About - Tech Ops Team
H. Barry Robins
Founder- Chairman of the Board
H. Barry Robins founded DavosPharma in 1972. He started his business career with ICI, Canada as a Process Engineer. Mr. Robins then worked for ICC, New York, where he held the position of Vice President, Marketing. Mr. Robins holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario.
David A. Robins
Co-CEO
David Robins has been instrumental in expanding DavosPharma from strictly manufacturing and marketing of small molecule building blocks for active substances to a full service provider. Under his leadership, DavosPharma now supports all manufacturing, biology and regulatory needs for commercial and IND drug development. Prior to joining Davos, Mr. Robins was a lead Process Engineer at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was responsible for the scale up and tech transfer of several late stage and commercial drugs. Mr. Robins received his B.S. in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Syracuse University.
Brian S. Robins
Co-CEO
Brian Robins joined DavosPharma in 1994. He focused on a number of multinational and emerging pharmaceutical companies, developing six clinical candidates. Two of these NCE projects are in late Phase III clinical trials, and one is awaiting FDA approval
Prior to joining DavosPharma, Mr. Robins worked at Delmar Chemical in Montreal.
Mr. Robins holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Anthony DelPrete
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Anthony DelPrete’s primary responsibilities include the ongoing development and risk management of DavosPharma’s financial operations’ strategy. He manages all aspects of the company’s finances and internal operations, including confidentiality agreements (CDAs), contract negotiations, legal and insurance matters. Mr. DelPrete began his career with DavosPharma in 1982. He holds a B.A. in Marketing from Pace University and a M.B.A. in Finance from Iona College.
Marc Caddell joined DavosPharma in 2005. He is responsible for business development with the emerging pharmaceutical companies on the East coast. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Mr. Caddell spent four years as Business Development Manager for Rhodia Pharma Solutions (formerly Rhodia ChiRex). This Rhodia division provided custom chemistry services to the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to working at Rhodia Pharma Solutions, Mr. Caddell spent nineteen years with Burroughs-Wellcome/Glaxo Wellcome/GlaxoSmithKline as a Research Scientist in Chemical Development. Mr. Caddell was responsible for process research and development and scale-up of API projects within Chemical Development, as well as Project Management. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
Joseph Corella
Sr. Director, API and Formulation Development
Dr. Corella joined DavosPharma is 2000. In this position, he focuses on the identification and development of APIs and regulatory intermediates with emerging and multinational pharmaceutical clients. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Dr. Corella had ten years of diversified experience in the fine chemical industry with Callery Chemical as Director of Technology. He has participated in six U.S. and WO patents and has published numerous technical papers. Dr. Corella holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. from Gannon University.
Suzanne Epstein
Business Manager
Suzanne Epstein has been with Davos for 17 years. Her main job function today includes managing and reviewing confidential disclosure agreements, master services agreements and supply agreements. She also assists the field sales representatives their daily roles. Prior to joining Davos, Ms. Epstein was a technical sales representative for Witco Corporation and bench chemist at Sun Chemical. She has a Bachelor of Science and Natural History from Muhlenberg College and a Master’s of Business Administration in Marketing from Montclair State University.
George T. Georges
Director, Market Development - Boston MA
George Georges joined DavosPharma in 2013. He is responsible for business development in the New England area. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Mr. Georges was a Global Account Manager for Avantor Performance Materials (formerly Mallinckrodt Baker) for ten years. In his role, he managed the cGMP Pharma chemicals portfolio at a number of large BioPharma accounts and many biotech startups in the Boston area. Before joining Avantor, Mr. Georges started his career in nanotechnology at Triton Systems managing SBIR programs on high performance coatings and barrier polymers. Mr. Georges earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an MBA from Babson College.
Doug Hecker
Vice President, Drug Delivery Technologies - Kansas City MO
Doug Hecker joined DavosPharma in 2015. Mr. Hecker's primary responsibility is to help clients solve their solubility and or bioavailability problems using niche drug delivery technologies (ie cyclodextrins such as SBECD or via spray dried dispersions). Mr. Hecker brings 20+ years’ experience in the pharma sector to DavosPharma. Key highlights of his career include responsibility for Captisol® manufacturing (CyDex 1997-2004), installation of Hovione’s first spray dryer (Hovione 2004-2010), development of numerous formulations (oral and injectable) that are in pre-clinical or clinical development. Mr. Hecker holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Missouri Western State University.
Conor Houlihan
Logistics Coordinator
Conor Houlihan joined DavosPharma in 2017. He is responsible for the internal support of import/export logistics and database management. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the State University at Buffalo.
Michael Kates
Head OF Preclinical Development - Doylestown, PA
Dr. Michael Kates joined DavosPharma in 2011. He is responsible for business development and management of Davos’ fully Integrated Drug Discovery Service Platform. Prior to this, he worked as a medicinal chemist at both Wyeth Laboratories and DuPont-Merck. He holds a B.S. degree in chemistry, a Ph.D. from Villanova University and Post Doctorial Research Fellow at Brown University. Dr. Kates is an Adjunct Associate Professor Medicinal Chemistry at the University of New England, School of Pharmacy and has 21 publications and contributed talks.
