CORDENPHARMA LEADERSHIP TEAM

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.

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. 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.

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).

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.

Martin Walde
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Lisbon

Martin Walde joined CordenPharma as Managing Director, CordenPharma Lisbon in February 2022 as a seasoned executive with more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and related industries. After beginning his career as a chemist in the development and manufacture of innovative plastics with GE Plastics, Martin took on roles of increasing responsibility within operations, including Production, Quality Control and Supply Chain in various organizations. Prior to joining CordenPharma he spent several years in Site leadership positions at Vifor Pharma, culminating in his appointment as Site Head of the Lisbon operations prior to the acquisition by CordenPharma. Martin has an education background in Chemistry and holds a Master’s Degree in Management, Technology and Economics from ETH Zurich.

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

Dr. Matthieu Giraud joined CordenPharma in 2017 as Director, Global Peptides, Lipids & Carbohydrates Platform, CordenPharma International. 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.

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.

Nicolas Reischer
VP, General Counsel,
CordenPharma International

Nicolas Reischer joined CordenPharma International as VP, General Counsel in January 2020. As the head of CordenPharma’s legal department, he is responsible for providing strategic guidance to the Executive Management team, as well as overseeing all legal contract negotiations, compliance and litigation matters. Previously, Nicolas worked as Senior Legal Counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim in Vienna, Austria, where he supported the company’s biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing business. Prior to that, he was a specialist in corporate and intellectual property law in various Austrian law firms, and U.S. immigration law in various Chicago, IL law firms. Nicolas holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Vienna, and an LL.M. Degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He was admitted to the bar of New York (US) in 2005 and Vienna (Austria) in 2009.

Dr. Thierry Durand
VP, Global Head of Program Management,
CordenPharma International

Dr. Thierry Durand joined CordenPharma in January 2021 as the VP, Global Head of Program Management for CordenPharma International. Thierry is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical and related industries. After beginning his career as a Process Research Lab Manager at Synthelabo (Sanofi), Thierry took on roles of increasing responsibility within R&D and Project Management at Rhône-Poulenc and Merial, including as Director of R&D and Project Management at Novasep. He has since gained further experience in a variety of general management roles at Naturex, and most recently, Minakem. Thierry studied Chemistry at the University Claude Bernard of Lyon (France), gaining a Master’s Degree in Organic Chemistry and an Engineering Degree in Chemical Sciences, before obtaining a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Louvain (Belgium). He is a French citizen based out of his home office in Brussels, Belgium.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Jason Bertola
Director, Global Highly Potent & Oncology Platform,
CordenPharma International

Jason Bertola joined CordenPharma in 2016 as Director, Global Highly Potent & Oncology Platform, CordenPharma International. Jason began his career in pharmaceutical process development first with SAPEC (now Cerbios) and then Hoffmann-La Roche before transitioning into business development and sales. He brings over 27 years of diverse leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry with extensive expertise in contract development and manufacturing, strategy development and business transactions. Prior to joining CordenPharma, Jason was Vice President of Business Development & Strategy for Dishman. Jason holds a B.S. in Chemistry and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

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

Dr. Stephen Houldsworth is currently the 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).

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).

Yves Michon
Managing Director,
CordenPharma Chenôve

Yves Michon joined CordenPharma in January 2011 as Managing Director, CordenPharma Chenôve (FR) and ad interim for CordenPharma Brussels (BE). Yves brings 30 years of experience in the manufacturing and business of Fine Chemicals and APIs with expertise in Production, Continuous Improvement, Project Management and General Management of CMOs. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Process Control & Engineering from ECAM Graduate School of Engineering in Lyon, France.

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.

Heiko Serwe joined CordenPharma as Chief Financial Officer in May 2018 from the industrial holding company ADCURAM Group, where he worked as Commercial Director and CFO for a number of portfolio companies, and took over an important role during several M&A transactions. Prior to that Heiko held various positions of increasing responsibility at the pharmaceutical primary packaging manufacturer Gerresheimer, culminating as CFO of the Tubular Glass business unit. Heiko is a German citizen with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hannover, DE and a degree in Economics from the University of Hagen, DE.

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).

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.

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).

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.

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.