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
Chairman of the Board, President and CEO

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.

Eric Barnett, MD
Executive Vice President, Business Development and Marketing

A diversely experienced life science business manager and MD, Dr Barnett has worked across the industry spanning large pharmaceuticals, hospital finance administration as well as small entrepreneurial settings. During his eight years on the clinical executive committee at GlaxoSmithKline, he led the capital management of the global R&D clinical portfolio, one of the largest in the industry. Dr Barnett joined the Piedmont team in March 2008.

Dr Barnett earned his medical degree at Bristol University, England and is also a qualified chartered accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Michael F. Kelly
Chief Financial Officer

Michael Kelly joined Piedmont in 2009 and brings with him a broad operational finance background. Mr. Kelly was most recently Chief Financial Officer of Global Manufacturing for Novartis Animal Health and prior to that CFO of the Novartis North American Region. He joined the Novartis legacy company, Ciba-Geigy, in 1985 in Basel, Switzerland in business development followed by a number of product management, strategic planning and senior finance positions.

Mr. Kelly was responsible for building highly effective receivables, purchasing and direct to vet logistics functions along with implementing Sarbanes–Oxley during his Novartis tenure. In addition he drove significant improvements in the use of marketing and sales resources.

A Harvard University Business School MBA, Mr. Kelly received his BS in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and his AAS in Agronomy from Cobleskill. Mr. Kelly lectures on using metrics to drive financial performance and most recently served on the NC State Initiative, Growing NC’s AgBiotech Landscape.

Doug Hepler, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer

Doug Hepler 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. Hepler joined Elars Bioresearch Laboratories, Inc., as director of toxicology, later becoming vice president of Elars' safety assessment division.

Dr. Hepler 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. Hepler was responsible for corporate management, including raising capital, hiring personnel and managing the product portfolio.

Dr. Hepler 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. Hepler 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.