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 2000 through December 2005. 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.

 

David Kimball, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Kimball joins Hydra with 25 years of experience in the discovery and development of small molecule drug candidates. At Pharmacopeia Dr. Kimball was responsible for research alliances as well as drug discovery research from target identification through preclinical development. During his six years at Lexicon, Dr. Kimball built the company's discovery capability with direct responsibility for Lexicon's small molecule pipeline. Dr. Kimball grew and managed an organization of over 75 chemists, including medicinal, analytical, computational, process research and development, library synthesis and outsourcing chemistry. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Kimball spent nearly 20 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, most recently as Research Fellow in Oncology Drug Discovery. During his tenure at BMS, Dr. Kimball led several significant drug discovery and development research efforts that culminated in clinical compounds. An Associate Member of the graduate faculty at Rutgers University School of Pharmacy since 1989, Dr. Kimball received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry/Chemical Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

 

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.

 

Christine Bellon, Ph.D., Vice President of Intellectual Property and Legal Affairs

Dr. Bellon brings more than 15 years of experience in intellectual property law to Hydra. Dr. Bellon came to Hydra from Infinity Pharmaceuticals, where she held the position of Assistant General Counsel, Intellectual Property. Prior to her position at Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Bellon served as patent counsel at Wyeth, where she was responsible for the company's small molecule cardiovascular and metabolic disease patent portfolio and structural biology patent portfolio. Earlier in her career, Dr. Bellon was an attorney in the Boston office of Fish & Richardson P.C., where her practice focused on patent prosecution and client counseling in the areas of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, polymers, and biotechnology. Dr. Bellon received a B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University, and holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School.

 

Paige Cochran, Head of Human Resources

Paige Cochran joined Hydra Biosciences as Head of Human Resources in February of 2004. She has over 20 years of experience in the development and management of strategic, proactive HR organizations in a variety of industries. Ms. Cochran is experienced in managing rapid growth and organizational change, with notable skills in executive coaching, employee relations and talent acquisition. Prior to joining Hydra Biosciences Ms. Cochran was the Vice President of Human Resources for American Science and Engineering, a publicly traded, international corporation, engaged in the design and manufacture of sophisticated x-ray inspection equipment for government and commercial clients. Ms. Cochran has worked with several local biotech start-up companies setting up the human resources function as well as providing recruiting, compensation, performance management and compliance expertise. Ms. Cochran holds a B.A. in Psychology from Emory University.