CORDENPHARMA LEADERSHIP TEAM

Dr. Naoki D. Takei
VP, General Counsel,
CordenPharma International

Naoki D. Takei joined CordenPharma in June 2023 as Vice President, General Counsel and member of the Extended Management Team. As the head of CordenPharma’s legal function, Naoki is responsible for overseeing all legal, compliance and litigation matters.

Naoki brings more than 20 years of professional experience as a business lawyer at leading law firms and in the pharma industry. Prior to joining CordenPharma, he has worked for Novartis in various legal and compliance roles of increasing seniority, and across different businesses, including his most recent position as Global Head of Legal, Customer & Technology Solutions.

Naoki holds a Master of Law (lic. iur.) and a PhD in law (Dr. iur.) from the University Basel, Switzerland and is admitted to the Bar of the Canton of Zurich.

Dr. Stephen Houldsworth
Senior VP, Global Head of Platform Management & Marketing,
CordenPharma International

Dr. Stephen Houldsworth is currently the Senior VP, Global Head of Platform Management & Marketing. With over twenty years in the CDMO industry, Stephen joined CordenPharma in 2017 as Director, Global Small Molecules & Antibiotics Platforms. Prior to joining CordenPharma Stephen held various senior positions in R&D, Manufacturing, Operations, Business Development and Sales in Dalton Pharma Services and most recently Apotex Pharmachem. Stephen has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Nottingham (UK) where he conducted research in the group of Prof. G. Pattenden, followed by a postdoctoral stay in the group of V. Snieckus at the University of Waterloo (CA).

Gary Hughes
Chief Financial Officer,
CordenPharma

Gary Hughes joined CordenPharma as Chief Financial Officer in March 2023. Gary brings more than 28 years of professional experience in various international Finance roles at Ernst & Young, Ciba Vision AG and Selecta Management AG in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In his last role as CFO at Acino International AG in Switzerland, Gary oversaw the global Finance function, drove significant turnaround in the business, established transformation programs and managed several business acquisitions. Gary holds a degree in Law (LLB) from Leeds University, U.K. and is an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) since 1997.

Dr. James Leresche
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Chenôve

Dr. James Leresche joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Chenôve in March 2023. With more than 25 years of experience at various CDMOs, Pharma & Biotech, James most recently came from Lonza, where after multiple roles of increasing responsibility, he served as Head of Operations for Small Molecules. He has an extensive expertise in the areas of Safety, Quality and HSE, and his recent accomplishments include the successful implementation of Operational Excellence and Innovations programs, as well as the management and execution of vast CAPEX projects. James received a diploma in Chemistry and a PhD in the area of Organic Chemistry from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr. Stéphane Varray
Director, Global Peptides Platform,
CordenPharma International

Stéphane Varray joined CordenPharma as Director, Global Peptides Platform in January 2023, bringing over 20 years of experience in custom manufacturing both in chemistry and biologics with a focus on peptide and proteins.

Prior to joining CordenPharma, Stéphane worked at Lonza, where he has held various management positions in process development and manufacturing, Project Management, Proposal, commercial development and strategic marketing.

Stéphane earned his PhD in Organic Chemistry from University of Montpelier (FR), where he conducted research in the field of peptide in the group of Prof. J. Martinez.

Gudrun Schumacher
VP, Global Head of HR,
CordenPharma International

Gudrun Schumacher joined CordenPharma in January 2023 as Vice President, Global Head of HR and member of the CordenPharma Extended Management Team. Gudrun will be responsible for oversight of the global Human Resource activities for CordenPharma to ensure value-oriented HR management aligned with business needs and processes, and communicate visions and strategies that motivate and support the global organization.

Gudrun comes to us with more than 25 years of experience in various HR functions, including her most recent position as Global Head of HR for Cerdia International. She has expertise in designing and implementing global people strategy and leaders’ training, defining people vision, culture and execution plans, developing and managing talent pipelines, building global HR communities, and guiding internal HR Teams.

Gudrun Schumacher received a diploma in Education Management from the Technical University of Berlin, as well as a diploma of Education Sciences, in combination with Psychology and Social Science, from the Martin Luther University of Halle, Germany.

