Board of Directors
Board of Directors
PRESIDENT
Donna Gruol
Donna J. Gruol has been an active champion of the generic pharmaceutical industry throughout her professional career spanning thirty years. Ms. Gruol’s passion for the pharmaceutical industry is rooted in cultivating highly collaborative relationships that have significantly improved patient outcomes via access to affordable, lifesaving and life-enhancing medicines. She steadfastly believes in the power of an industry network of professionals from all disciplines that outlives one’s current business card or affiliations – and paying it forward.
Ms. Gruol is President and Founder of Lone Fox Endeavors, LLC, a boutique pharmaceutical consulting firm that collaborates with organizations that require expertise in establishing solid strategic business platforms, making essential connections with targeted partners, staff and leadership development, and identifying and utilizing the tools needed to implement, execute and measure performance aligning to the strategic plan. Ms. Gruol’s work history includes senior and executive leadership positions as Vice President, Business Development for XGen Pharmaceuticals DJB, Inc., Director of Business Development for Xellia Pharmaceuticals APS, and progressive positions over a thirteen-year period gained while at Teva Pharmaceuticals /Teva Parenteral Medicines. Ms. Gruol brings significant enthusiasm to the industry, backed by a broad range of experience to include leading complex projects and alliances from introduction through commercialization, licensing and business development on a global scale, as well as leadership development initiatives, strategic management and organizational framework, and expansion of critical resource integration via improved supply chain management. She enjoys the challenge of taking on complex business challenges and breaking it down into four key tenants – clearly defined and manageable processes, purposeful and prompt communication, cultivating talent and freely sharing experience, best practices and relationships within a vast network.
Ms. Gruol is a graduate of the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine, University, earning her Masters of Business Administration in Global Organizational Leadership, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language Pathology from Marquette University, among other academic pursuits. Previously, she served on DCAT’s Leadership Development Committee, Advisory Council, Alliance for Industry Women Committee, and former Committee Chair of the Membership Advantage Committee.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
Kelsey Achenbach
Kelsey Achenbach has been serving the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries for more than 20 years, and has a strong passion for improving the lives of patients through partnerships and innovation. Ms. Achenbach has experience in operations management, business development, commercial management, and strategic business transformation. Currently, Ms. Achenbach leads the Global Pharmaceutical and Global Medical Nutrition businesses at dsm-firmenich; leading innovation and development of critical ingredients in parenteral and enteral nutrition while focusing on improving patient access to critical medications. Before joining dsm-firmenich, Ms. Achenbach had extensive experience in supplying and partnering with the pharmaceutical industry; holding strategic leadership roles at Roquette, Celanese, and FMC.
Prior to joining the DCAT Board of Directors, Ms. Achenbach was an active volunteer and advocate for the DCAT organization; holding positions on the Advisory Board and several committees over the past 7 years. Most recently, Ms. Achenbach chaired the Membership Advantage Committee.
In addition to her continued education and certifications in business leadership, Ms. Achenbach holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School.
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Ken Seufert
Ken Seufert is an accomplished senior executive with over twenty years of experience in strategic leadership positions in the pharmaceutical, nutritional and healthcare industries. Mr. Seufert is currently Chief Executive Officer of JRS Pharma LP and maintains responsibility for all business and manufacturing operations North America. Prior to this role, Mr. Seufert held senior positions in other excipients companies and owned his own businesses. With a focus in oral solid dosage formulation, he has extensive experience in drug formulation and commercializing new products on a global level. He has authored numerous articles on economics, sustainability, and supply chain challenges in the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
THIRD VICE PRESIDENT
Michael Semo
Michael Semo has been serving in the life sciences industry for over 25 years focused on transforming molecules into life changing medicines for patients. Michael is currently accountable for Global External R&D Strategy of Synthetic CMC at Eli Lilly and Company as an Associate Vice President. Mr. Semo has experience in business transformation, supply chain excellence, alliance management, and technical operations.
Over the past 15 years, Michael has been responsible for the design and management of an integrated outsourcing strategy for CMC covering R&D to manufacturing of clinical material supply. Before joining Lilly, he was a chemist at DowElanco. He has been an active member of DCAT since 2012. In addition to his professional achievements, Michael is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of sourcing professionals.
Mr. Semo has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a Executive Certificate from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
DIRECTOR
Camran Aslam
Camran Aslam has more than 17 years of experience within the pharmaceutical industry, which includes a broad range of procurement experience across a portfolio of Registered Starting Materials, Intermediates, APIs, and other direct materials.
In his current role as Senior Director, Category Strategy – Packaging and Devices at GSK, Camran leads a team responsible for the Primary and Secondary Packaging, as well as the category strategy for the Respiratory Devices. These materials support a broad portfolio of critical medicines across Respiratory, HIV, General Medicines, and Specialty at GSK.
