Nephron Announces New Chief Scientific Officer And Chief Operating Officer

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Nephron) is proud to announce its newest employees in critical upper management roles, Jerry Webb and John Petta. They began in their new roles as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, in mid-August. Between them, they bring to Nephron over fifty years of experience in either pharmaceuticals or manufacturing.

CEO and Owner, Lou Kennedy said, "We are excited to welcome John and Jerry to the Nephron family. With their leadership, and deep understanding of the business and the industry, we know that they are equipped to help us grow the company in the years to come."

Jerry Webb, Chief Scientific Officer, has more than 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical, biologic, and medical device industries with Fortune 500 companies including Baxter International, where he was Plant Manager at three different locations, Cardinal Health where he was Senior Vice President of Technical Affairs, and Boston Scientific, where he was Group Vice President of Quality.  He also has experience with cutting edge pharmaceutical /biotechnology products, having served as Vice President of Quality for Abraxis BioScience. 

Prior to joining Nephron, Jerry was Vice President/General Manager of Active BioMaterials LLC, a start-up company in the generic drug space focusing on a secure supply of heparin.  Additionally he has international management experience and has held executive leadership positions in Manufacturing, Quality, Research and Development, as well as General Management.  Jerry has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Arkansas and completed graduate studies in Analytical Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University.

John Petta received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and attended Graduate School at Marquette University where he studied Biomedical Engineering.  John worked for General Electric Medical Systems for 17 years, starting in Sourcing and Supplier Quality before moving to Operations.  He was one of the original 13 people chosen to launch GE's Six Sigma initiative and was the first to receive a Black Belt Certification.  He then moved into the new Master Black Belt role.  John then helped launch GE's Lean Manufacturing initiative at the CT, MR, and X-ray modalities, after which, John returned to Operations and ran the CT operation.

In 2005, John was recruited by Solectron to run their complex systems integration plant in Columbia, South Carolina.  The systems included fault tolerant servers, ATMs, and the world's largest data storage and analytic systems.  The business doubled within 3 years and was awarded Industrial Week's Top 10 Plants award for being one of the best run plants in North America.  Flextronics acquired Solectron in 2008 and John was retained as VP to run the expanding operations.  In 2010, John was recruited by Amazon to launch their first Fulfillment Center in the Southeast a 1.2M square foot FC with over 5 miles of computer controlled conveyance systems integrated by over 18 miles of fiber option lines.

Both Jerry and John will work out of the Orlando manufacturing facility to help facilitate and implement advancements and improvements within the plant. 

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. is a private, woman owned manufacturer of generic inhalation solutions, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and employs 500 persons nationwide.  Nephron has manufactured billions of doses of life saving medications since 1997.  The company is developing a new facility in Cayce, South Carolina, which will expand its product line to include opthalmic and injectable medications, and provide space for contract manufacturing.

SOURCE Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation