Unilife Hires General Counsel

York, Pa.-based Unilife Corporation, which makes differentiated injectable drug delivery systems, has appointed John Ryan, J.D. as senior vice president, general counsel and secretary. Christopher Naftzger, J.D., who has been vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer since 2010, will remain at Unilife and assume the position of vice president of legal affairs.

Ryan has nearly two decades of legal experience in contract negotiations, corporate compliance, commercial and government litigation, and regulatory matters. Prior to joining Unilife, he was a partner at the law firm Duane Morris where he represented healthcare, financial and managed service companies across areas including contract negotiation, dispute resolution, consumer class action litigation and antitrust cases.

For eight years, Ryan held senior roles including senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Aramark Corporation, a company with a $6 billion market capitalization and $13.5 billion in annual revenue, where he served as chief counsel for several business divisions. Ryan began his legal career as an assistant district attorney at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office where he led grand jury investigations and prosecuted white-collar criminals. He is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New York, and is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and New York University.

“It is exciting to be joining Unilife during this period of rapid growth and business expansion,” said Ryan. “I look forward to providing legal counsel and strategic guidance to the board members and management team of Unilife as the Company continues to strengthen its relationships with pharmaceutical companies and redefine the market for injectable drug delivery systems.”

“John is a dynamic legal professional with nearly two decades of experience in contract negotiation, litigation and corporate compliance,” said Chairman and CEO Alan Shortall. “I expect his deep legal expertise, negotiation skills, corporate disclosure and strategic insights will be put to great use at Unilife as we continue to negotiate and sign long-term supply contracts with a multitude of large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Chris has done an excellent job building Unilife’s legal, corporate secretarial and compliance functions since our listing on NASDAQ in 2010. His corporate finance and commercial expertise has been important in achieving our financing objectives and securing customer agreements.  I appreciate the contribution that Chris has made, and I am pleased that he will continue to be part of the Unilife management team.”