Helen Giza

We believe that access to equitable and high-quality health care is a fundamental human right.

— Helen Giza

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Overview

Helen Giza
Born	1968 (age 57–58) Wales, United Kingdom
Citizenship	British
Education	Chartered Certified Accountant; MBA
Alma mater	Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Occupation(s)	Business executive, accountant
Employer	Fresenius Medical Care
Known for	Leading the turnaround of Fresenius Medical Care and strategy programs FME25 and FME Reignite
Title	Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Management Board, Fresenius Medical Care
Term	2022–present
Predecessor	Carla Kriwet
Board member of	Fresenius Medical Care; Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA
Children	1
Awards	Recognition among Germany’s most influential female chief executives

🌍 Helen Giza (born 1968) is a British business executive and accountant who serves as chief executive officer (CEO) and chair of the Management Board of Fresenius Medical Care, a global provider of dialysis products and services and one of the world’s largest kidney-care companies. A chartered certified accountant by training, she built her career in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries before rising through senior finance and transformation roles at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and later at Fresenius Medical Care. Appointed CEO in December 2022 after a period of strategic turbulence, she has overseen a multiyear restructuring and profitability program that returned the company to earnings growth and enabled it to rejoin Germany’s DAX 40 stock index.

📈 Turnaround-focused health-care executive. Giza is regarded for her emphasis on cost discipline, operational efficiency and large-scale integration work, drawing on early experience in automotive manufacturing and later responsibility for Takeda’s integration of Shire plc, one of the largest acquisitions in the pharmaceutical sector. At Fresenius Medical Care she has led the FME25 transformation program and, subsequently, the “FME Reignite” strategy, which targets mid-teens operating margins by 2030 and a greater focus on home dialysis, value-based care and digital health solutions. She is among a small number of women leading DAX 40 companies and has been named one of Germany’s most influential female CEOs by business publications and advocacy groups.

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Early life and education

🏭 Welsh industrial upbringing. Helen Giza was born in 1968 and grew up in a small town in Wales, in the United Kingdom, at a time when the region’s traditional coal-mining industry was in long-term decline. As coal employment shrank, local work shifted toward automotive manufacturing, and Giza’s first role was as a cost accountant in a car factory. She later described the 1990s automotive sector as “a tough industry… where the fifth decimal point on cost really mattered,” an environment that ingrained in her an exacting focus on cost control and efficiency that would underpin her later management approach.

🎓 Professional training and transition into healthcare. After entering the workforce, Giza pursued professional accounting qualifications in the United Kingdom, becoming a chartered certified accountant, and subsequently earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in the United States. The combination of granular financial training and elite business education gave her both detailed command of numbers and a strategic perspective on corporate transformation. A pivotal career moment came in the late 1990s when Abbott Laboratories head-hunted her from manufacturing; the U.S. healthcare company recruited her in part for her factory-based cost discipline, drawing her into the pharmaceutical and medical industries in which she would build her reputation.

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Career

💊 Early roles at Abbott and TAP Pharmaceuticals. Giza’s move to Abbott launched a steady rise through healthcare finance. In the early 2000s she held international finance and controlling positions at Abbott and at TAP Pharmaceuticals, the joint venture between Abbott and Takeda, gaining experience across U.S. and global markets and in both branded and specialty pharmaceuticals. These roles exposed her to the regulatory and reimbursement complexities of healthcare while allowing her to apply the cost-focused mindset developed in manufacturing.

🤝 Takeda leadership and Shire acquisition. In 2008 Giza joined the U.S. division of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and later became chief financial officer of Takeda’s U.S. Business Unit, overseeing finances during a period of expansion and portfolio change. A decade into her tenure, in 2018, she joined Takeda’s global executive team as chief integration and divestiture management officer, assuming responsibility for executing major portfolio transactions. In that capacity she played a central role in Takeda’s £46 billion acquisition of Shire plc, completed in 2019, at the time one of the pharmaceutical industry’s largest cross-border deals. Giza served on the deal team for the Shire takeover and then led the complex integration of the two companies’ operations, later describing the project as a “once in a lifetime” experience that doubled Takeda’s size and formed the basis of her transformation track record.

🏥 Joining Fresenius Medical Care as finance chief. In late 2019 Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s largest provider of dialysis products and services, recruited Giza as its chief financial officer (CFO), marking a move from pharmaceuticals into renal services and medical technology. Her appointment came during a challenging period for the company, which faced rising costs, shifting reimbursement regimes and, soon after, the operational disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, alongside her CFO responsibilities, Giza was given the additional title of chief transformation officer and tasked with designing and implementing an ambitious restructuring program known as “FME25” to streamline operations and improve profitability.

