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About Us
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Executive Team
Kristy G. Nichols, MS President, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-founder of Peachtree BioResearch Solutions, Inc. Kristy’s talents include a broad range of pharmaceutical and medical device development expertise resulting from over fifteen years of experience in the life sciences. Prior to creating Peachtree, Ms. Nichols served as a Global Director within Clinical Development for UCB, a Belgium based biopharmaceutical company focused on severe diseases in CNS and Immunology. During her tenure, she was responsible for greater than 100 Biometric associates located in Belgium, Germany, Japan, UK, and the US. Kristy led business transformation activities during multiple company mergers and reorganizations and has a proven ability to successfully analyze an organization’s critical business requirements, identify deficiencies and potential opportunities to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing competitiveness, decreasing overhead, and improving final products. Additionally, Kristy provided leadership for the global implementation of a variety of Clinical Development IT systems such as Clinical Trial Management Systems, Clinical Data Management Systems, EDC applications, and CRF Imaging. Her expertise in streamlining processes, benchmarking activities, and improving operational efficiencies via performance and quality metrics brings multiple benefits to Peachtree’s clients. Kristy gained medical device expertise working for Zimmer, Inc., a worldwide leader in orthopedic medical devices. She led the implementation of new clinical IT systems for clinical trial data collection and statistical reporting. Additionally, she served on new product development teams working to bring products to market faster and more efficiently. Key to these efforts was the incorporation of robust clinical trial data to increase return on investment and maximize market penetration. Kristy serves as Co-Chairman of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce Clinical Trials Committee, is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, and a member of the Georgia Bio Medical Device Committee. Ms. Nichols holds Master of Science degrees from the University of Kentucky in Biomedical Engineering and Statistics. She also is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. __________ Sharon Billie Hilton Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder Peachtree BioResearch Solutions, Inc. Sharon is a consummate, seasoned professional motivated by challenge and rewarded through the seamless implementation of key corporate initiatives that aid profitability, productivity and quality. She has been acknowledged for vigorously managing multifaceted projects, applying stringent standards and rallying cross-functional team participation that serves to elevate marketplace status. She has been commended throughout her career for her ability to deliver highly visible projects on-time and on-budget, develop streamlined policies/procedures and champion the integration of quality improvement principles, global departmental standards and practices whereby offering customers high-quality, consistent services. At Peachtree, Sharon is focused on establishing the guiding principles and operational policies/procedures of the company. She is committed to creating a corporate vision and core values to be embraced by all Peachtree associates. In an operational leadership capacity, her responsibilities are primarily focused on the strategic management and operational oversight of the company’s business development and day-to-day operations. Prior to creating Peachtree, Sharon was an Associate Director, Clinical Development at UCB, a top 10 biopharmaceutical company. During her eight years with UCB, Sharon was responsible for overseeing all aspects of Global Clinical Data Coordination, including the management of large teams located across multiple sites (Belgium, Germany, Japan, UK and two US sites). She provided managerial guidance and oversight to ensure high quality, timely deliverables related to the acquisition, processing, and cleaning of clinical data to be submitted to regulatory agencies. She was responsible for creating strategic plans regarding the development and organization of the team to include budget management, internal resourcing, outsourcing strategies, and process re-engineering efforts. Sharon gained experience on the supplier-side managing over 40 associates at Ingenix Pharmaceutical Services (formerly Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc.), a full-service Contract Research Organization specializing in the area of CNS. She was fortunate to join the company in its infancy and therefore, instrumental in growing and developing an expert Biometric team. Additionally, Sharon developed manpower estimation algorithms, developed staffing plans, achieved efficiencies with effective management of resources/ process re-engineering and aided in the company’s business development efforts. Sharon started her career Boots Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of The Boots Company (UK) located in Shreveport, Louisiana. Sharon attended Bossier Parish Community College and Louisiana State University of Shreveport where she studied Business Administration. __________ John Durkee, RPh, MBA Vice President, Marketing & Business Development John brings over 25 years of healthcare experience to Peachtree BioResearch Solutions having worked within the hospital setting, pharmaceutical industry, and healthcare-services sector in both clinical research and advertising. He has held responsibilities at companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb, G.D. Searle, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, and PPD spanning clinical development to medical communications in a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, psychiatric, neurology, gastroenterology, women’s health, and medical devices. John’s pharmacy, clinical, regulatory, and communications experience provide a unique and broad understanding of the complex issues in developing and commercializing a new compound or technology. With over 10 years of business development experience in healthcare services, John joined Peachtree in mid-2009 to build on the successful launch of the company in further developing the client base. Combined with his “in the trenches” experience as a clinical monitor, John recognizes the challenges faced by clients in getting a trial initiated and managed. Working with the Peachtree experts, he develops proposals that are custom-tailored to their needs and resources. John received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Purdue University and complemented his clinical education with an MBA from Kennesaw State University in 2000. __________ Charles Romano Director, Clinical Operations Charles brings a diverse and well-rounded background and experience quite possibly unparalleled in our industry. He has over sixteen years of experience in civilian and military healthcare, working in a variety of capacities including Phase I to IV clinical pharmaceutical research, emergency medicine, ICU/CCU, Cardiac Care, labor and delivery, newborn nursery, mental health, record administration, staff education & training, admissions, medical computer systems, software applications, computer based medical training and supervision of junior staff. Among his many accomplishments, Charles is a recognized subject matter expert on electronic data capture (EDC), and has actively led the development of in-house systems, and implementation at clinical sites. In addition, he is well versed in SOP development, protocol development, and report generation. Charles has held increasing roles of responsibility in clinical operations, project management, and outsourcing and contracts for companies such as Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer, UCB and Alaven Pharmaceuticals. While at UCB, he was instrumental in redesigning the outsourcing processes that resulted in a 20% increase in resource return to clinical development. At Peachtree, Charles is a multi-tasker directing project management and clinical operations, and contracts and master service agreement formulation and negotiation. In addition, he is constantly seeking ways to improve operating efficiencies, and building the business. Charles graduated with distinction from the Navy Hospital Corpsman School and received a BS in Biology from SUNY. He is published, a previous member of the Pfizer Speaker’s Bureau, and has been an invited speaker at DIA. __________ Tripp Smallwood Associate Director, Clinical Resourcing Tripp comes to Peachtree with nearly a decade of recruiting experience in the life sciences. Over the course of his career, Tripp has successfully recruited and placed more than a thousand highly-qualified personnel with clients around the globe. He has achieved multiple awards for his efforts, including national recognition for earning top ranked regional producer four years in the row, while holding the exclusive title of top ranked national producer in 2005 and 2006 with the world’s largest life sciences recruiting firm. Tripp has previously worked for industry leaders such as Chiltern International and Aerotek Scientific, and brought his expertise to Peachtree to lead the resourcing division as an alternative solution to functional service models. Through his years of developing and sustaining key relationships, Tripp has built an extensive network of top talent with virtually every skill set in the life sciences industry. Since joining Peachtree in early 2009, Tripp continues to manage end-to-end recruitment needs by placing individuals and small teams of contract/direct hire personnel nationwide with biotech, medical device, and pharmaceutical clients. Tripp has a BA in Political Science from Furman University.
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