Francois Nader, MD President and Chief Executive Officer

Francois Nader has been president and chief executive officer of NPS since March 2008. Dr. Nader joined NPS in June 2006 and served as executive vice president and chief operating officer until March 2008. In that capacity, he was responsible for managing the company's worldwide research and development, commercial operations, manufacturing and regulatory affairs. Before joining NPS, Dr. Nader was a venture partner at Care Capital, LLC from July 2005 to June 2006, during which time he served as chief medical officer of its clinical development capital unit. From 2000 to July 2005, Dr. Nader was with Aventis Pharmaceuticals where he served as senior vice president, integrated healthcare markets and senior vice president, North America medical and regulatory affairs. He was also vice president, North America medical and regulatory affairs and vice president, US medical affairs and global health economics at Hoechst Marion Roussel from 1990 to 1999. Dr. Nader also served as head of global commercial operations at the Pasteur Vaccines division of Rhone-Poulenc from 1985 to 1990. Dr. Nader received a French State Doctorate in Medicine from St. Joseph University and a Physician Executive M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee.

Luke M. Beshar, CPA Sr. Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Luke Beshar joined NPS in November 2007. He is a former chief financial officer of various public and private companies and has more than 25 years of general and financial management experience. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cambrex Corporation from December 2002 to November 2007, a global life sciences company, and Senior Vice President and chief financial officer at Dendrite International from January 2002 to December 2002, a leading provider of services to the life sciences industry. Mr. Beshar began his career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in 1980 and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Beshar obtained his B.S. degree in Accounting and Finance from Michigan State University and is a graduate of The Executive Program at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Nancy K. Bryan
Sr. Vice President, Commercial Operations

Nancy Bryan joined NPS in March 2010 as senior vice president of commercial operations. Ms. Bryan has more than 20 years of experience leading organizations to develop franchises, launch and commercialize major products and orphan indications. Her experience spans specialty, biologic and primary care markets including GI, endocrinology, urology, oncology and autoimmune.  Most recently she held the position of senior vice president of sales and marketing at Indevus Pharmaceuticals, where she led US and global commercial activities including sales, marketing, managed markets and distribution for existing products and products in development. Prior to Indevus, Ms. Bryan was senior vice president at Elan Pharmaceuticals, head of commercial for the autoimmune franchise and vice president of marketing for men's health at Bayer Pharmaceuticals.  Earlier in her career, Ms. Bryan held a number of positions of increasing scope and responsibility with GlaxoSmithKline and Merck. Ms. Bryan's educational background comprises an MBA in Marketing and Business Economics from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Sandra C. Cottrell, PhD Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Drug Safety

Sandra Cottrell, MA, PhD joined NPS in April 2009. Prior to joining NPS, she had served as hemostasis franchise and therapeutic area head in regulatory affairs at Novo Nordisk Inc. Previously she served as vice president at B&H Consulting Services, Inc.; as global vice president of regulatory affairs for INO Therapeutics LLC; and has over 25 years experience within Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical sector. With over 30 years experience working in the pharmaceutical industry across multiple therapeutic areas, she has an in-depth knowledge of the drug development process. Dr. Cottrell is an adjunct professor at Temple University, as well as being a lecturer for Medicademy in Denmark. She received her Bachelor and Master degrees in Chemistry and Doctorate degree in Pharmaceutics with an emphasis on Regulatory Affairs from Temple University.

Roger J. Garceau, MD, FAAP Sr. Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Roger Garceau, MD, joined NPS in December 2008 and brings over 20 years of broad pharmaceutical industry experience to his position. From 2002 to December 2008, Dr. Garceau served in a number of senior leadership positions at Sanofi-aventis and most recently was vice president of the new products group. Previously, Dr. Garceau held various positions, including vice president clinical operations, interim head of North American medical and regulatory affairs, and head of U.S. medical research, where he lead a team of over 200 professionals and oversaw the design and execution of over 50 sponsored clinical trials in five different therapeutic areas. Prior to his tenure at Sanofi-aventis, Dr. Garceau spent 16 years with Pharmacia Corporation in global development and medical affairs where he successfully contributed to a number of marketing applications. Dr. Garceau is a board-certified pediatrician. He received a bachelor of science in biology from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut and his doctorate of medicine from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Joseph J. Rogus, PE
Vice President, Technical Operations

Joseph Rogus joined NPS in April 2007.  With over 35 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, Mr. Rogus has a wealth of knowledge of pharmaceutical and technology development through commercialization and marketed product support in the global environment.  Prior to joining NPS, Mr. Rogus served as vice president of pharmaceutical development at Chugai Pharma USA.  Previously he served as senior vice president of technical operations at Advancis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.  Before his tenure at Advancis, Mr. Rogus spent over 30 years with Schering-Plough Research Institute where he mostly recently served as vice president of pharmaceutical product optimization and clinical supplies management.  Mr. Rogus obtained his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Newark College of Engineering and his Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology.  

Edward H. Stratemeier, JD, MBA
Sr. Vice President and General Counsel

Edward Stratemeier joined NPS in October 2009.  He has more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology law including relationship management, litigation and alternative dispute resolution.  Prior to joining NPS, Mr. Stratemeier served as general counsel for Aventis Pharmaceuticals North America and global senior vice president and was a member of the North American leadership team.  In private practice, he counseled pharmaceutical and biotech companies on product life cycle management; patent, regulatory and litigation strategies; and product licensing.  Mr. Stratemeier received a J.D. from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.