* Bassam Damaj, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Prior to joining Innovus Pharma, Bassam Damaj served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Apricus Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APRI), a specialty pharmaceutical company where he was responsible for the approval of its lead drug Vitaros™, a treatment for erectile dysfunction. Damaj also signed multimillion-dollar partnerships between Apricus Bio and leading pharmaceutical companies such as Abbott, Novartis-Sandoz and Takeda. He was also a Co-founder of Bio-Quant, Inc., serving as the Chief Executive Officer/Chief Scientific Officer and managing the board of directors from its inception in June 2000 until its 2009 acquisition by Apricus Biosciences. In addition, Damaj was the Founder/Chairman/President/Chief Executive Officer of R&D Healthcare, and the Co-Founder of Celltek Biotechnologies. He also served as a Director of the Board of Directors at CreAgri, Inc. and was partof the Scientific Advisory Board of MicroIslet, Inc. He authored Immunological Reagents and Solutions: A Laboratory Handbook (2000) and won a U.S. Congressional Award for the Anthrax Multiplex Diagnostic Test in 2003. Damaj holds a Ph.D. degree in Immunology/Microbiology from Laval University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Oncology at McGill University.
* Randy Berholtz, M.B.A./J.D.
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel
In addition to his responsibilities as Executive Vice President and Corporate Development and General Counsel, Randy Berholtz is also the Secretary of the company. He was the founding partner of the Sorrento Valley Law Group and is the former Executive Vice President and General Counsel and Secretary of Apricus Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APRI), a specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to that time, he was the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of ACON Laboratories, Inc., a group of Chinese and U.S. life sciences companies. He has also been the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of IngleWood Ventures, L.P., a life sciences venture capital company, and the Interim General Counsel and Secretary of Nanogen, Inc. (NASDAQ: NGEN), a genomics tools company. He has also been an attorney with the law firms, including Heller Ehrman LLP, Cooley LLP, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP (now K&L Gates LLP) and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University (he was a Rhodes Scholar), and a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School - where he was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal - and an MBA from the University of San Diego School of Business.
* Ryan Selhorn, CPA
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Ryan has served as our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since April 27, 2018. From July 2013 to April 2018, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer of Signature Analytics, an outsourced finance and accounting firm. From October 2003 to July 2013, he was an Audit Senior Manager with Grant Thornton LLP, a financial accounting firm. Mr. Selhorn has significant experience with venture financings, public equity offerings, public debt offerings, mergers and acquisitions, interaction with the SEC and PCAOB, and implementation and monitoring compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Additionally, Mr. Selhorn has participated in several financial due diligence processes for acquisitions and capital financings. Mr. Selhorn received his B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business, and he is a certified public accountant in California.
* Christopher Stella
Vice President of Operations
Christopher Stella has served as our Vice President of Operations since June 2018. From February 2014 to June 2018 he was President and CEO of Stella Marketing Group, a specialty marketing firm supporting the natural products industry including major public and private health and beauty companies advertising through various direct-to-consumer channels. One of which, Innovus Pharmaceuticals, where he worked directly with management and helped the company exceed revenue targets in both 2017 and 2018. From September 2013 to February 2014, he worked at Nutraclick, a technology-driven health and wellness products company, where he developed the marketing campaigns for their four leading brands found in both major retail outlets such as GNC, Walmart and CVS and popular ecommerce platforms. Mr. Stella received his Bachelor of Economics from the University of Massachusetts (Suma Cum Laude) at Amherst with minors in both Chinese and Finance from the School.