LAKE FOREST, Ill., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospira,
Inc. (NYSE: HSP), the world's leading provider of injectable
drugs and infusion technologies, today announced the hiring of
several new leaders to strengthen the company's quality and
compliance capabilities, including the appointment of Zena G. Kaufman as senior vice president,
Quality, effective Feb. 27, 2012. In
this role, Ms. Kaufman will have overall responsibility for
Hospira's global quality systems and serve as a member of the
company's senior leadership team, reporting directly to
F. Michael Ball, chief executive
officer.
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"Zena is a recognized global expert in pharmaceutical quality
systems, and her proven experience will help establish quality as a
strategic, competitive advantage across our global operations,"
said Mr. Ball. "Hospira remains fully dedicated to restoring our
long-established reputation for the highest-quality products and
best possible service for our customers, and I'm confident we now
have the right team in place to deliver against these
imperatives."
Under Ms. Kaufman's leadership, Hospira will advance its global
quality and compliance strategies, drive the continuous improvement
of established quality procedures to ensure that processes and
products meet high internal standards and regulatory requirements,
and ultimately deliver high-quality, cost-effective products to
customers.
Ms. Kaufman, who brings 24 years of experience to Hospira, most
recently served as divisional vice president, Global Quality
Systems, Global Pharmaceutical Operations, for Abbott Laboratories,
where her tenure included diverse roles across the company's
corporate and divisional quality functions. Prior to Abbott,
she held various roles of progressive responsibility in the quality
organizations at Pfizer Inc., Pharmacia Corporation and
G.D. Searle & Company.
Today, she continues to hold active leadership roles in many
industry organizations, including serving on the board of the
Parenteral Drug Association as well as having represented
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on the
International Conference of Harmonization Guideline: Pharmaceutical
Quality Systems.
In addition to Ms. Kaufman, Hospira has welcomed the following
new operations and quality leaders, who average more than 20 years
of experience in the pharmaceutical industry:
- Matt Stober – corporate
vice president, U.S. Pharma Operations
- As corporate vice president, U.S. Pharma Operations, Mr.
Stober, who joined Hospira late last year, has primary
responsibility for Hospira's Rocky Mount,
N.C., facility as well as Hospira plants in McPherson, Kan.; Austin, Texas; and Clayton, N.C. He joins Hospira from Johnson
& Johnson, where he served as the vice president and global
platform leader for Solids, Parenterals & Vaccines. Mr. Stober
brings to Hospira experience managing transformational change in
business-critical settings, as well as leading global and
multi-company development projects, new product launches and
large-scale organizational transformations. He has been in the
pharmaceutical industry for 22 years, having held significant
leadership roles at Novartis and Merck.
- Shane Ernst – vice
president, Quality, Rocky Mount
- Mr. Ernst serves as vice president of quality at the
Rocky Mount plant, where he is
accountable for all site quality as well as site remediation
operations. He started at Hospira on Jan.
30, and has 16 years of experience in the pharmaceutical
industry, most recently serving as vice president of Quality
Operations and Regulatory Affairs at DSM Pharmaceutical Products.
Mr. Ernst has extensive experience working with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA), having directly managed FDA inspections
successfully, and with multiple global regulatory agencies.
- Marty Nealey – vice
president, Operations, and plant manager, Rocky Mount
- Mr. Nealey recently joined Hospira as plant manager for the
Rocky Mount facility, where he is
accountable for leading manufacturing and remediation efforts.
He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 22 years, covering
tenures with Merck and AstraZeneca, and brings extensive experience
in sterile pharmaceutical manufacturing, having worked closely with
the FDA to maintain top quality standards. Most recently, as
executive director and plant manager for Purdue Pharmaceuticals
L.P. with responsibility for manufacturing sites in North Carolina and New Jersey, Mr. Nealey was responsible for
operating facilities in compliance with the FDA, the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA) and international regulatory agencies.
During his tenure there, he was responsible for delivering
significant branded and generic products to markets including
the United States, Canada and Latin
America. Mr. Nealey also oversaw the implementation of a
proactive annual site-compliance improvement plan, as well as a new
investigation process using multiple root-cause analysis
tools.
- Andrew Knudten – vice
president, Operations, and plant manager, McPherson
- Mr. Knudten has been named the site leader for the McPherson, Kan., plant where he will be
responsible for the facility's operations, effective March 5. He joins Hospira from Novartis where he
served as the global head of contract manufacturing and operations
strategy. In this role, Mr. Knudten was responsible for the
technical operations manufacturing strategy of a global multi-site
vaccines division as well as its contract manufacturing
business. Mr. Knudten, who brings more than 20 years of
experience, has also held roles of increasing responsibility with
Amgen, Inc. and CoDa Therapeutics, Inc.
- Thomas Templeman, Ph.D. –
vice president, Pharma Operations Excellence
- Dr. Templeman recently joined Hospira in the newly created
position of vice president, Pharma Operations Excellence. This role
was created to ensure that process change is systemic across the
company's U.S. plants. Dr. Templeman, with 22 years of
pharmaceutical experience, most recently worked as senior vice
president, Integrated Supply Chain, at Liquidia Technologies, where
he focused on developing and refining proposed products
concurrently with the manufacturing process, along with
establishing Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing and
quality systems to support clinical trials. He previously held
leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson, where he worked for 13
years and assisted in two remediation efforts.
"In their previous roles, our new team members have successfully
delivered the highest standards of quality and regulatory
compliance," said Mr. Ball. "These seasoned industry veterans will
work with Hospira's current leadership to remediate the
Rocky Mount facility and extend
improvements there across all Hospira sites. I'm confident that
their extensive backgrounds in operations and quality, expert
knowledge of FDA regulations and strong leadership abilities will
help take Hospira to the next level of operational excellence."
About Hospira
Hospira, Inc. is the world's leading provider of injectable
drugs and infusion technologies. Through its broad, integrated
portfolio, Hospira is uniquely positioned to Advance Wellness™ by
improving patient and caregiver safety while reducing healthcare
costs. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately
14,000 employees. Learn more at www.hospira.com.
SOURCE Hospira, Inc.