Laval, QC, Canada - March 10, 2016, Laval, QC, Canada - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. announced that Fred Eshelman, Stephen Fraidin and Thomas W. Ross, Sr. have joined its board of directors as independent directors.
Article continues below
Dr. Eshelman has more than 35 years of strategic development, executive, operational and financial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
He is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc. (PPD), a global contract pharmaceutical research organization providing drug discovery, development and lifecycle management services.
Dr. Eshelman was also the founding chairman of Furiex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug development company that collaborated with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to increase the value of their drug candidates by applying an accelerated approach to drug development.
Mr. Fraidin joined Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. in 2015 as Vice Chairman. Prior to joining Pershing Square, Mr. Fraidin was a Senior Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and advised major companies and investment firms in acquisitions, mergers, proxy contests, corporate governance engagements and other matters.
He received his LL.B. from Yale Law School and his A.B. from Tufts University. Mr. Fraidin is widely recognized as one of the country's leading M&A lawyers.
He was named to the Financial Times' top ten most innovative lawyers in North America; The International Who's Who of Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyers top ten "Most Highly Regarded Individuals;" Law360 MVP of the Year for M&A in 2013, and twice as The American Lawyer's "Dealmaker of the Year."
Mr. Ross is President Emeritus of the 17-campus University of North Carolina having served as President from 2011-2016. He currently serves as the Sanford Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy and as a Professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government.
Prior to becoming President of the UNC System, Mr. Ross served as President of Davidson College, executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, a Superior Court judge, chief of staff to a U. S. Congressman, a member of a Greensboro, NC law firm and as an Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government.
Mr. Ross holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Davidson College (1972) and graduated with honors from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law (1975). He currently serves several boards and has received numerous awards and accolades for his public service and professional achievements. ■