Dr. Matthieu Giraud
Senior Director, Global Lipids & Carbohydrates Platform,
CordenPharma International

Dr. Matthieu Giraud joined CordenPharma in 2017 as Director, Global Peptides, Lipids & Carbohydrates Platforms, CordenPharma International and was made Senior Director of the Global Lipids & Carbohydrates Platform in 2023. Prior to joining CordenPharma Matthieu held various senior positions in the CMO business with >20 years of experience in increasingly senior roles, culminating as the Director, Head of R&D Peptides and Oligonucleotides at Lonza (CH), then Head of API production at BASF Pharma (CH), API Site Manager at BASF Pharma (FR), and finally Key Account Manager for Siegfried (CH). Matthieu has a Ph.D. in peptide chemistry from the University of Montpellier (FR), where he conducted research in the group of Prof. J. Martinez, jointly with Osaka University in the group of Prof. Shimonishi.

Dr. Michael Quirmbach
Chief Executive Officer & President,
CordenPharma

Dr. Michael Quirmbach joined CordenPharma in October 2014, holding positions first as Vice President, Marketing & Sales and Chief Business Officer before becoming Chief Executive Officer & President as of August 1, 2019. Prior to joining CordenPharma, Michael held positions with increasing responsibility at Albany Molecular Research (AMRI), Solvias AG, Speedel, Dr. Reddy’s, and Siegfried AG, where he garnered extensive experience in business development, marketing, and sales in the CDMO arena. Michael studied chemistry at the Technical University of Clausthal (DE) and the University of Salford (UK) before completing his PhD at the the Max Planck Research Group “Asymmetric Catalysis” at the Institute for Organic Catalysis Research in Rostock (DE). Following a postdoctoral fellowship at both the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA) and the University of Pennsylvania (USA), Michael completed his MBA from La Salle University in Philadelphia (USA) in 2005, and in 2019, the Advanced Management Program at Wharton business school in Philadelphia (USA).

Dr. Lee Newton
Chief Operating Officer,
CordenPharma

Dr. Lee Newton joins CordenPharma from Lonza, where he most recently held the role of Senior Vice President & Business Unit Head for Lonza’s Small Molecule API business. Lee has over 20 years of experience within the Pharmaceutical Industry. After beginning his career in primary manufacturing with GlaxoWellcome, Lee moved into the CDMO sector in 2002 with Avecia, and has since worked in various operational & commercial roles with increasing responsibility including as Operations Director for Carbogen Amcis. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Heriot-Watt (UK). Lee is Scottish national currently residing in Switzerland.

Dr. Walter Kittl
Interim Managing Director,
CordenPharma Plankstadt

Dr. Walter Kittl is the Interim Managing Director, CordenPharma Plankstadt, starting March 19, 2020. With over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, CMO and fine chemical industries, Walter brings a holistic understanding of pharmaceutical manufacturing operations resulting from a multi-faceted career beginning as a Project Manager in R&D and manufacturing at DSM Fine Chemicals. Walter then held various senior management positions with increasing levels of responsibility at Roche, where he became Site Manager of the Basel Chemical Manufacturing site, and Siegfried AG, where he was President & General Manager of Siegfried USA before becoming the Head of Global Technical Operations. Walter is an Austrian citizen and holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria.

William Cashin
Chief Quality & Compliance Officer,
CordenPharma

William Cashin joined CordenPharma as Chief Quality & Compliance Officer in May 2020. Will joins us from Lonza, where he served as Global Head Quality, Mammalian and Microbial. In this role, he was directly responsible for all aspects of quality for biopharmaceutical global manufacturing operations within Europe, North America, Singapore and China. Prior to that, Will worked extensively in the pharmaceutical industry, including roles of increasing responsibility at Alexion, GSK and Pfizer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry from the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Open University, (UK). William is an Irish national, currently based in Switzerland.

Fabio Stevanon became Director, Global Injectables Platform, CordenPharma International in January 2018. Fabio joined CordenPharma Caponago in July 2009, after previously being with AstraZeneca, where he garnered extensive experience as Logistic & IT Director over 15 years in the area of Injectable product operation. Furthermore, he was involved in supporting AstraZeneca’s supply-sourcing management team for a number of core Injectable products contracted to CMOs. Additional areas of experience included lean strategic program and business process engineering. Fabio received an industrial engineering degree from Politecnico Milano and started his industrial career in the automotive industry, where he worked in supply chain, operations and towards the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques.

