News from Lonza, Agilux and Chiltern – People on the move
Lonza has named Richard Ridinger as its new CEO.
The former BASF chief follows in the footsteps of Rolf Soiron, who has filled the role as interim since the end of January.
Since the news broke, share prices for the firm hit a three-month high, climbing as much as 3.6 per cent.
The firm says Ridinger will help it focus on chemicals, following last year’s $1.2bn acquisition of Arch.
“Richard Ridinger could be a person who grew up with Lonza”, said Soiron. “He is a chemical engineer who knows our industries, customers and products. With Richard Ridinger, we were not only able to attract a man of action and team player, but also a winning personality.”
Agilux Laboratories has hired Richard LeLacheur as senior director of bioanalytical operations.
Jim Jersey, president and CEO, said: “Rich brings to us a wealth of scientific, regulatory and operational experience and we look forward to working with him, and to his contributions in the coming months and years in further advancing and supporting Agilux Labs desire to provide better data faster to its clients.”
Clinical CRO (contract research organisation) Chiltern has named Krista Stephenson as associate director.
In her new role, Stephenson will focus on developing the firm’s fuctional service provider (FSP) and staffing models, and will take the helm for the resourcing solutions business in the Americas.
Linda Christmas, senior executive VP of global resourcing solutions, said: “Her experience in the industry and her enthusiasm are the perfect combination for growing Chiltern’s staffing and FSP services in this region”.
US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius has invited 15 individuals to serve on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).
The committee – a federal advisory – is made up of both federal officials and public members, and is responsible for developing and annually updating a strategic plan for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
“The individuals invited to serve on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee represent people on the autism spectrum, autism advocates, parents, clinicians, and researchers from across the country,” Sebelius said.
“I look forward to working with the committee members to make a real difference in the lives of people with autism and their families.”
Laureate Biopharmaceutical Services has drafted James Utterback onto its board of directors.
Utterback joins the CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation) from M2Gen – part of the Moffitt Cancer Centerin Tampa, Florida– where he was CEO.
Michael Griffith, CEO of Laureate, said: "Jim has more than 30 years of leadership experience building successful startups and public organizations in healthcare software, products and services globally.
“He has consistently innovated new approaches to growth and his customer-driven business philosophies complement Laureate's quality-focused right-first-time model."
Pharmaceutical market research firm HPI has appointed Marianne MacDonell to take charge of the specialist division for healthcare.
Prior to joining the firm, MacDonnell worked for Kantar Health where she headed brand and communication research for Big Pharmas such as Takeda, Novartis and Merck Serono.
Of her new role she said: “The intention is to combine HPI’s strong branding and communication heritage with pharmaceutical expertise that will benefit our healthcare clients by helping them to discover more about their key customer groups.”
Managing partner Juliet Strachan, added: “We feel there is a great opportunity for us to further develop our healthcare offer.”