Vance Lyon
Senior Director
​Dr. Lyon joined DavosPharma in 1998. He is responsible for project management and new business development of custom chemistry resources for both emerging and multinational pharmaceutical companies. ​Prior to joining DavosPharma, Dr. Lyon was Director of Analytical Services and Quality Assurance at Chemir Polytech Laboratories and Director of Marketing and QA at Parish Chemical. Dr. Lyon holds a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah and a B.S. from the University of Chicago.
Leonard J. Martocci
Director of Business Development - San Francisco, CA
​Leonard Martocci joined DavosPharma in 2017. He is responsible for business development in the Western United States. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Mr. Martocci had a 35 year career with Avantor Performance Materials (formerly Mallinckrodt Baker Inc.) in commercial sales and business development management. During his time at Avantor, he was Director of Pharmaceutical Sales and Director of Microelectronic Sales for a total of 15 years. Mr. Martocci has extensive knowledge and experience in Pharmaceutical, Microelectronic and Laboratory chemical manufacturing and distribution. In his role, he managed cGMP Pharma chemicals at multi-national BioPharma accounts as well as biotech startups in the San Francisco Bay area. Mr. Martocci earned his B.S. in Biology from Pennsylvania State University.
Gifford Marzoni
Vice President, Global API Development -San Diego, CA
Gifford Marzoni joined DavosPharma in 1998 as manager of the DavosPharma San Diego office. His current projects include pre-clinical tox and DMPK studies, numerous early phase synthesis and formulation projects for emerging pharma, one FDA approved API, one NCE in Phase III trials, and several commercial API starting materials. Mr. Marzoni has been personally involved with the filing of seven INDs and three NDAs. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Mr. Marzoni was Director, Head of Pilot Plant Services at Agouron Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his association with Agouron, he spent nine years at Eli Lilly & Co. Mr. Marzoni holds an M.S. degree in Organic Chemistry from Purdue University. He has published fifteen articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been issued seventeen patents.
Ayyappan R. Nair
Head Of Biology
Dr. Ayyappan Nair is the head of Biology, supporting technical business development in the discovery space of both small and large molecules. He has extensive experience in target discovery, and validation, expression systems for biologics, RNAi in various therapeutic areas such as oncology, metabolic disorders and infective diseases. Prior to joining Davos, Dr. Nair headed Discovery Biology Services at Anthem. He was also an Associate Professor at Amrita School of Biotechnology, Head of Enabling Technologies (Protein Therapeutics) at Bayer Healthcare, and Tranzyme Pharma.
Lucja Orzechowski
Project Manager
Lucja Orzechowski joined DavosPharma in January 2017. Her primary role is to monitor activities to ensure timely delivery of goods, reports and project-related data. Prior to joining Davos she worked as a Medicinal Chemist at Roche and was a Quality Assurance Auditor at Lohmann Therapy Systems. She holds a B.S. degree in Food Science from Lodz University of Technology in Poland and a M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Montclair State University.
Muppala S. Raju
Vice President, Chemistry
Dr. Muppala Raju joined DavosPharma in 1995. He is responsible for the development of DavosPharma' business activities in India. Dr. Raju is also head of chemistry at DavosPharma where he directs the process development of all contracted projects at DavosPharma' worldwide custom manufacturers. Prior to joining DavosPharma, Dr. Raju held several positions including Manager of Chemical Process R&D for Celgene Corporation. He was also a Research Scientist for Rhône-Poulenc Research Center, Research Chemist for PPG Industries and held post doctoral positions at the University of Iowa and Rockefeller University. Dr. Raju has co-authored fifteen research publications and has been issued six patents. He holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and an MBA from Kent State University.
Michael E. Shore
Director, Project Management & API Development - San Francisco, CA
Micheal Shore joined DavosPharma in 2007. He is responsible for business development with the emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Prior to DavosPharma, Mike began his career with Ciba-Geigy as a process chemist. He then joinied Agouron Pharmaceuticals/WarnerLambert/Pfizer where he was responsible for process development, scale-up, optimization, technology transfer, validation and the manufacture of Viracept®, Agouron’s small molecule protease inhibitor. Mr. Shore has also worked at Amylin Pharmaceuticals as a Project Manager. Mr. Shore holds a B.S. degree in Organic Chemistry from Florida State University. He has also had direct involvement with the filing of six INDs and two NDAs.
Shobhana Sridharan
Technical Sales Coordinator
Shobhana Sridharan joined the DavosPharma in 2005. Her responsibilities include inside sales and database management. She holds an M.S. in Food and Nutrition from Women’s University in India.
Landy Toth
Medical Devices - Doylestown, PA
Landy Toth joined DavosPharma in 2011. He is responsible for all medical device initiatives. Prior to working with DavosPharma, Mr. Toth provided technology transfer and medical device development services to Convatec Inc.
Mr. Toth has broad experience with medical device development,
transduction, and wearable electronics and has over 54 related patents
and applications. He holds a BASC in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo and a MASC in engineering from the University of Toronto.
Alicia Zucatti
Director, Import/Export Logistics
Alicia Zucatti joined DavosPharma in 1985. She is responsible for all import/export logistics and documentation required for US, EU and Japanese regulatory agencies (OSHA, EPA, DOT, IATA,) and legislation (TSCA, Right to Know, MITI, C-TPAT and REACH). Ms. Zucatti holds a B.A. from Pace University