NORTH NORWICH – Norwich Pharmaceuticals’ parent company has a new executive chairman, one who plans to grow the group into a top player in the international generic pharmaceutical industry.

It was announced yesterday that Icelandic Entrepreneur Robert Wessman has taken a 30 percent stake in The Alvogen Group as well as the helm of the organization, which is comprised of Norwich Pharmaceuticals and Alvogen, a New Jersey-based generics company.

According to Chris Calhoun, president of Norwich Pharmaceuticals, Wessman is a “pre-eminent leader in generic pharmaceuticals.”

“To get hitched to his wagon so to speak is tremendously positive,” said Calhoun, who likened Wessman to the Bill Gates of the generic pharmaceuticals industry.

Wessman, the former CEO of Activis, was the subject of a case study published by the Harvard Business School last year called “Robert Wessman and the Actavis Winning Formula,” which detailed how he transformed the failing Icelandic generic drug company with 90 employees into a global generic pharmaceutical giant employing 11,000 people in just seven years.

“He sets challenging goals and delivers on them,” said Calhoun, who said that being associated with someone of Wessman’s reputation would be a boon for the company when it comes to retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.