⚡ Elevation to chief executive officer. In October 2022 Fresenius Medical Care underwent a leadership shock when CEO Carla Kriwet resigned after only two months in the role, citing strategic differences with the parent group Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. On 6 December 2022 the company’s supervisory board unanimously appointed Giza to succeed Kriwet as CEO, while she temporarily retained her CFO duties during the transition. Investors initially reacted nervously: Fresenius Medical Care’s share price fell by more than 4% on news of Kriwet’s departure, which analysts called an unexpected and negative development, underscoring the pressure on Giza to stabilize operations and deliver a convincing turnaround.

🔧 Executing the FME25 restructuring programme. Taking charge amid falling profits, repeated earnings forecast cuts and rising labour and raw-material costs, Giza accelerated the FME25 program as a top-to-bottom transformation of Fresenius Medical Care. The initiative focused on cutting bureaucracy, consolidating back-office functions and redesigning the organisational structure; ultimately around 5,000 administrative and managerial positions were eliminated worldwide, largely outside front-line patient care roles. Giza argued that a leaner company was a prerequisite for reinvesting in clinical quality and innovation, later stating that “our unwavering focus on executing against our strategic plan and the successful implementation of turnaround measures… continue to translate into improved operating performance” as early results began to appear.

🧪 Innovation and portfolio focus in kidney care. While reducing overheads, Giza also moved to sharpen Fresenius Medical Care’s business portfolio and invest in targeted innovation. She prioritized the company’s core dialysis and kidney-care activities, selling or winding down peripheral ventures such as a chain of outpatient cardiac laboratories and certain underperforming international operations in order to “unlock value” and redeploy capital into core services. Under her leadership the company introduced a next-generation, high-volume hemodiafiltration dialysis system in the United States and highlighted emerging drug therapies, such as GLP-1 agonists including Ozempic, as both an opportunity and a challenge for renal-care providers, given their potential to alter the incidence and management of kidney disease.

📊 Turnaround results and FME Reignite strategy. Less than two years into Giza’s tenure as CEO, Fresenius Medical Care returned to earnings growth after a period of decline. In 2024 the company reported an 18% year-on-year increase in operating income, at the top end of its guidance range, and an 8% rise in net income, alongside improving profit margins and reduced debt, supported by strong cash flows. In May 2024 Fresenius Medical Care announced a dividend increase to €1.44 per share, up 21% from the prior year, which Giza presented as a tangible sign of recovery and disciplined capital allocation. By December 2024 the company’s share performance had improved sufficiently for it to rejoin the DAX 40 index after a year in Germany’s mid-cap segment; Giza commented that “we have delivered what we promised, and we are very happy to be back,” crediting the turnaround and strategy execution for the reinstatement. Building on this momentum, in mid-2025 she and her team launched the “FME Reignite” strategy, setting medium-term aspirations for industry-leading mid-teens operating margins by 2030 and emphasizing growth in home dialysis, value-based care models and digital health offerings alongside the clinic network.

💶 Compensation, board roles and recognition. As CEO and chair of the Management Board of Fresenius Medical Care, Giza receives a compensation package typical for the leader of a large, publicly traded healthcare group but modest compared with some U.S. peers. For 2023 her total direct compensation was about €4.9 million, including base salary, annual bonus and long-term stock incentives, with roughly two-thirds of her target pay structured as performance-linked variable remuneration rather than fixed salary. She participates in the company’s long-term incentive plan through performance-share awards that vest only if multi-year financial goals are met, and she holds shares and unvested stock awards that align her personal wealth with the company’s performance, though her overall net worth is in the low millions of euros rather than reflecting a founder-level equity stake. By convention, Giza also serves on the management board of Fresenius SE, the parent company, but she does not sit on other corporate boards. Her profile nonetheless extends beyond the Fresenius group: in 2024 she joined the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council, and German business media have ranked her among the country’s most influential women CEOs and prominent figures in European healthcare.

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Controversies and challenges

🧱 Workforce restructuring and job cuts. Giza’s turnaround programme at Fresenius Medical Care has involved difficult decisions, most visibly the elimination of around 5,000 administrative and managerial positions worldwide as part of the FME25 restructuring. While the company sought to concentrate reductions in back-office and management layers rather than clinical staffing, the scale of the cuts drew scrutiny in Germany and other countries, where large layoffs are politically and socially sensitive. There were no major public protests, but the restructuring required extensive internal communication to reassure remaining staff that the changes were intended to create a more agile organisation capable of investing in patient care and innovation over the long term.

