People Spotlight — February 2023

Gilbert Ghostine has been appointed chairman-designate of Sandoz’s new board of directors, which will be formed following the spin-off from Novartis in the second half of 2023, subject to final approvals. He has served as CEO of Firmenich, a perfume and taste company, since 2014, but has held various executive and senior leadership positions in a career spanning three decades.

Claus Zieler will be appointed as Astella Pharma’s CCO, effective April 1. He joined Astellas Group in 2019 as president, international markets commercial, with experience in the commercial area at Schering and Bayer. He was appointed as president, established markets commercial in January 2022, and will be replacing Yukio Matsui, the current CCO.

Catalent, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has appointed Joseph A. Ferraro as SVP, general counsel, CCO, and secretary. He will be responsible for managing Catalent's global legal and compliance operations. Ferraro will also head up the company’s legal leadership team, and serve on its executive leadership team, reporting directly to Catalent’s EVP and Chief Administrative Officer, Steven Fasman.

Adam Kautzner, PharmD, president of Express Scripts, has assumed the role of chairman of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA)’s board of directors. Kautzner has been with Express Scripts for over 15 years. Prior to being named president, he held various leadership roles overseeing supply chain strategy and initiatives, managing key strategic relationships, and directing formulary development. Most recently, he served as senior vice president of supply chain, responsible for pharmaceutical contracting, retail network contracting, and drug sourcing.

Hema Vaidya has been appointed as new VP of global quality assurance and regulatory affairs at UPS Healthcare. In this role, she’ll be responsible for directing compliance requirements for the pharm industry and assuring patient safety through quality assurance management. With more than 25 years of global quality leadership, she will be establishing new quality functions and delivering processes to facilitate operational transformations. Hema will replace the former VP in this position, Tom Page.

ACG World, a pharma supplier, has appointed Rafael Costa as VP for the Americas region. In the new role, one of his tasks will include leading sales and business development in North and South America for capsules. He will head up the region’s commercial and customer service team—with almost 30 years of experience working across the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sectors within the Americas region. He has led numerous companies in different markets in both North and South America, including business integrations. Costa’s experience includes working with companies such as Lonza and Pfizer.

SpyBiotech, a biotech company, has appointed Eddie Gray, MBA, as chairman of its board of directors. Gray joins the board as an independent director. He has over 40 years of global experience in the life sciences industry, with 25 years of that time at GSK culminating as president of the European pharmaceutical business and member of the corporate executive team. During this time, he was involved in leadership of vaccine and other anti-infectives businesses.

JUICE Pharma Worldwide, a global creative and marketing communications agency focused on healthcare, announced that Chris Ozanian has been appointed chief experience officer. He will be responsible for expanding on JUICE’S ongoing digital strategy. He joins JUICE from VMLY&R where he was managing director of experience strategy. His previous roles included developing a user experience and innovation team at Pfizer, in addition to management positions at agencies where he worked on accounts, including Merck, Biogen, and Verizon.