Message from our President and General Manager

Mohamed Ladha is the President and General Manager at Recordati Rare Diseases where is he is responsible for the US and Canadian business. During his career, Mr. Ladha has held numerous leadership positions globally in hematology/oncology and specialty care to oversee business in the US, Canada, EU, China, Emerging Markets, and Japan.

Mr. Ladha joins Recordati Rare Diseases from Oncopeptides, where he was the General Manager and Executive Vice President for the US Region Business Unit. Prior to Oncopeptides, he served in a series of leadership positions of increasing responsibility at companies including Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Merck & Company, Hospira, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Oncology, and Tocagen. Mr. Ladha started his career in basic science research focused in oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Mr. Ladha graduated from Hampshire College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also holds professional/graduate degrees from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Ailyn Abin is Vice President, North American Legal and Compliance at Recordati Rare Diseases, where she is responsible for the development and delivery of the overall legal strategy and compliance program in support of the business. She has over 20 years of legal and industry experience. Mostly recently she served as Interim General Counsel for Pharmacosmos Therapeutics and spent over a decade at Celgene Corporation holding positions of increasing levels and responsibility. She also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and began her career as a Litigation Associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.

Ms. Abin earned her B.A. degree from Rutgers University and her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Mickey Baker is the Vice President of North American Business Operations where he leads Trade & Distribution, Pricing & Contracting, HEOR, and Government Affairs, in addition to other business operations activities. Prior to joining Recordati Rare Diseases, Mr. Baker was Head of US Market Access at EUSA Pharma.

Mr. Baker started his career in sales at Hoechst Marion Roussel, growing into roles of greater responsibility at Aventis, Sanofi, MGI Pharma, Entellus Medical, Trovita Health Science, Shire, Servier and EUSA Pharma. His industry experience includes Sales, Sales Training, Sales Management, Marketing and Market Access.

The majority of his 25-year career has been in the Oncology/Hematology specialty growing therapeutic and supportive care businesses in small to mid-sized organizations.

Mr. Baker graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and completed the MBA program at the University of Florida.

Carter Clanton is the Vice President of Commercial Operations where he is responsible for leading Recordati’s Metabolic Franchise. During his career which spans 30+ years, Mr. Clanton has held numerous leadership positions focused on commercializing products across a variety of therapeutic categories including Oncology/Hematology, Rare Diseases, Hospital, Specialty and Primary Care.

Mr. Clanton started his career in sales at Marion Merrell Dow and quickly took on roles of increasing responsibility. He spent the next 25 years building global brands, building teams, and launching products that made a difference in patients’ lives. He worked for Immunex, MGI Pharma, Eisai, Prometheus Labs, Baxalta, and Shire; gaining broad commercial experience, most notably in leadership positions in Sales, Marketing (U.S. and Global), Sales Training, Operations, and Market Access. Prior to joining Recordati, Mr. Clanton was the Head of the US Commercial Team at EUSA Pharma.

Mr. Clanton graduated from the Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.

Jeroen Commissaris, of Dutch nationality, is the Vice President of Commercial Operations where he is responsible for leading Recordati Rare Diseases Oncology Franchise. During his career Mr. Commissaris has held numerous leadership positions focused on commercializing products across a variety of global regions, countries and therapeutic categories including Mental Health, Respiratory, Cardiometabolic, Diabetes, Hospital, Specialty and Primary Care.

Mr. Commissaris started his career in sales in the United Kingdom at Eli Lilly & Co and quickly took on roles of increasing responsibility in a number of commercial leadership positions. He spent the next 25 years building global brands, building teams, and launching products that made a difference in patients’ lives. He worked for Eli Lilly & Co and Astrazeneca in a variety of general management positions in Latin America, Southern Europe and Africa. Prior to joining Recordati Rare Diseases, Mr. Commissaris was the Vice President of the International Business at EUSA Pharma leading businesses in Japan, China, Asia Pacific (including Australia), Middle East, Turkey, Russia, Canada and Latin America.

Mr. Commissaris graduated from the Reading University, United Kingdom with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Botany. He holds an M.B.A. from Warwick Business School, United Kingdom.

Max Johnson is Managing Director of Recordati Rare Diseases Canada, where he is responsible for continuing to grow and develop Recordati’s Canadian rare disease business. Max has over 20 years of Canadian, US and global commercial experience with a focus in rare diseases for the last ten years. Prior to joining the company, Max held positions of increasing responsibility at Wyeth-Ayerst, Allergan, Sanofi-Synthelabo, GlaxoSmithKline and ApoPharma.