Prior to joining GSK, Camran was the Director for Manufacturing Procurement at AbbVie, where he led a team of more than 90 procurement professionals across 28 manufacturing plants. He was also the Global Category Lead for APIs and Intermediates.
Camran began his procurement career as an Industrial Placement Student at Nissan in Production Procurement and has been an active participant in DCAT Week since 2009. He has also served on the DCAT Supply Management committee from 2020 until 2023.
Camran holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Newcastle Business School, UK and is also MCIPS accredited by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply.
DIRECTOR
Christopher Conway
Chris is a seasoned business executive with a 25-year consistent track record of exceeding goals, developing talent, and change transformation across a variety of industry verticals: aerospace, pharmaceutical/biotech and contract research, development, and manufacturing.
Chris is highly experienced in P&L leadership, sales, and marketing, having worked in large and small, public, and private equity backed companies. Over the last two decades Chris has exceeded growth goals in various roles at Curia, AMRI, Johnson & Johnson, and Dynabil Industries. This experience enables Chris’s deep understanding of all aspects of business.
Currently, Chris serves as Chief Executive Director of Bio X Cell, a Windjammer Capital owned company. Bio X Cell is an industry leading provider of in vivo monoclonal antibodies serving academia, research institutions, pharmaceutical/biotech and CRO’s/CDMO’s across the globe. Bio X Cell headquarters are in the US with locations and distribution centers throughout Europe and Asia. Prior to Bio X Cell, Chris served as President and R&D Business Unit Head at Curia, a global top ten organization in contract research, development and manufacturing services, serving the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. Chris led the global Research and Development business (R&D) which includes all functions and twenty sites across the globe in both small and large molecule Drug Discovery, Chemical Development, Formulation Development, Clinical & Commercial Manufacturing, Laboratory Services, and Fine Chemicals. Chris has delivered profitable growth through diverse organizational contexts. During his tenure with Curia, the company changed from founder led to public company to private equity backed with Chris being the only executive who served through all three periods. Chris also served as a Director on the board of Viyash Life Sciences Private Limited, a Carlyle owned company.
Chris joined AMRI in 2008 and quickly assumed various commercial leadership roles culminating in his role as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Sales and Marketing. AMRI sales grew 58% during his tenure in this role.
Prior to joining AMRI Chris had a successful career at Johnson & Johnson where he served in several commercial roles across J&J’s portfolio of companies. Chris led in numerous internal and external commercial capacities including sales, marketing, and sales operations. During his tenure with J&J Chris exceeded goals each year, received numerous awards including J&J’s Global Standards of Leadership award in 2008, and completed J&J’s leadership development program.
Prior to joining J&J, Chris was with Dynabil Industries, Inc. (now part of Ducommun, Inc.) an Aerospace manufacturing organization, from 1997-2001.
Chris received his B.S. in Marketing & Management from Siena College and his Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
He resides in Saratoga, NY with his wife Christine and three children, Jack, Finn, and Grayson. He currently sits on the board of Siena College, Albany College of Pharmacy, held previous board seats with Coaches vs. Cancer and the Alzheimer’s Association and is active in coaching youth sports including lacrosse and basketball.
DIRECTOR
Pierfrancesco Morosini
Pierfrancesco Morosini has been working in the pharmaceutical sector for 30 years, both in national as well as international settings: half of his career was spent in the R&D function of a pharmaceutical company and the second half in a couple of contract development and manufacturing organisations covering various management roles, from commercial to general management.
Pierfrancesco’s domain expertise is in the pharmaceutical business developments for small molecules as drugs, both for the generic and the branded markets, combined with wide skills in commercial strategy, investments, operations within contract manufacturing organizations.
Since 2015, he is the President and Chief Executive Officer of ICROM srl, an Italian contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), specialized in active pharmaceutical ingredients for human use, covering the full spectrum of company responsibilities with a focus on financials, capital investments and commercial strategy, while being in charge also for all health, safety & environmental responsibilities.
Previous to that, he has worked for another Italian active ingredients CDMO, now called Archimica, with main responsibilities as a business development manager.
At the beginning of his career, Morosini has covered different roles with increasing responsibilities, from lab bench up to the management levels, in the R&D Unit of Bracco SpA, an Italian pharmaceutical company with a global leadership in the field of diagnostic agents, where he served for 13 years. In 1994, during the period at Bracco, he spent 1 year at the University of Texas at Austin within the frame of a research exchange program and in 2000 he has worked for half-a-year at the R&D facility of Bracco Diagnostics in Princeton (NJ, USA) in the field of peptide combinatorial chemistry for pharmaceutical applications.
