People Spotlight — August 2023

Niall Walsh. Image Credit: Tower Cold Chain

BioNTech has appointed James Ryan, PhD, to the management board as chief legal officer (CLO), effective Sept. 1. With nearly 20 years of global legal and intellectual property (IP) expertise in the pharma industry, he will continue to lead the company’s corporate legal strategy and global legal operations, including transactions, corporate governance, securities, IP, insurance, data privacy, among others. Prior to his appointment to the board, Ryan served as the company’s general counsel and SVP, legal & IP.

Tower Cold Chain—a company that rents containers to the pharma industry for temperature-specific transport—has continued the expansion of its global team with the appointment of a regional commercial manager for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and a business development manager for Ireland. Karin Van Den Brekel joins Tower as regional commercial manager in the EMEA region. Key to nurturing collaborative partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers, airlines, and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, she brings senior commercial leadership experience in global business development to the team. In addition, Niall Walsh, the new business development manager in Ireland, will be responsible for delivering growth within Northern Ireland and for supporting existing customers in their temperature-sensitive shipments across the region.

Catalent, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has named Lisa Evoli as its SVP & chief human resources officer, effective immediately. She replaces Ricardo Pravda, who will assume the role of chief transformation officer. Evoli joins Catalent from Integra Lifesciences, a global medical technology company. She will be responsible for leading the CDMO’s global human resources strategy, including talent acquisition, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, organizational design, compensation and benefits, HR operations and technology, and performance management.

Express Scripts, the pharmacy benefits management (PBM) business of The Cigna Group's Evernorth, has named Stephanie Smith Cooney, PharmD, as the new senior director of independent pharmacy affairs. Cooney—an independent pharmacist for nearly 20 years—will help grow the company's efforts to support the role independent pharmacists play as a front line of care in many local communities. 

Schreiner Group, who specializes in labels for the pharmaceutical industry, is hiring Brian Zumbolo as the new president of its US plant in Blauvelt, NY. He has experience in developing new markets, in acquisitions, in driving customer specifications, and in developing strong teams

The position had become vacant because the previous manager, Gene Dul, had decided to retire after 15 years.

KBI Biopharma, Inc. (KBI), a JSR Life Sciences company and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has made four recent executive appointments. Joining the company are Tony Fraij, COO; Shaguna Seth, chief of staff and global PMO leader; Katie Edgar, SVP of corporate strategy and alliance management; and Sarah Wakefield, SVP, corporate communications.