Our Company

Harold Deas

Chief Executive Officer

Harold A. Deas, also known as Art, has been the Chief Executive Officer of Acella Pharmaceuticals, LLC, since February 3, 2016 and served as its Chief Operating Officer until February 3, 2016.

Art has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience, initiating his pharmaceutical career with Marion Laboratories. Since then, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Alliant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has also served positions of progressive leadership and responsibility within the pharmaceutical and biotech industry including: Sales, Institutional Sales, Marketing, Clinical Research, Professional Education, New Product Marketing, District Manager, Regional Manager and Division Sales Manager for companies like Genentech and Aventis.

The significant contributions Art has made throughout his career in the pharmaceutical industry provide the necessary framework for future growth and sustainability. He has been instrumental in helping Acella build a successful portfolio of generic and specialty, niche pharmaceutical drug and medical device products. Art continuously drives expansion while identifying strategic opportunities within the markets that are essential to the company’s business.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of South Carolina and an MBA in International Business from The Edinburgh Business School.

Shannon Faught

Chief Commercial Officer

Shannon Faught is the Chief Commercial Officer of the Specialty Care Business Unit and is responsible for leading the commercial team responsible for all specialty care products that are either currently in promotion, in launch preparation, or in consideration for future commercialization.  Shannon’s team will have a critical eye towards maximizing product potential for promoted brands as well as developing standards for launch excellence for future products.

Shannon brings 18 years of commercial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry.  In her 18 years as a key female leader for Sanofi, she had the opportunity to  lead products at all phases of the life cycle including launch, in line brand management, and generic transition and was a key contributor to the success of Lantus, a multi-billion dollar insulin that set the standard for diabetes injectable treatment. Shannon’s leadership experience spans all the critical aspects of commercialization including Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Operations, and Omni Channel Strategy.

Shannon holds a B.S.B.A. in Marketing from The Ohio State University.

Ben Burgess

Senior VP Operations, Business Development

Benjamin Burgess is responsible for leading Acella’s improvement and growth initiatives. Through internal product development programs, acquisitions, licensing agreements, joint ventures, and strategic alliances Benjamin directs company portfolio objectives while also designing and implementing plans for company growth and financial profitability. In addition, he has oversight in management of contract manufacturing, packaging, third party logistics partners, and API sourcing.

Prior to joining Acella, Benjamin began his healthcare career as Marketing Manager in the hospital finance industry, working for Dimension Financial Services, in Atlanta, GA. Benjamin joined Acella in 2010 and progressively took on increasing roles of responsibility including Supply Chain Manager, Analyst, and Director of Business Development, eventually assuming the role as the Senior Director.

Benjamin holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Ashford University and in 2013 he was presented with a Stevie Award.

Srihari Vedartham

Senior VP, Global Commercial Development & Licensing

Srihari Vedartham has over 15+ years of experience with Profit and Loss responsibility for the business development and product development efforts; a deal sheet of over 10+ transactions (>$700M) and raising over $100M of financing through deal making and new product planning efforts. Successful specialty drug launch experience – Atryn, Xenazine, Sabril, and Onfi. Demonstrated expertise and success in starting companies from the ground up. Experience working in organizations both small (~20 employees) and large (~6,000 employees WW). Sriharis holds a Master in Organic Chemistry from Osmania University in India and an MBA from Tennessee Tech University.

Scott Lindler

Chief Financial Officer

Scott Lindler joined Acella Pharmaceuticals in 2012 and is responsible for directing all of the organization’s financial activities, including accounting, planning, treasury and shared services. Scott has over 20 years of experience in various accounting and finance roles across multiple industries. Scott has a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting from the University of Alabama – Culverhouse School of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Georgia. Scott has completed development course work in the Wharton Executive Education program and is a two-time recipient of Acella’s President’s Club award, which recognizes employees whose commitment directly impacted the success of the company that year.

Allen Fields

Executive VP, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs
Head of Research & Development

Allen Fields is responsible for Clinical, Regulatory and Technical Affairs, Drug Safety Pharmacovigilance, and Research and Development.

Allen has more than 28 years of experience as a clinical and regulatory affairs professional. He has managed IDEs, INDs, MAAs, NDAs, BLAs, ANDAs, SNDAs, 510Ks and PMAs. He has led drug development programs, due diligence, preparation of documents, strategic clinical and regulatory planning, and has had meetings with the global regulatory agencies.  His expertise in drug development in all phases of development has led to over 35 approvals. He has held senior clinical and regulatory affairs positions at small and large pharmaceutical firms, including TAP Holdings, Purdue Pharma, Alliant Pharmaceuticals, and Quintiles International.

Allen holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Kansas Wesleyan University; M.Ed./M.S. work at Kansas State University; graduate work at University of Kansas School of Medicine; Neuropharmacology Fellowship; and currently additional graduate work at Johns Hopkins University and Walden University.

Miguel Gomez

Chief Quality Officer

Miguel has over 30 years in the Pharmaceutical industry and has demonstrated success in establishing strategic plans and initiatives to ensure continuous product supply, quality and cost efficiencies across international and multi-cultural networks. Leadership, compliance, customer service, safety and cost are the key drivers in ensuring that the Global Operations organization provides the highest support and visibility through harmonized metrics and programs.

Miguel has a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science from the School of Pharmacy PR.

Chris Schwab

Executive VP, General Counsel

As Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Acella, Chris Schwab is responsible for all legal matters, from contract negotiation and document management to regulatory and licensing requirements. As a member of the Executive Committee, Chris also assists senior management with strategic initiatives and long-term operational planning. Chris has been an attorney in Atlanta since 2000 representing a wide variety of companies across numerous regulated industries. Prior to joining Acella, Chris was the Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer for Healthy Home Transitions, Inc., a behavioral health start-up. Prior to that, Chris served as the Vice President and General Counsel of an international slot machine manufacturer. Chris has also served as a Member at Miller & Martin, PLLC, Of Counsel at Hartman Simons and Associate at Dow Lohnes PLLC and Sutherland, Asbill & Brennen (now Eversheds Sutherland).

Chris Diton

Chris Diton leads Acella Pharmaceuticals Trade and Sales Operations team responsible for managing and developing wholesaler, retail, and Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) customer relationships across our portfolio of both brand and generic products. Chris’ team works closely with our internal cross functional teams towards maximizing our customer’s experience for both our current portfolio and new product launches.

Chris brings 10 years of trade, supply chain, and operations leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. In his 10 years as a senior leader for Harvard Drug and Osmotica, he had the opportunity to lead Purchasing and Supply Chain for both brand and generic products and was a key contributor to the tremendous growth and eventual successful sale of both companies. Chris’ leadership experience spans across several countries/continents and different industries outside of pharmaceuticals including automotive, building materials, and construction where he has worked in product development, quality, purchasing, sales, and manufacturing.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Supply Chain Management with an emphasis on Engineering from Michigan State University.