Luca Porcu
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Bergamo

Luca joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Bergamo in May 2021 with over 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical industry. After beginning his career in production at Patheon, Luca took roles of increasing seniority in the CDMO sector, in both sales and operations, including a leading role as Director of Angelini Fine Chemicals Division. After that, he spent several years as Director of CordenPharma’s Small Molecules Platform. Luca has a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry Technology from the University of Ferrara, which was followed by a three-year research contract in collaboration with GSK and Novartis. He also served briefly as a University Professor. He is an Italian citizen based near Milan, Italy.

Brian McCudden joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Boulder & CordenPharma Colorado (Boulder, CO, USA) in June 2014. Brian is an API executive with extensive experience developing and implementing strategy and building high performing teams. He has broad experience at establishing and improving operations in development, manufacturing, supply chain, sourcing and procurement in API and finished Drug Product. Brian graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Chemical Engineering and has an MBA in Finance from Loyola College. Prior to accepting his current position with CordenPharma Colorado, he served as the Vice President, API Strategy at Hospira. Brian also worked for Roche Colorado Corporation as Director of Manufacturing from 1991 – 2002.

Patrice Locht joined CordenPharma in 2016 as the Managing Director, CordenPharma Brussels (BE). Patrice started his career with several operational roles of increasing responsibility in diversified industries including catalytic systems (Johnson Matthey), detergents and power cables (Nexans) before moving to the genomics and diagnostic GMP grade components business as a Production Manager. Patrice holds a Master degree in Applied Sciences and an International Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Louvain (Belgium).

Fabrizio Fiordigiglio joined CordenPharma in November 2017 as Managing Director, CordenPharma Caponago (IT) after more than 30 years of experience in different management positions in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. After graduating as a Chemical Engineer from the Milan Politecnico University, Fabrizio began his career as Chemical Project Manager in Lamberti Group in 1985. In 1989 he joined Akzo Nobel Chemicals with increasing responsibility until taking the role as Site Manager for one of the Italian production sites. In 1999 he joined the CDMO API manufacturing company UQUIFA as General Manager and later on became the Managing Director for the Italian manufacturing subsidiary. In 2012 he joined the CDMO Tubilux Pharma, located near Rome, as General Manager active in the aseptic filling ophthalmic business.

Frank Haehner joined CordenPharma in 2016 as Managing Director, CordenPharma Plankstadt, (DE). He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in various executive roles. Prior to joining CordenPharma Frank worked at Novartis, where he served as Head of Technology & Investment Portfolio Management, Head of Engineering Biologics, Technical Development and Manufacturing, as well as Project Director of BioInject, a new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Prior to that, Frank held senior roles at B.Braun Melsungen AG as Head of Technical Development, Vice President Special Projects (US) and Project Director for a new green field Pharma Factory. During his relationship with io-consultants, Heidelberg, Frank was Senior Business Unit Manager, Pharma and a member of the supervisory board of io-consultants China. Frank graduated with a degree in Process Engineering and Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, where we went on to receive his PhD in Process Engineering.

Dr. Juerg Burger
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Switzerland

Dr. Juerg Burger joined CordenPharma in 2013 as the Managing Director, CordenPharma Switzerland (CH). Prior to joining CordenPharma, Dr. Burger garnered extensive operations management experience over 27 years in various roles at Lonza AG (CH and Hopkinton, US) including Head of Manufacturing Business Sector Exclusive Synthesis, Head of Manufacturing Operations for Pharmaceuticals (small molecules) and later Microbial Fermentations, and most recently Head Business Unit of Global Microbial Operations, VP of Supply Chain and VP of Head Site Services. Dr. Burger earned a PhD and Master Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (CH).

