Management

Piedmont Pharmaceuticals is headed by a team of professionals who have been working closely together for more than two decades and collectively have brought nearly a dozen pharmaceutical products to market. Piedmont Pharmaceuticals is our team's third successful startup venture.

Roland Johnson
President, Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Roland Johnson has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. As a founder of Ciba Animal Health (now Novartis Animal Health), he played a critical role in both designing and implementing the strategies, structures and operating systems that supported the new business. In 1996, Mr. Johnson established Blue Ridge Pharmaceuticals, raising $10 million to support the company's launch and selling the company to the publicly traded IDEXX Laboratories in 1998. Mr. Johnson founded Piedmont Pharmaceuticals in 2001.

Committed to the growth of the life science industry in North Carolina's Triad region, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Triad Advisory Committee of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, which selected him for its Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence in 2005. Mr. Johnson was also a regional finalist for the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. In addition, Mr. Johnson has participated in Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network's Life Sciences Executive Roundtable and serves on the boards of directors for both the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation and the Western Carolina University Foundation.

Mr. Johnson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Carolina University and a master's degree in business from Central Michigan University.

Joseph R. Dowd
Chief Financial Officer

Before joining Piedmont Pharmaceuticals, Joseph "Joe" R. Dowd spent 23 years at Novartis Corp., Crop Protection Division (formerly Ciba Corp. and now Syngenta Corp.), where he served in a variety of positions, including manager of inventory planning, manager of financial control, ventures manager, and manager of marketing planning and control. In this final role, Mr. Dowd conducted internal business consulting and led efforts to reengineer the marketing department's supply chain process, resulting in a significant drop in inventory levels.

Mr. Dowd emerged from retirement to join the Piedmont Pharmaceuticals team, where he directs financial reporting, manages accounting and budget preparation, studies long-range economic trends as they pertain to the company, and supervises the investment of funds.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration, Mr. Dowd also earned a master's degree in business administration from the Babcock School of Management, Wake Forest University.

Doug Helper, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Doug Helper is an expert in animal immunology, microbiology and parasitology, with professional experience both in scientific research and management.

After completing his doctorate work at Colorado State University, where his research focused on roundworm parasites and tumor antigen studies, Dr. Helper joined Elars Bioresearch Laboratories, Inc., as director of toxicology, later becoming vice president of Elars' safety assessment division.

Dr. Helper has also served as a senior research specialist at Ciba Animal Health (later Novartis Animal Health), where he was responsible for developing compounds and concepts into commercially viable animal health products. Later, as vice president of the company, Dr. Helper was responsible for corporate management, including raising capital, hiring personnel and managing the product portfolio.

Dr. Helper was cofounder and executive vice president of Blue Ridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and vice president of research and development at IDEXX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which purchased Blue Ridge in 1998.

Prior to earning his doctorate, Dr. Helper earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Lock Haven University. His work has been published in a number of scientific journals, including the Journal of Animal Science and the American Journal of Veterinary Research.