Pierfrancesco has a Master’s degree in Chemistry with full marks from Pavia University (Italy). He is co-inventor of 8 international patents and co-author in 10 scientific publications in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields.
Pierfrancesco covers the role of member of the Executive Board of ASCHIMFARMA, the Italian association which gathers the manufacturers of pharmaceutical active ingredients.
DIRECTOR
Allison Vavala
Allison Vavala has close to 20 years’ experience in the contract manufacturing/pharmaceutical industry space. She is currently the Senior Director of Business Development in North America for the Flamma Group, which she joined in March 2023. Flamma is a fully integrated CDMO with Headquarters near Milan, Italy and sites in China and the USA.
Prior to Flamma, Allison worked as the Director of CMC Portfolio Management at Anji Pharma, a start-up biotech in Boston, as well as multiple positions representing Helsinn’s CMO business (now HAS Healthcare Advanced Synthesis), headquartered in Switzerland, for close to 13 years with the most recent title of Director, Commercial Development. Her experience has been focused on Business Development, Account Management, Project Management and Marketing. She obtained her BA in Biology and MBA from SUNY Binghamton where she was also a D1 lacrosse athlete.
Allison has been a DCAT volunteer for the past 10 years working on the Pharma Industry Outlook task force, the Education Committee as a member, co-chair and Chair for the past three years. She has also been on the Program Management Council, Leadership Development Council and Fiscal Year 2024 Audit Committee.
DIRECTOR
Louis Weber
Louis is a seasoned operational executive with a 20-year consistent track record of exceeding operational targets, specifically in the excipients industry and contract research, development, and manufacturing organizations.
Louis is experienced in development, operational, and business development roles, having worked in large and small companies in the Life Science industry. Over the last two decades, Louis has exceeded business goals in various roles at Mikart, Halo Pharmaceutical, DFE Pharma, Catalent Pharma Solutions, and Emerson Resources (now Pace® Life Sciences). This experience gives Louis a solid foundation in the pharmaceutical industry from early phase development through to commercialization.
Currently, Louis serves as Vice President Business Development at Mikart, LLC. a Nautic Partners owned company. Mikart is a 50-year-old CDMO with experience in oral solid and nonsterile oral liquid dosage forms which makes them the ideal contract development and manufacturing organization partner with a long history in regulated markets.
Louis received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Science from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science PCPS (now St. Joseph’s University) and resides in New Jersey.
FIRST IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Charles Davies
Mr. Davies is a pharmaceuticals procurement and operations executive with over 25 years of experience in organizational design, strategy development and implementation across direct and indirect categories. Charles is the CEO of Global Pharma, BNL Global (a Caldic Company). He previously worked as the Associate Vice President, Global Sourcing and Procurement for Merck, where he led the development and execution of procurement strategies supporting Merck’s small molecule business. Prior to joining Merck, he was Vice president, Global Procurement at Teva Pharmaceuticals where he designed, recruited and staffed Global Procurement for Third Party Operations and the Americas region. From 2004-2014 he held various positions at Pfizer and Wyeth (prior to its acquisition by Pfizer), leading global strategic sourcing and API planning teams across EMEA, Americas, and APAC.
Mr. Davies recently served as First Vice President and on DCAT’s Leadership Development Committee; previously, he served on the DCAT Advisory Council and was a board member of the Philadelphia Drug Exchange, Pharmaceutical Trade Organization. He holds a B.S. in business logistics from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
SECOND IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Kerri McCullough Wood
Kerri McCullough Wood is currently the Chief Commercial Officer of TAPI, Technology and API Services, a provider, partner and pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry. Ms Wood is an accomplished senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry, with over 25 years of experience, currently managing a P&L in excess of $1 billion. Ms Wood has a strong track record in driving growth through commercial strategy, organizational transformation, leading through uncertainty and operational and financial responsibility, while continuing to keep a strong focus on customer centricity.
Ms. Wood earned an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and holds a B.S. in biology, with a health sciences minor and a pre-medical focus from Boston College. Previously, she served as a Past President in the DCAT Board of Directors, the chair of DCAT’s Education Committee, and on DCAT’s board as a director.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Carol Lee
Ms. Lee joined DCAT in January 2022 and served as its Managing Director. In that role, she was responsible for overseeing the organization’s finances, technology, staff, and vendors. During that time, Ms. Lee was also instrumental in shaping new processes and policies to better serve the DCAT membership community.
Ms. Lee was an Assistant Vice President at Merrill Lynch & Co. for several years. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from multiple accounting and program management roles with increasing responsibilities across financial services, healthcare, and accounting industries. She earned her BS degree from Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, New Jersey.
