Management

Paul Josephs brings more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to Lifecore, including more than 25 years of CDMO experience. From 2021 until April 2024, Mr. Josephs served as President & Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Woodstock Sterile Solutions, a specialized, full-service CDMO. Prior to joining Woodstock, Mr. Josephs served as Head of CDMO – Global Business Development at Viatris (formerly known as Mylan) since 2016 when it acquired DPT Laboratories. Mr. Josephs’ work with DPT Laboratories began in 1997, where he held numerous progressive roles in sales and business development, culminating with a position of Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Corporate Development. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

Ryan Lake brings more than 20 years of senior financial and strategic life sciences leadership to Lifecore and is accomplished in leading and advising corporations through mergers; acquisitions; spin-offs; recapitalizations; integrations; real estate; sale-leaseback; equity; debt; and stock market transactions.  Mr. Lake has executive responsibility for all finance and accounting functions, SEC reporting, legal, investor relations, and information technology and security. 

Prior to joining Lifecore in September 2024, Mr. Lake served as the CFO of Societal CDMO, Inc. (formerly Recro Pharma, Inc.), a global, publicly traded pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization, from January 2018 until its sale and integration with CoreRx, Inc. in May 2024. Mr. Lake also concurrently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Baudax Bio, Inc., a publicly traded specialty pharmaceutical company, taking the company public through a spin-out from Recro Pharma, Inc. from November 2019 to March 2021. 

Previously, Mr. Lake served as Societal’s Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer from June 2017 to January 2018.  Prior to joining Societal, Mr. Lake served as CFO and Vice President of Finance of Aspire Bariatrics, Inc., a privately-held, commercial-stage, medical device company from July 2015 to June 2017. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Lake held executive management and senior finance positions, including Director of the Natural Materials Division, Controller and Senior Director of Finance, at DSM Biomedical (successor to Kensey Nash Corporation after its acquisition in 2012), a division of Royal DSM (listed on Euronext Amsterdam), a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. From 2002 to 2012, Mr. Lake held various senior financial positions of increasing responsibility, most notably Interim Chief Financial Officer and Senior Director of Finance, with Kensey Nash Corporation, a Nasdaq- listed global medical device company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lake worked at Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Mr. Lake has a B.S. degree in Accounting from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and is a certified public accountant and chartered global management accountant.
 

With over 30 years of industry experience in quality, manufacturing, and development, Jackie has guided our quality assurance for over a decade.

After serving as Director of Quality from July 2010 to June 2014, Jackie went on to become our Senior Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs from June 2014 to June 2018. In 2018, she was appointed as our Vice President and General Manager. Prior to her current position, Jackie served as General Manager & Executive Vice President. 

Thomas Guldager brings 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to Lifecore, having managed, developed, and enhanced teams and organizations to drive performance. He most recently served as Senior Director, Manufacturing and Site Leader for Xellia Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company (a wholly owned subsidiary of Novo Holdings A/S).  

During his more than 12 years with the company, he also held the positions of director of business excellence and director of operational excellence. His career has also included a tenure as chief operating officer of Vertanical, a Germany-based biopharmaceutical company, supply chain controller for ReckittBenckiser, a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company, and a finance officer for GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Guldager earned an MBA from Henley Business School in the U.K. an undergraduate degree and in Economics  from Copenhagen Business School. 
 

Darren is responsible for developing Lifecore’s corporate strategy, bringing us two decades of pharmaceutical experience specifically focused on business development in high-growth environments. Darren has a passion for strategic business development, executive-level business support, and driving results.

Darren was the Vice President of Business Development at Catalent Biologics before joining Lifecore in November 2021. He was appointed to his current position in 2022 when Lifecore’s parent company (Landec Corporation) transitioned to become a standalone (Lifecore Biomedical).

Brikkelle Thompson brings 24 years of visionary Human Resources leadership, global experience, and deep talent management to Lifecore, including 14 years in medical technology, medical device, and healthcare industries. Brikkelle partners with organizational leaders to architect and deliver HR strategies to optimize the employee experience and enhance organizational performance.

Brikkelle’s leadership spans from small organizations to Fortune 100 companies in public and private sectors. Prior to joining Lifecore, she held positions at Teleflex, Nonin Medical, Medtronic, and Hennepin Healthcare. Brikkelle earned an Master’s in Business Administration from St. Thomas University.

Matt partners closely with the company’s business functions to deliver enterprise solutions that will support growth and future-proof the company while seeking operational excellence and harnessing data for business insights.

With more than 20 years in the IT industry, Matt is a proven leader in developing, designing, selling, implementing, and architecting end-to-end IT solutions for manufacturing, health care and retail.

Before joining Lifecore, he worked at First Brands Group, Prime Therapeutics, Best Buy, Accenture, Oracle, and Retek. Matt was appointed to his current position in 2022 when Lifecore’s parent company (Landec Corporation) transitioned to become a standalone (Lifecore Biomedical).

With over 20 years of financial experience, Scott has worked across various finance positions with us, including as our Financial Controller from 2007 to 2009.

In 2010, he became our Senior Director of Finance for seven years before his appointment as our Vice President of Finance.

With more than 26 years of tenure at Lifecore, Phil has extensive knowledge of all areas within the organization. He served as Senior Director of Manufacturing for more than 20 years prior to joining the New Business Development team as a Senior Director.

In 2022, Phil was appointed to his current role focusing on business operational excellence.