HR Notices From February 15
Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy Hires New CFO: Flint-based Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy, the nation's largest privately owned specialty pharmacy, announced today the hiring of Sean M. Whelan as CFO. Whelan will be responsible for all accounting and financial governance. He will report directly to Phil Hagerman, president and CEO of Diplomat. Prior to joining Diplomat, Mr. Whelan was CFO of InfuSystem Holdings Inc. (NYSE Amex: INFU), a supplier of infusion pumps to the oncology sector. He held senior finance positions with Ford Motor Co. from 1996 through 2007, including serving as the accounting director for Automotive Components Holdings LLC. He also held senior treasury roles at Ford, where he was responsible for managing the interest rate risk and funding strategy for Ford Credit. Whelan holds a master of accounting degree and a bachelor of business administration degree, both from the University Of Michigan Ross School Of Business. He is a CPA, a certified internal auditor and is certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt. In December, Diplomat moved its corporate headquarters into the former GM Great Lakes Technology Centre in Flint. The new headquarters includes an advanced distribution hub to control its nationwide network, a state of the art specialty pharmacy compounding laboratory to serve the nation, a patient assistance pharmacy to manage and dispense free drug programs for qualifying patients, a new industry training and education center, a high technology software development and data center, and a national patient call center. Over the next several years, Diplomat anticipates investing $12 million in its new headquarters. Diplomat, founded in 1975, is the nation's largest privately held specialty pharmacy and focuses on complete medication management programs for patients with serious and chronic conditions such as cancer, HIV-AIDS, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, hemophelia, growth hormone disorders and psoriasis. Other specialty areas include transplant, fertility, dialysis medication management, bio-identical hormone therapy and specialty compounding. Locations include Flint, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and San Bernadino, Calif. More at www.diplomatpharmacy.com.
Gov. Snyder Appoints Tech Exec To EMU Board: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed Beth Fitzsimmons to the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents, replacing former Regent Mohamed Okdie, who resigned Feb. 7. Fitzsimmons, of Ann Arbor, is president of Information Strategists LLC. The company, which provides information and knowledge services to high tech companies, was founded in 1987. Since 1975, she has worked with high tech companies and government agencies such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Defense, Office of the President of the United States, National Academy of Public Administration; and CENDI; an Executive Branch interagency working group of scientific and technical information managers. In 2003, Fitzsimmons was appointed chair of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science by President George W. Bush and was confirmed by the Senate. She served in that capacity for five years. Nationally, she has served on the Department of Commerce NTIS (National Technical Information Service) Advisory Board and on the School of Information and Library Science Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fitzsimmons received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Simmons College, a master's in library science from SUNY Albany, and a doctorate from the School of Public Policy, George Mason University in science, technology, and information policy. As the replacement for Okdie, Fitzsimmons' term will run through December 2016, the original term for Okdie. The Board of Regents is the governing body of Eastern Michigan University and comprises eight regents who are appointed to eight-year terms by the governor (when not replacing a Regent who has resigned or retired). In addition to the new appointment of Fitzsimmons, the current Regents are Roy Wilbanks, chair; Francine Parker, vice chair; Floyd Clack; Michael Hawks; Mike Morris, Thomas Sidlik; and, James Stapleton.
