Larry started his career at ARCO Chemical where he spent 15 years in research, development and manufacturing before moving into management. He joined Bayer Corporation as the president of its Urethanes group in 2000 upon Bayer’s acquisition of Lyondell Chemical’s polyol business. The understanding of the plasma therapeutics business that Larry gained at Bayer was a crucial component of the successful acquisition of Bayer Biologics’ plasma business.

Larry serves on the board of Centric Health Resources, an entity focused on improving health outcomes by coupling disease state management with therapeutic treatments. He formerly served on the board of Life’s Work, a non-profit organization committed to improving the lives of people with physical and mental disabilities. Larry is now an active supporter of patient organizations focused on rare chronic diseases. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and a MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Larry and his wife Becky are active in their community. He enjoys biking with friends and international travel with his family.  

Prior to joining Talecris, he served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of NeighborCare, Inc., which, until acquired, was one of the nation’s leading institutional pharmacy service providers.

From 2000 until 2003, Mr. Gaither served as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC. GHX provides business-to-business procurement solutions for the healthcare industry.

From 1982 to 2000, Mr. Gaither held various leadership positions with Baxter International, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of healthcare products and services. He served as deputy general counsel and later as corporate vice president, corporate development, responsible for acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and similar major transactions, and Internet strategy. Prior to joining Baxter, Mr. Gaither was in private practice with a Chicago law firm.

Mr. Gaither received a bachelor's degree in accounting with high honors in 1971, and a juris doctor degree, summa cum laude, in 1974 from the University of Notre Dame. He served on active duty in the U.S. Navy for three years, attaining the rank of lieutenant commander in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

Mr. Gaither is a member of the Illinois and Indiana Bar Associations.

Ms. Kuhn began her career at Bayer HealthCare in 1982 in West Haven, Connecticut as a research scientist. Over the next two decades, she held numerous positions with increasing responsibility within Bayer's North American Pharmaceutical Division's Headquarters, including Supervisor, Pharmaceutical Formulations Lab; Manager, Pharmaceutical Technical Services; Manager, Manufacturing Operations; Director, Manufacturing; and, Vice President, Technical Operations and Ethical Product Manufacturing.

Prior to accepting her position in Clayton as Senior Vice President, Operations in October 2002, Ms. Kuhn served as Vice President, Operations, for Bayer Corporation's Pharmaceutical Division in West Haven. She retained that position with the formation of Talecris in 2005.

Ms. Kuhn holds a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana and a master's degree in business administration from the University of New Haven in Connecticut.

Dr. Petteway joined Talecris' predecessor, Bayer Biological Products, in 1995. He and his colleagues have been instrumental in establishing prion and virus removal profiles for plasma derived and recombinant manufacturing processes, as well as the development of new protein manufacturing processes and products.

Prior to joining Bayer, Dr. Petteway was Director of Drug Development for Cato Research Ltd., Vice President and Co-founder of Trimeris Inc., and Director of Molecular Virology and Host defense for SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Petteway also worked for DuPont, where he was focused on the production of recombinant proteins and the development of diagnostics and blood screening tests. He is a consultant for biotech venture investments, has served on the scientific advisory boards for various biotech companies, and is the author of numerous scientific publications and patents related to diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. Petteway holds a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology/Chemistry from The University of South Florida and a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from The University of Alabama in Birmingham Medical Center.

Prior to joining CryoLife in 2003, Dr. Lynch was a founding member of a biotechnology company, Clearant, which was formed to develop and implement new methods of inactivating pathogens in biological therapeutic products, medical devices, and devitalized tissues.

From 1993 to 2000, Dr. Lynch worked for the US Food and Drug Administration, most recently as Deputy Director of the Division of Hematology. At the FDA, his principal responsibilities involved the regulation of therapeutic proteins derived from human plasma or produced by genetic or transgenic engineering.

Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Lynch spent approximately 15 years as a research scientist in various capacities in the public, academic and private sectors. He holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Wayne State University and a law degree from Georgetown.

Mr. Menichella is a seasoned Business Development professional with more than 20 years of commercial and life sciences corporate development experience. Prior to joining Talecris, Mr. Menichella held various positions of increasing responsibility at Merck KGaA; including Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Vice President, Corporate Business Development and Alliance Management. While at Merck, Mr. Menichella played an instrumental role in a number of major licensing, merger and acquisition projects including Merck's 10.6 billion euro acquisition of the Serono business. He also served as President of MorphoSys USA and Senior Vice President of MorphoSys AG, a biotech company focused on therapeutic antibodies.

Mr. Menichella earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Mr. Abelson joined Talecris in March 2006 as Vice President, Canada and Intercontinental Commercial Operations with responsibilities for the planning and establishment of Talecris’ Canadian business and Talecris’ commercial operations in all markets outside the US and Europe.

Prior to joining Talecris, Mr. Abelson was with Bayer Healthcare where he held several senior management positions in Canada and the US, including Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing, where he was responsible for marketing strategies across the entire product portfolio.  Prior to that, he was Vice President, Immunology Life Cycle Management, where he was responsible for strategic marketing and preparing the company for the launch of Gamunex® (Immune Globulin Intravenous [Human], 10% Caprylate / Chromatography Purified).

Prior to joining the private sector, Mr. Abelson held various policy and management positions with the Government of Ontario, Canada including service in the Cabinet Office as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Premier’s Policy and Priorities Committee.  He also led the Province’s joint private/public sector health economic development initiative to accelerate the growth of the Province’s pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device sectors.

Mr. Abelson has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Toronto.

Prior to joining Talecris, Mr. Perkins was a consultant to Cerberus Capital Management, where he provided executive management for portfolio companies, including Talecris, and led due diligence for potential investments.

Mr. Perkins joined Cerberus from General Electric where he was an executive in its Corporate Business Development (Mergers and Acquisitions) group. While at GE, Mr. Perkins also held a variety of positions in marketing/product management, sales, operations and Corporate Audit.

Mr. Perkins is a graduate of General Electric’s Management Development Program. He received his Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, and earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.

Ms. Rhudy has more than 20 years of experience in public policy, domestic and international government affairs, corporate communications, media relations, community affairs, issues management and strategic philanthropy. As the former head of Public Affairs for Wyeth, one of the world’s largest research based pharmaceutical companies, Ms. Rhudy served on Wyeth’s Management and Operations Committees.

Ms. Rhudy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from the University of Kansas where she was honored as a Distinguished Alumnae in 1998. Within her 10 year tenure with the American Pharmaceutical Association, Ms. Rhudy served as Chairman of the Board, President of the Association, Treasurer and Trustee. Ms. Rhudy was appointed by President Clinton to serve on The White House Health Care Reform Initiative in 1993.