Francois Nader, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer

Luke M. Beshar, CPA
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

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

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

Eric Pauwels
Sr. Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer

Joseph J. Rogus, PE
Vice President, Technical Operations and Supply Chain Management

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

Francois Nader, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer

Francois Nader, MD, has been president and chief executive officer of NPS since March 2008 and a director since January 2008. Dr. Nader joined the NPS executive team in 2006 to lead a restructuring and reshaping of the company's operations, strategy and focus after a regulatory setback. During his tenure he shifted the company's focus away from large primary care markets and transformed NPS into a leading outsourcing-based development company focused on treatments for patients with rare disorders with high unmet medical needs.

Dr. Nader is a 25-year veteran of the healthcare industry. Dr. Nader joined NPS in 2006 as chief medical and commercial officer. He was promoted to chief operating officer in 2007 and named a director in January 2008. Previously, he was a venture partner at Care Capital, LLC and chief medical officer of its Clinical Development Capital unit. He was also senior vice president, integrated healthcare markets and North America medical and regulatory affairs with Aventis Pharmaceuticals, serving on the North America Leadership Team (NALT), and held senior executive positions at its predecessor companies, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. Prior, Dr. Nader served as head of global commercial operations at the Pasteur Vaccines division of Rhone-Poulenc.

Dr. Nader served as director for Noven Pharmaceuticals and currently serves as treasurer and Board member of Bio NJ, New Jersey’s trade association for the biotechnology community and on the Board of the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ), a trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical and medical technology industry in New Jersey.

Dr. Nader received a French State Doctorate in Medicine from St. Joseph University (Lebanon) and a Physician Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Luke M. Beshar, CPA
 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Luke Beshar has served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals since November 2007. At NPS, Mr. Beshar is responsible for all financial management, investor relations, information technology, technical operations, supply-chain management, facilities, and contracts and outsourcing. Since joining the company in 2007, Mr. Beshar has utilized his 25 years of experience to help transform NPS strategically and financially. During his tenure, NPS has secured over $250 million of new capital. Mr. Beshar has reorganized and built a high-caliber finance team and established a disciplined financial planning and analysis function.

Prior to joining NPS, from December 2002 to November 2007, Mr. Beshar served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Cambrex Corporation, a global life sciences company. At Cambrex, Mr. Beshar’s accomplishments included raising approximately $600 million of new capital, building a high-performance global finance team and designing and implementing $8 million in cost reductions. From January 2002 to December 2002, he was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Dendrite International, 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 BS 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.

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

Sandra Cottrell, 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. and as global vice president of regulatory affairs for INO Therapeutics LLC; and she has over 25 years’ experience within Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical sector working within risk management, regulatory affairs, global project management, medical affairs and medicinal chemistry research. 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 a lecturer for Medicademy in Denmark. She received her bachelor and master’s 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 of clinical operations, interim head of North American medical and regulatory affairs, and head of US medical research, where he led a team of over 200 professionals and oversaw the design and execution of over 50 sponsored clinical trials in 5 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.

Eric Pauwels
Sr. Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer

Eric Pauwels joined NPS in September 2011 as Senior Vice President and Chief Commerical Officer. Mr. Pauwels has more than 25 years of healthcare experience in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Over the course of his career, he has launched more than 20 biopharmaceutical products in the areas of rare genetic diseases, cardiovascular disease, urology, gynecology, and CNS/neuroscience. Most recently, Mr. Pauwels was Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Accuray Incorporated, a premier radiation oncology company with over 1000 employees worldwide.

From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Pauwels served as chief commercial officer at Shire Human Genetic Therapies (Shire HGT), where he led all commercial functions and launched four orphan drugs. Previously, Mr. Pauwels held the position of vice president of global strategic marketing for both the men's health and cardiovascular disease practices of Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Pauwels also brings more than 15 years of alliance-management experience to NPS, having managed collaborations with companies such as Abbott, Centocor, Dianippon-Sumitomo, Genzyme, GlaxoSmithKline, Organon, and Takeda. Mr. Pauwels earned his Bachelor of Science degree from California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California. 

Joseph J. Rogus, PE
Vice President, Technical Operations and Supply Chain Management

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 Pharmaceutical Corporation.  Before his tenure at Advancis, Mr. Rogus spent over 30 years with Schering-Plough Research Institute where he 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 the 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 JD from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.