Michael Rousseau to succeed Daniel Starks as St. Jude CEO

Chutes and Ladders

Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.

Michael Rousseau to succeed Daniel Starks as St. Jude CEO

St. Jude Medical
Michael Rousseau was named CEO.

St. Jude Medical ($STJ) announced that CEO Daniel Starks will retire and current COO Michael Rousseau will take over as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2016. After 11 years at the helm, Starks will continue as executive chairman of the board of directors. Rousseau was named COO in 2014, 15 years after joining St. Jude as senior vice president of cardiac rhythm management global marketing. Along the way, he has worked as group president and was responsible for the company's four product divisions. Release


Patricia Henahan joins Array Biopharma as CFO

Array Biopharma
Patricia Henahan was named CFO.

While Pfizer ($PFE) has completed its acquisition of Hospira, Array Biopharma ($ARRY) has snapped up Hospira's Patricia Henahan, who had been vice president of finance, U.S. commercial business. Henahan brings extensive financial experience in the biopharma industry, having served in leadership roles at Eli Lilly ($LLY) and AstraZeneca ($AZN) as well as at Hospira. Release


Express Scripts names Tim Wentworth as CEO; George Paz to retire in 2016

Express Scripts
Tim Wentworth to take over as CEO.

Express Scripts ($ESRX) announced that its CEO, George Paz, will retire in May 2016. Tim Wentworth, who has served as the company's president since February 2014, will take over as CEO, while Paz will remain on the board of directors as chairman. Wentworth has previously served as senior vice president and president of sales and account management. Prior to that, he led Medco Health Solutions' employer and key accounts for nearly 14 years before joining Express Scripts in its merger with Medco. Release


Sun Pharma is trimming its manufacturing network, which includes cutting 100 jobs at a former Ranbaxy plant in Ireland. Story

Oxford Pharmaceuticals has started construction on a new plant in Birmingham, AL, and has pledged to hire 61 employees. Story


Biotech

Versartis named Dr. Lars Ekman as its global development adviser. Release

Dr. Richard Shames joined Protagonist Therapeutics as chief medical officer. Release

Novaliq appointed Oliver Schlüter as its managing director and CFO and Hartmut Voss as its chief business officer. Release

Aytu BioScience brought on Jonathan Heath McGrael as its vice president of sales. Release

Coherus named Juliana Reed its vice president of government affairs. Release

Scott Filosi joined EMD Serono as its senior vice president of managed markets. Release

Frontage appointed Michael Willett as leader of clinical research services. Release

Aerie Pharmaceuticals brought on Dr. Richard Lewis as its chief medical officer. Release

Nimbus Therapeutics named Dr. Annie Chen as its chief medical officer. Release

Kathie Lindemann stepped in at Flex Pharma as its chief operating officer. Release

Synta ($SNTA) named Alan Rigby as its chief scientific officer. Release

Alzheon appointed Dr. Susan Abushakra as the company's chief medical officer. Release

Donald Herzog joined Abide Therapeutics as vice president of early lead identification. Release

Immune Pharmaceuticals ($IMNP) hired Boris Shor as chief of the R&D lab at the Alexandria Center for Life Science. Release

Denali named Steve Krognes as its chief financial officer. Release

John Davis took the position of vice president of global sales and marketing at CryoLife ($CRY). Release

Pharming Group nominated Robin Wright as its chief financial officer. Release

Cerulean ($CERU) appointed Dr. Adrian Senderowicz as its chief medical officer. Release

Dr. Earl Sands joined Selecta Biosciences as its chief medical officer. Release

Pharma

Endo International appointed Dr. Craig Paterson as its chief medical officer. Release

CRO

PPD announced that Dr. Michael Gold joined its neuroscience team as the group's vice president of global product development. Release

CRO WCCT Global appointed William van Nostrand its new vice president of business development. Release