🚨 Litigation, recalls and patient safety. Like many large healthcare providers, Fresenius Medical Care has faced legal and regulatory challenges before and during Giza’s leadership. In October 2023 the attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Georgia filed a joint lawsuit against the company’s U.S. vascular-access subsidiary, alleging that it had performed unnecessary surgical procedures on dialysis patients and fraudulently billed Medicaid, allegations the company has strongly denied while pledging to “vigorously” defend itself in court. Around the same time, in April 2023, Fresenius Medical Care recalled hundreds of units of a paediatric dialysis treatment product after U.S. regulators warned that chemicals could leach from plastic components, potentially posing a risk to children under 40 kg, although no injuries were reported. Under Giza, the company responded by accelerating the development of safer components and working with authorities to address safety concerns, with the CEO repeatedly emphasizing that patient safety is “non-negotiable” and that quality-control systems would be strengthened.

👥 Labour relations and staffing pressures. Fresenius Medical Care employs more than 120,000 people globally, and labour relations have been an ongoing area of tension. Trade unions and labour federations in countries including the United States and the Philippines have criticized the company over issues such as staffing levels, wages and alleged anti-union practices, particularly in dialysis clinics where chronic staff shortages and cost-saving pressures can strain working conditions. The company has maintained that it complies with labour laws and respects workers’ rights to organize, but Giza’s mandate to improve profitability sometimes intersects uneasily with the realities of high-touch, labour-intensive healthcare delivery, where under-staffing may directly affect patient care. Managing these pressures—amid global nursing shortages and rising wage demands—remains a central challenge during her tenure.

🏛️ Corporate structure debate and shareholder pressure. Beyond operational issues, Giza has navigated debates over Fresenius Medical Care’s corporate structure and relationship with its parent company. Under Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius SE, the group in 2023 moved to deconsolidate Fresenius Medical Care, allowing it to operate as a separate stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft) and reducing the parent’s stake to roughly one-third. The change, influenced in part by shareholder pressure and reported interest from activist investors seeking to unlock value at the parent group, gave Giza and her management board greater autonomy but also removed some of the conglomerate “safety net.” She publicly supported the simplification, noting that Fresenius Medical Care is a “truly global” company rather than purely German or American, and framed the new structure as an opportunity to pursue a focused kidney-care strategy while remaining accountable directly to capital markets.

🌐 ESG commitments and global health pledges. Although she generally avoids overtly political commentary, Giza has been vocal on environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes aligned with the company’s mission. Shortly after becoming CEO, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2023, she signed the global “Zero Health Gaps” pledge on behalf of Fresenius Medical Care, committing the company to work toward closing healthcare inequalities and to examine its operations for economic and environmental sustainability. Under her leadership the company has also signed Germany’s Diversity Charter and launched initiatives to support female talent and broader workforce diversity, measures that advocacy groups have highlighted in recognizing Fresenius Medical Care as a leading women-led business. Supporters see these commitments as evidence that profitability and social responsibility can be combined, while critics note that the long-term impact of such pledges will depend on measurable outcomes in access, environmental performance and workplace inclusion.

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Personal life and leadership style

🏠 Family life and personal routines. In contrast to the high-profile nature of her role, Giza maintains a relatively low-key private life. She is married with one son and has lived in several countries over the course of her career, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany, but keeps details of her family largely out of the public eye. Colleagues describe her as intensely disciplined and energetic; she is an avid runner and practices power yoga, often scheduling early-morning jogs before long days of meetings, and has said that “running outside is my happy place,” crediting exercise with helping her manage stress and stay centred. The emphasis on personal fitness parallels her professional focus on keeping organisations “fit” through continuous, incremental improvement.

🧠 Analytical, demanding and approachable leadership style. Giza’s management style combines strong analytical instincts with an approachable demeanour. With a background in accounting and years as a CFO, she is known for being highly data-driven and willing to delve into spreadsheet detail when necessary, yet she also encourages open dialogue and cross-functional collaboration. One widely noted habit in internal meetings is her request, “Can we do a double click, please?”, a friendly shorthand for asking teams to probe more deeply into an issue or examine the next layer of detail. Colleagues report that she pushes for high performance not through confrontation but by asking probing questions, setting clear expectations and holding herself and others accountable, an approach shaped in part by spending decades as a woman in male-dominated industries.

✨ Ethos and leadership profile. Looking across nearly three decades in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, commentators have characterized Giza’s trajectory as that of a pragmatic fixer and builder who gravitates toward underperforming operations and complex transformations. From a modest upbringing in industrial Wales to leading one of the world’s largest dialysis providers and one of the few DAX 40 companies headed by a woman, her career has been underpinned by a cost-conscious, detail-oriented mindset married to a clear sense of purpose around patient care. She has repeatedly reminded colleagues that for chronic kidney-disease patients “if they don’t get care, they die,” a blunt acknowledgment of the life-and-death stakes of the company’s work that informs strategic decisions as much as day-to-day operations. As Fresenius Medical Care pursues its “Reignite” growth strategy under her leadership, Giza’s challenge is to balance financial performance, innovation and social responsibility in a sector where clinical outcomes and corporate results are closely intertwined.

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