PDI Appoints Pharma Industry Veteran as CEO

US biopharmaceuticals specialist PDI, parent of TVG Marketing Research, has appointed Nancy Lurker as its new CEO and a member of its Board of Directors.

Previously Lurker was SVP and CMO for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where she oversaw a product portfolio in multiple therapeutic areas representing multi-billion dollars in annual sales. Before that, she was President and CEO of ImpactRx; Group VP-Global Primary Care Products for Pharmacia Corporation; and VP for Business Development at the National Physicians Corporation.

Lurker also spent 14 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she rose from Senior Sales Representative at Mead Johnson to various product management and business development positions. She has a BSc in Biology and Chemistry from Seattle Pacific University, and an MBA from the University of Evansville.

As Lurker takes up her new role, Jeffrey Smith, who has recently served as interim CEO, will resume his previous position as EVP, Finance and CFO, while James Farrell, who recently served as interim CFO, will resume his previous position as VP, Controller.

'Nancy is a proven leader and a highly accomplished executive with particular expertise in sales and marketing, commercial operations and the evaluation of prescriber behavior,' said John Dugan, Chairman of the Board. 'She has achieved success at global pharmaceutical companies, as well as smaller entities where she has grown the top line and brought innovation to the organization.'

PDI, which is headquartered in Saddle River, NJ, operates in two segments, Sales Services and Marketing Services, which includes marketing research and consulting services through market research and consulting arm TVG.

Today's news follows PDI's reports of mixed results for the third quarter.

Web sites: www.pdi-inc.com and www.tvg-inc.com .