Switzerland-based UBS Group has just revealed that Mike Dargan will join the company’s Executive Board as Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) from 1st May. The new position of CDIO will play a significant role in propelling technological development. The newly established role will replace former Group Chief Operating Officer (GCOO) function.
CDIO will be made of the current Group Technology teams and the Group Corporate Services. Business operation will relocate to their respective business functions to provide a seamless experience for clients, with shared Operations remaining with CDIO.
Dargan joined UBS in 2016 as Head Group Technology. Before that he was CIO for CIB at Standard Chartered Bank, Head Corporate Strategy & M&A, EMEA and PacRim for Merrill Lynch and Head CIB, Asia-Pacific for Oliver Wyman.
Group Chief Executive Officer Ralph Hamers commented:
I’m excited to welcome Mike Dargan to the GEB in his expanded role. Given his strong track record and in-depth expertise, I’m confident that he is the right leader to help us achieve our strategic ambitions in the digital and technology space by bringing the best experience to our clients. I also want to thank UBS Switzerland President Sabine Keller-Busse for her leadership in transforming the GCOO organization over the past years through increased business alignment, collaboration and efficiencies, including the increased adoption of technology, thus laying the foundation that makes this next step in the journey possible.
The company also announced that Markus Diethelm has decided to step down as Group General Counsel after 13 years in that position. He will leave this role on 1 November and remain senior adviser until 2022 with responsibility for select legacy litigation cases. Diethelm became part of the Group Executive Board in 2008 and has achieved a notable reduction of our litigation portfolio. In his time at the company he has also modernized the Group General Counsel function, optimizing related operational risk charges for the firm and total legal costs.
Barbara Levi will take over as Group General Counsel effective 1 November. She comes from Rio Tinto Group where she was Chief Legal Officer & External Affairs and before that as Group General Counsel and member of the Executive Committee since January 2020.
Ralph Hamers said:
I want to personally thank Markus for his longstanding commitment and contribution to the success of UBS. Since 2008 he has resolved a number of very important legacy issues for the bank. He will remain with us as senior advisor for select legal cases, while ensuring a seamless transition. I’m looking forward to having Barbara join UBS later this year. With more than 25 years of legal and compliance experience across different industries and geographies, she is ideally suited to lead our General Counsel function into the future.
Between 2004 and 2019 Levi worked at Novartis Group in various senior management roles such as Group Legal Head, M&A and Strategic Transactions, Global Legal Head & General Counsel of Sandoz, the Novartis generics and biosimilars division and Global Legal Head, Product Strategy & Commercialization, for the Novartis Pharma division. Prior to Novartis, she also worked in private practice in New York and Milan. Levi is a qualified attorney-at-law admitted to the US Supreme Court and to the bar in Milan and New York State.
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