Dennis F Willson

I was trained as a lawyer but spent most of my career in management in the pharmaceutical industry, initially at Abbott Labs and later at Rorer International. After a brief stint at a small, publicly traded pharmaceutical company in Dallas, Texas, I joined two former Rorer colleagues to set up a new company called Cytokine PharmaSciences (CPSI). I worked at CPSI for 21 years, as CEO the last eight. We sold CPSI in 2011. I then joined another colleague to start two new companies, Hsiri Therapeutics and Ranedis Therapeutics. Hsiri was successful; Ranedis was not. In 2015, I became CEO of ITF Pharma, an Italian-Spanish company specializing in women's health products. I retired at the end of 2018. I have substantial board experience in both the not-for-profit and for-profit worlds. I co-founded a local charity called T & E Care for people in the township where I lived in Philadelphia. I was also Co-Chair of an annual golf tournament benefiting Melmark, a multi-service agency providing residential, educational and therapeutic services for children and adults with neurological and genetic disabilities. I was a director on the board of the various companies I co-founded, as well as on the Spanish parent of ITF Pharma. Finally, I am currently a director on the boards of Melmark and Thetis Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company located in Connecticut.