NORTHBROOK, Ill., Dec. 9, 2019  -- Astellas today announced the promotions of Catherine Levitt to senior vice president, commercial, regulatory, medical & development and Rx+/transactional reporting to Linda Friedman, executive vice president and Astellas general counsel; and Charlotte Stanton to vice president, human resources, rewards reporting to Fumiaki Sakurai, chief administrative officer and chief ethics & compliance officer.

Levitt will lead a new commercial, regulatory, medical & development and Rx+/transactional (CRMDT) organization that will serve as a global strategic legal partner to the chief commercial officer, chief strategy officer and chief medical officer.

"I am very excited about this new structure as it represents the next phase in our evolution as a global legal function and the continued growth of our culture of excellence," said Friedman. "Our new structure will allow us to have the tools and agility to further enhance development opportunities for our team as well as drive global consistency, maximize efficiencies and continue to provide best-in-class legal support to all of our clients globally."

Levitt joined Fujisawa in 2004 as assistant general counsel, specializing in litigation. After the formation of Astellas in 2005, she was promoted to associate general counsel, followed by deputy general counsel. In 2013, she was promoted to vice president, risk management and chief litigation counsel; followed by vice president of US legal in April 2016, and vice president, regional general counsel and secretary of Astellas Americas in April 2017. Prior to Astellas, she served as corporate counsel at Baxter Healthcare and People's Energy, and began her career at the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Levitt earned her JD from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Stanton will have global responsibility for the reward function within HR and serve as a member of the core HR leadership team. In this role, Stanton will lead the design and implementation of competitive, performance-driven and fair reward programs inclusive of compensation, benefits, and global mobility aligned to Astellas’ business and people strategies; and collaborate with HR business partners to support the business as one unified team.

"The globalization of our HR structure will enable us to further leverage and facilitate operational efficiencies, while also focusing more directly on quality in core processes," said Sakurai. "I believe that this investment within the HR organization will deliver a new level of excellence for our colleagues worldwide."

Stanton joined Astellas in 2011 as head of Americas compensation, benefits, HRIS and payroll. In 2015, she was promoted to also lead Americas talent acquisition and in 2017 she became the global HR release lead for the Employee Central/HR Connect initiative. Prior to Astellas, she served as a compensation co-sourcing business leader at Hewitt Associates and vice president of compensation with ACNielsen. She began her career at the Hay Group as a consultant. Stanton earned a BS and MBA from Vanderbilt University.

About Astellas 

Astellas Pharma Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/us/. 

For further information: Stacy Harris, 224-205-8117, stacy.harris@astellas.com