoteam before joining Lundbeck in 2011 as an information security expert. Over more than 11 years there, he rose to corporate information security manager, implementing GxP, GAMP, and GDPR requirements, and then CISO, securing support for an OT security upgrade and setting up a new cyber team in Krakow. He went on to serve as CISO of Novozymes, establishing executive and board cyber risk reporting, and as a senior consultant at Implement Consulting and CISO of Context&. Olsen returned to Lundbeck as CISO in September 2026. He served on the Information Security Forum’s advisory council for six years.
Protecting the Pipeline
These five CISOs show the value of deep company knowledge in pharmaceutical security. Tournadre and Riccardi have spent decades inside Servier and Chiesi, while Palmila and Olsen came back to Orion and Lundbeck after gaining experience elsewhere. Babelaere Roeland brings aerospace and defense compliance experience to a new seat at Pierre Fabre. Together they protect the research, manufacturing, and patient data behind Europe’s medicines.
Discover more CISOs securing their organizations:
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- Care and Cover: Ireland’s Healthcare Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
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- Dreaming Spires, Hardened Defences: The UK’s Higher Education CISOs to Watch
- Powering Europe: The EU’s Energy and Utilities Cybersecurity Leaders to Watch
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John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.