• Kevin Buehler was named president/CEO of Alcon (Hunenberg, Switzerland), effective April 1. Buehler is currently senior VP, global markets and chief marketing officer of Alcon Laboratories, a subsidiary of Alcon. Alcon is an eye care company.

• Stephan Rietiker was named to the board of BioCeramic Therapeutics (London). Rietiker was a former president/CEO of Centerpulse (formerly Sulzer Medical). BioCeramic Therapeutics specializes in regenerative medicine.

• Michael Kochersperger was named VP of engineering for BioNanomatrix (Philadelphia). Prior to joining BioNanomatrix, Kochersperger was VP of engineering at New Brunswick Scientific. BioNanomatrix makes nanoscale platforms for molecular diagnostics, personalized medicine and biomedical research.

• Blue Shield of California (San Francisco) has restructured its senior leadership. Blue Shield chairman/CEO Bruce Bodaken reported the following organizational changes:

– Paul Markovich, previously senior VP of the Large Group Business Unit, has been promoted to executive VP/COO.

– David Joyner, previously senior VP for network management, was named senior VP for a newly structured Mid/Large and Specialty Benefits Business Unit.

– Juan Davila, previously VP of network management, will become senior VP for network management.

– Janet Widmann, previously VP of Labor, Public and Strategic Accounts, will now oversee the CalPERS Business Unit.

Blue Shield of California is an independent member of the Blue Shield Association.

• Pat Reynolds was named VP of sales for Implantable Provider Group (IPG; Atlanta). Prior to joining IPG, Reynolds held numerous sales leadership positions at Guidant and Boston Scientific. IPG works with commercial payers to manage all aspects of high-cost implantable medical devices.

• Robert Miller was named VP of the Healthcare Industry Group within Siemens IT Solutions and Services (New York). Miller has led the Siemens Healthcare value-added Global Services IT consulting group, developed a sophisticated customer service organization and provided general management and leadership to a number of Siemens Healthcare IT operations. Siemens IT Solutions and Services is a provider of IT solutions and services.

• Jonathan Kurrle was named VP of government affairs and public policy for the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI; Washington). Kurrle comes to SPI from the Association for Manufacturing Technology, where he has served as government relations director since 2001. SPI is the plastics industry trade association, representing the third-largest manufacturing industry in the U.S.

• Tomi Ryba will become president of United Hospital (St. Paul, Minnesota), effective Feb. 17. Ryba is currently COO at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. United Hospital is a non-profit hospital providing a full range of healthcare services to more than 200,000 people each year.