Mr. Johnson received his B.Sc. (Biology) from Simon Fraser University and his MMSc (Management of Technology & Innovation) from Ryerson University.

Lori Larsen, Vice President, Finance and Administration, joined Recordati Rare Diseases in 2014. Prior to joining the company, Lori had broad experience managing complex organizations with global operations. Prior roles included Group Financial Controller with Next Pharma in London, England as well as positions of increasing responsibility at Honeywell including as the Finance Director for Eastern Europe in Prague, Czech Republic.

Ms. Larsen received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Stephens College and her MBA from Arizona State University.

William “Bill” Ludlam currently serves as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Clinical Development at Recordati Rare Diseases. Dr. Ludlam joins Recordati Rare Diseases from Chiasma where he was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. During his career, Dr. Ludlam developed two different pituitary diseases treatment centers -- in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. During this time he was very active in treating pituitary patients (particularly those with cushing's disease and acromegaly) from around the US and abroad and headed a clinical research program looking at novel treatment options for pituitary diseases. Dr. Ludlam entered the pharmaceutical industry as US Medical Director of pituitary disorders at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Throughout his career, Bill has been an active researcher, speaker, served on many national committees and has published over 150 papers and abstracts.

Dr. Ludlam obtained both his MD and PhD (Developmental Neuroscience) degrees at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and did his Internal Medicine Residency and Endocrinology Fellowship training at the Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU).

Peter H. Strauss is the Vice President of Commercial Operations where he is not only responsible for leading Recordati’s Endocrinology Franchise but also heads up Trade, Distribution and Analytics across all franchises including the Metabolic and Oncology business units. During his career which spans 25+ years, Mr. Strauss has held numerous leadership positions focused on commercializing products across a variety of therapeutic categories including Rare Diseases, Oncology, Hospital, Specialty and Primary Care.

Mr. Strauss started his career in sales at Pharmacia & Upjohn and quickly took on roles of increasing responsibility. He spent the next 15 years working for large multinational organizations such as Pfizer, Schering-Plough, and Merck & Co., gaining broad commercial experience, most notably in leadership positions in Sales, Marketing (U.S. and Global), Sales Training, Operations, and Market Access. Prior to joining Recordati, Mr. Strauss led the commercial marketing function at privately held Ferring Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Strauss graduated from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and has completed additional coursework at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Sandy S. Suh, Pharm.D. is the Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at Recordati Rare Diseases, where she is responsible for the development and implementation of the overall regulatory strategy for development programs, preparation of regulatory submissions and interface with relevant health authorities, and assurance that promotional labeling and communications are in compliance with applicable regulations to meet the company’s business objectives. She has over 25 years of industry experience, specializing in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device products. Prior to joining Recordati Rare Diseases, she held industry positions in both large, medium, and start-up companies. Her immediate last position was Head, Regulatory Affairs (R&D) with Insud/Exeltis USA, Inc. where she was instrumental in the company’s first NDA (which was an Orphan drug product approval). Her previous companies include: MannKind Corp., Pfizer/Pharmacia/G.D. Searle, and Abbot Labs. She is also experienced in Pharmacovigilance, Medical Affairs, and Clinical Operations.

Dr. Suh is a registered pharmacist and received her B.S. in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

Eric Waehner is the Vice President, Business Development at Recordati Rare Diseases. He has over 25 years of life science industry experience, driving growth strategies and completing transactions across the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device industry segments. Prior to joining Recordati Rare Diseases, he gained experience and contributed to portfolio growth and rationalization at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Astellas Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Laboratories. Additionally, he gained experience as a consultant with Deloitte and RM Consulting International.

Mr. Waehner received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech and his M.B.A from Northwestern University.

Becky Zenz is the Vice President of Human Resources at Recordati Rare Diseases. She brings over 25 years of human resources experience to the organization and is responsible for Recordati Rare Diseases' human resources strategy; creating and leading programs for cultural progression, talent acquisition, employee engagement & development and total rewards. Prior to joining Recordati Rare Diseases, she worked for Temptime Corporation, a medical device manufacturing company in the role of Vice President, Human Resources. Becky has also held HR roles for companies in various industries and stages of business life cycle.

Becky earned her B.S. degree with honors, in Hospitality Management from the University of New Haven, West Haven Connecticut.