Executive Management Team

Joe Papa joined the company in May 2016 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, health care and specialty pharmaceutical industries, including 20 years of branded prescription drug experience. He was CEO of Perrigo Company since 2006 and was appointed chairman in 2007. He resigned from all positions at Perrigo in April 2016. Prior to Perrigo, Papa served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Health’s Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services business unit (2004 – 2006). He was President and Chief Operating Officer of Watson Pharmaceuticals (2001 – 2004), President of Global Country Operations for Pharmacia’s North American business (2000-2001) and President of Searle’s U.S. Operations (1997-2000). Prior to Searle/Pharmacia, Papa served in a variety of general management, sales, marketing and R&D positions during his 15-year career at Novartis Pharmaceuticals (1983-1997). During his pharmaceutical industry career, he led teams that successfully launched several blockbuster pharmaceutical products including Lotrel, Diovan and Celebrex, and is the patent holder for a cardiovascular combination treatment containing Amlodipine and Benazepril.

In October 2014, Harvard Business Review ranked Papa 47th on its “2014 Best Performing CEOs in the World.” He was also recognized on Israel-based Calcalist Magazine’s “Best Chief Executive Officer for the Year” list for 2013 and 2014. Additionally, Papa was named one of the World’s Best CEOs by Barron’s magazine in 2012, which noted Perrigo “generated one of the best shareholder returns in the S&P 500 in the past five years.”

He is a past member of the UConn Foundation Board of Directors and currently serves on the Smith & Nephew Board of Directors, where he also serves as chairman of the Remuneration Committee.

Papa holds a BS in pharmacy from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. In 2012, he received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy.

Thomas Appio was named Executive Vice President, International in April 2016. Appio joined the company from Bausch + Lomb in 2013, and under his leadership the organization has experienced accelerated growth in revenue and profitability within many of its international businesses, particularly in Asia Pacific. During his four years with Bausch + Lomb, Appio served as Vice President, North Asia/Japan, and as Managing Director, Greater China. Previous to joining Bausch + Lomb, Appio served 23 years with Schering-Plough in a wide range of leadership and operations responsibilities. Appio has spent nearly two decades working in the Asia Pacific region.

Paul Herendeen joined the company in August 2016. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Zoetis Inc., the global animal health company, for two years. From 2005 to 2013 and from 1998 to 2001, Herendeen served as CFO at Warner Chilcott, a specialty pharmaceuticals company. He rejoined Warner Chilcott after four years as Executive Vice President and CFO of MedPointe, a privately held health care company, where he served as CFO from 2001 until 2005. Prior to that, Herendeen spent nine years as a principal investor at Dominion Income Management and Cornerstone Partners, where he worked on investments as well as mergers & acquisitions for the firms and their portfolio companies. He spent the early part of his career in banking and public accounting, holding various positions with the investment banking group of Oppenheimer & Company, the capital markets group of Continental Bank Corporation and as a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen & Company. Herendeen earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, and holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Boston College.

Bill Humphries joined the company in January 2017. He was appointed CEO of Merz North America in March 2012, where he oversaw strategic direction and collaboration among three North American companies: Merz Pharmaceuticals, LLC; Merz Aesthetics, Inc.; and Merz Pharma Canada, Ltd. Prior to joining Merz, he served as the President of Stiefel, a leader in global dermatology and skin health, where he spearheaded two major acquisitions, and led the global integration of Stiefel into GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, Humphries held multiple senior executive roles within Allergan, Inc., concluding as Vice President of the U.S. Skincare business. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Dennis Asharin assumed responsibility for the global manufacturing and supply chain functions in August 2016. He joined the company in 2007 and has worked for more than 25 years in manufacturing and supply chain functions within the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Joe Gordon joined the company from Bausch + Lomb in 2013 and has more than 20 years of experience in the consumer industry. He previously worked at Wyeth and Pfizer, leading large sales and marketing organizations, with responsibility for such brands as Advil and Centrum.

Scott Hirsch joined the company in August 2016 from Citadel Investment Group, where he oversaw equity investments and risk management decisions within the Health Care sector at Surveyor Capital. Earlier in his career, he was in the investment banking group of Credit Suisse as the Lead Equity Research Analyst covering Specialty Pharmaceuticals and Generics.

Mark McKenna was appointed to lead Salix in April 2016. Previously, he spent more than a decade with Bausch + Lomb, most recently as Senior Vice President/General Manager of its U.S. Vision Care business. Before Bausch + Lomb, McKenna held several roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson.

Barbara Purcell joined the company from Bausch + Lomb in 2013, Previously, she was with Bausch + Lomb since 2011 as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for its generic business. She has been in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years, working at Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis/Sandoz and Zydus.

Dr. Tage Ramakrishna has been with the company since 2011 and has more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including positions at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Nycomed in Zurich Switzerland, and Insmed Pharmaceuticals.

Tracy Valorie joined the company from Bausch +Lomb in 2013. Previous to joining Bausch + Lomb, she was Pfizer’s Commercial Lead of Ophthalmology with global responsibility for its ophthalmology brands as well as responsibility for commercial development of the mid-stage portfolio, and long-range strategic planning.

Kelly joined the company in 2013, shortly before the Bausch+ Lomb acquisition. She has spent her career in companies with strong reputations for their HR capabilities, including Citibank and Medco Health Solutions (now Express Scripts).

Louis Yu joined the company in October 2016 with more than 30 years of leadership experience in the Quality and R&D functions of generic and branded pharmaceutical companies. He was Executive Vice President, Global Quality & Compliance at Perrigo Company from 2006 to 2016.