The People at Hydra > Management

Russell Herndon, President and Chief Executive Officer

Russell Herndon comes to Hydra with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare and biotechnology industries, with a proven track record in building successful business infrastructures, pioneering innovative corporate and regulatory processes and advancing products through development. His industry experience includes senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation and Antigenics Inc., where he led some of the companies' most strategic and important initiatives. At Antigenics, Russ served as Chief Operating Officer and President. From November 2003 through December 2005 he held the position of President of Commercial Operations. He was with Genzyme Corporation from 1989 through 2000 holding various management positions, including President of Genzyme Tissue Repair, Senior Vice President of Genzyme Tissue Repair and Vice President of regulatory affairs for Genzyme Corporation. Prior to joining Genzyme, Russ gained extensive experience in the area of quality systems, including management positions at Patton Company, Paco Research & Development and Alcon Laboratories Incorporated. Russ received a bachelor's degree in biology from Barton College and is a graduate of the Management Development Program at Harvard Business School.

 

Glenn Larsen, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Development

Glenn Larsen brings to Hydra more than 20 years of experience in pre-clinical and clinical development of both proteins and small molecules. Most recently he served as Vice President Musculoskeletal Sciences and Therapeutic Area R&D Co-Chair at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he directed R&D for Wyeth's second largest therapeutic area in the fields of arthritis, inflammation and tissue regeneration. Glenn's organization advanced 8 compounds to development track. Prior to that Glenn was Vice President Preclinical R&D leading an organization responsible for bringing drug candidates from the benchtop to the clinic and filing more than 50 INDs, and served as Senior Director Preclinical R&D at Genetics Institute with a focus on secreted proteins. Glenn earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed Harvard Business School's Management Development Program.

 

Tom Burke, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer

Tom Burke joined Hydra in 2007. He has 15 years of experience with key strengths in the areas of strategic planning, forecasting and budgeting, equity and debt financing and internal reporting analysis. Tom spent the last 5 years heading up the finance group for Infinity Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Infinity, Tom lead the effort in taking the company public as well as spearheading the company's SOX compliance efforts. Prior to his tenure at Infinity, Tom was a Senior Manager at KPMG in Boston and a Manager in the Dublin, Ireland office.