Ipsen completes U.S. leadership team

When Ipsen was deciding where on the East Coast to move its U.S. headquarters, one major factor was the availability of talent.

When Ipsen was deciding where on the East Coast to move its U.S. headquarters, one major factor was the availability of talent.

“One of the things we did was we looked back at the resumes of candidates that we’d received for very senior jobs – people we wished we could have hired into the organization – and we looked for where they came from,” said Sean McKercher, president and general manager of Ipsen North America. “Actually, a lot of those people came from New Jersey.”

The company, which is based in France, made its entry into the U.S. in 2008, setting up shop outside of San Francisco. They moved to the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township earlier this year.

“One of the issues we had in San Francisco was actually getting the level of talent that we wanted in the organization,” he said. “We had good people, but it wasn’t easy.”

This week, the company announced that it has completed its senior leadership team, adding eight senior managers to help drive the growth of the firm’s neurology and endocrinology businesses.

Ipsen has been working out of temporary office space in Bernards, but McKercher said they’ll move into their new office imminently. Meanwhile, the company’s been building up a staff almost from scratch.

McKercher said the company offered to relocate a number of West Coast employees, but only three accepted. The company has hired about 60 people since relocating here, but McKercher said they’re hoping to get that number up to 113.

McKercher said the Basking Ridge office will house employees working in a variety of areas, including marketing and sales, administrative and regulatory affairs, and global drug development. So far, he said he’s been very pleased with the labor pool.

In addition to its headquarters in New Jersey, Ipsen also has a research center just outside of Boston. The company recently announced a $45 million expansion of that site.

McKercher said Ipsen is in a somewhat unique position as it builds up its U.S. presence. While the U.S. is a mature market overall, it’s a new growth area for his company.

“For Ipsen, the U.S. is like an emerging market, because we’re so new in this space,” he said. “It’s offering us a great opportunity to bring our products to this area and experience corporate growth.”

In addition to Kercher, Ipsen’s newly appointed U.S. senior leadership team is as follows:

• Anthony Venditti – head, endocrinology franchise;
• Lisa Pilla – head, neurology franchise;
• Bill Soucie – vice president, market access;
• Habib Ramdani – chief financial officer and vice president, strategy;
• Cathryn Clary – senior vice president, medical and regulatory affairs;
• Deborah Moorer – vice president, human resources;
• Jennifer Benenson – vice president and North American general counsel;
• Justin Dillon – vice president and chief compliance officer.