Starting May 2018, Eng. Alessandro Zucconi joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Latina (IT). Alessandro has more than 30 years of experience in various management positions of increasing responsibility within different industrials sectors, mainly the automotive business, gained in both domestic (Italian) and International markets, and 20 years of experience as a CEO. After graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pisa (IT), Alessandro complemented his scientific education with a Business Master degree in Enterprise Strategy from Bocconi University in Milano (IT), and a Master in Business Coaching Certification ICF from IN Coach Academy in Milano (IT).

Dr. Lutz Henkel
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Plankstadt

Dr. Lutz Henkel joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Plankstadt in October 2020. Bringing more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Lutz joins us from Bipso / Bracco, where he was the Director of Quality & Compliance. Prior to that, he held various key positions in Operations and Quality Management within Big Pharma (including Pfizer), as well as Generic and CDMO organizations. Lutz holds a PhD in Pharmacy from the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.

Dr. Swantje Thiering, PMP
VP, Global Head of Program Management & PMO
CordenPharma International

Swantje Thiering joined CordenPharma International as VP, Global Head of Program Management & PMO in April 2022. As the head of CordenPharma’s Program Management department, she will focus on driving continuous improvement in customer centricity and customer satisfaction through the implementation of best practices, systems and processes for project and program management throughout all CordenPharma sites. Swantje is a highly experienced project management and process development professional with 20 years’ experience in the CDMO and pharmaceutical industry. She started her career in SAFC, initially in Process Development for small molecules before moving into Project Management. She gained experience in biologics and Drug Product development and manufacturing at Nordmark, and for the last six years before joining CordenPharma, led the global Project Management and R&D function at Novasep Pharma Solutions, implementing PM and R&D best practices and harmonising project processes across the sites. Swantje holds a Master’s Degree and PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Hamburg, and the PMP certification from the Project Management Institute.

Yvan Liard
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Fribourg

Yvan Liard joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Fribourg (CH) in February 2022. Yvan holds a Bachelor in Business Administration (HWV) and an Executive Master in the Management of Logistical Systems from IML/EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Since 1999, Yvan worked in various managerial Supply Chain positions within the watch industry in Switzerland. In 2011, Yvan joined Vifor Pharma as Head of Supply Chain for the Fribourg and Ettingen sites. In 2016, he then became Site Head of Vifor Pharma in Fribourg and was appointed as Vice President.

Rosário Fonseca
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Lisbon

Rosário Fonseca joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Lisbon in September 2022. Rosário is a dynamic business leader with nearly 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in a wide variety of operational, business and strategic roles. She began her career in QC at Hikma Pharmaceuticals, gaining experience in various roles of increasing seniority. After moving to Generis Farmacêutica, Aurobindo Group in 2004, Rosário held a number of positions, most recently as Industrial Operations Head of a mid-size manufacturing site, with responsibility for all operational, quality functions and financial performance. During her career, Rosário has gained broad experience leading large and multi-functional teams, executing complex tech transfer programs, implementing performance turn-around programs and delivering custom manufacturing business growth. Rosário holds a Degree in Biology and a Masters in Pharmacy from Lisbon University, in addition to an executive postgrad in General Management from AESE.

Patrick Wolff
Site Head,
CordenPharma Ettingen

Patrick Wolff joined CordenPharma as Site Head, CordenPharma Ettingen (CH) in February 2022, with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. After beginning his career as chemist in the development and manufacturing of APIs (small molecules), Patrick took on roles of increasing responsibility within operations, including Production, Quality, and Supply Chain Management at Lipomed AG (CH). Prior to joining CordenPharma he spent several years in leadership positions at Vifor Pharma (CH), first as Head of Manufacturing, and more recently as Site Manager. Patrick holds a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry from ENSCMu Graduate School of Engineering in Mulhouse, France.

Dr. Karsten Meyenberg
Site Head,
CordenPharma Frankfurt (R&D)

Dr. Karsten Meyenberg joined CordenPharma in 2015 as Head of Operations for the CordenPharma Frankfurt Peptide Centre of Excellence before being promoted to Site Head in May 2022. Prior to CordenPharma, Karsten worked at Orpegen Peptide Chemicals in Heidelberg as Head of Manufacturing, and later as Head of Quality, as well as for Merck, Darmstadt in the role of a Quality Assurance Manager for Good Distribution Practice. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Göttingen University, specializing in Peptide Chemistry.