Our leadership

Allan Oberman

President & CEO

Allan Oberman is the President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apotex. He leads a workforce more than 6,500 people, driving our strategic direction and advancing our vision of serving patients and consumers along their health journey.

Allan brings four decades of corporate experience, including 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry. His career journey includes serving as CEO of Concordia International Corp. and Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc. He also held several key positions at Teva Pharmaceuticals, including President and CEO of Teva Canada (formerly Novopharm Limited), COO of Teva International Group, President of Teva EMIA, and President and CEO of Teva Americas Generics. His expertise spans strategy development, business growth, execution excellence, international market expansion, and global partnerships.

Allan holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University, and a BA from Western University.

Alok Kanti

President, Apotex International

Alok Kanti is the President of Apotex International, responsible for our business in all markets outside Canada and the United States.

Alok brings nearly three decades of leadership experience and has managed organizations in nearly 30 countries. Prior to joining Apotex, he held progressively senior roles at Bayer, most recently as President & CEO of Bayer Inc. Canada.

Alok was Chair of the Board at Innovative Medicines Canada from February 2022 to September 2023 and is on the Board of Governors of Guelph University, Advisory Board member of Krembil Centre for Health Management and Leadership at Schulich School of Business and an executive in residence at the Rothmans School of Management, University of Toronto. He has been inducted into the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame by the National Pharmaceutical Congress.

Alok obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Delhi, his Master’s in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, graduated from the exchange program at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, and completed the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program at the University of Toronto. He is fluent in Hindi, English, and German.

Andrew McNicoll

Senior Vice-President, Global Quality and Compliance

Andrew McNicoll is Senior Vice-President, Global Quality and Compliance where he is responsible for the implementation of the company’s global quality systems and compliance strategy and operations.

Andrew brings more than 30 years of progressively senior experience in quality and compliance management roles in the pharmaceutical and biologics industry. Prior to Joining Apotex, Andrew was with Patheon Inc., part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, as VP of Quality Systems and Global Compliance. Most recently, he served as VP of Quality for Patheon’s Biologics Business Unit. Prior to Patheon, Andrew held quality roles at AstraZeneca and Hemosol.

Andrew holds a Bachelor’s degree in Laboratory Science from Ryerson.

Ariel Alon

Chief Operations Officer

Ariel Alon, Apotex’s Chief Operations Officer, is responsible for leading our global finished dosage manufacturing, API manufacturing, supply chain, procurement, engineering, environment health and safety, technical operations, and external supply operations.

This includes production and supply sites in Canada, USA, Mexico and India.

Ariel brings more than 27 years of operations leadership experience, including leading pharmaceutical production and supply organizations in Canada, the United States, Europe, LATAM, and India. He joined Apotex from Baxter International, where he was Vice President, Global Pharmaceutical Operations. Prior to this, Ariel was Vice President Operations, Americas & Special Technologies for Novartis, VP US Operations for Teva USA, and previously served as Vice President of Operations for Teva Canada.

Ariel holds a Master of Engineering degree from Tel Aviv University and a BSc in Industrial Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Barry Fishman

Chief Corporate Development Officer

Barry Fishman is the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Apotex, overseeing business development, product portfolio and strategic partnerships. He is recognized as a change agent with a track record of driving growth during organizational transformation.

Over the past two decades, Barry has held executive leadership roles in branded and generic pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Taro, Teva, and Merus Labs - a Canadian-based publicly traded international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on branded legacy and growth brands.

Barry has significant experience as a public company director and is a past Chair of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA). He has a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University. 

Brian McClelland

Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Brian McClelland oversees our Global Finance and Global Information Services functions. He joined Apotex in 2023, bringing with him more than 30 years of progressive financial and leadership experience.

Brian previously held positions in both global public and private companies, including Kraft Foods, Molson Coors, and McCain Foods. Most recently, Brian was the Chief Financial Officer for Mother Parker’s Tea & Coffee, a leading North American private label supplier of tea and coffee, where he led the Finance, IT and Procurement functions and was the management lead for their Audit Committee. Over his career, Brian has also held global roles including leading FP&A for Kraft Foods’ International segment and Vice President Regional Finance & Development for McCain’s Asia, Middle East and North Africa business unit, where he led the finance function and supported strategy development and execution for high growth emerging markets.

Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from McMaster University and a CPA, CMA designation.

Carina Vassilieva

Chief Human Resources Officer

Carina Vassilieva is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Apotex, responsible for our talent, total rewards, employer branding, and diversity, equity, and inclusion functions. She brings more than 25 years of global strategic leadership experience in public and private sectors.

Most recently, Carina held the role of the Global Chief Human Resources Officer at Mundipharma, a pharmaceutical company that has a presence in more than 100 countries based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Prior to Mundipharma, Carina worked at Korn Ferry Hay Group where she was an Associate Client Partner, Executive Compensation and Total Rewards. Prior to this, she was the Senior Director, Organizational Effectiveness at Sofina Foods Inc. and Vice President, Human Resources at Rexall Pharmacy Group, a national chain of retail pharmacies in Canada.

Carina is certified in HR & Compensation Committee (HRCC) Effectiveness by Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). She was Chair of the Board of Directors York Region Housing Help Centre & ID Clinic, a member of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), a member of WorldAtWork, formerly the American and Canadian Compensation Association, a member of The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Carina holds an MBA from California Coast University, Santa Clara, US and a BSc degree in Engineering from the State University of Printing Arts, Moscow, Russia. She is a Certified Executive Coach, Certified Compensation Professional, and Certified Global Remuneration Professional.

Christine Baeder

President, Apotex USA

Christine Baeder is the President of Apotex USA, responsible for our business in the United States. She is a leading US pharmaceutical executive with more than twenty years of experience in progressively senior roles.

Christine started her career as a chemist, and quickly transitioned to a specialty branded pharmaceutical sales representative at Organon International, a global healthcare company, before moving into supply chain management and marketing management with Sandoz. Over a 16-year period, Christine held progressively senior positions at Teva Pharmaceuticals. From 2018, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, US Generics and Biosimilars at Teva, and prior to joining Apotex, was responsible for Teva’s global biosimilars business.

Christine continues to serve as a member of the Board of the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) and, following service as the Vice Chair in 2022, and Chair of the Board in 2023. She is a vocal supporter and advocate of the generic and biosimilar pharmaceutical industry, frequently speaking about the importance of the legislative, regulatory, and private cooperation of an industry that supports 90% of the medicine dispensed in the United States.

Christine has a BS degree in Biology from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and an MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke in Durham, North Carolina.

Francesco Tallarico

Chief Legal Officer and Global Head of Government Relations

Francesco Tallarico serves as the Chief Legal Officer at Apotex, leading the Global Legal, Compliance, Government Relations, and Communications functions.

Francesco brings with him 15 years of progressive legal and leadership experience. Before joining Apotex in 2023, he served as General Counsel, Head of Government Affairs and Policy at Private Equity owned Covis Pharma Group and held various General Counsel roles with publicly traded companies, including Concordia International Corp. (now Advanz Pharma). 

Francesco is actively involved with the American Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), Canadian Generics Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) and Canadian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Exporters Alliance. Francesco is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. He also holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Windsor.

Kiran Krishnan

Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs

Kiran Krishnan, PhD is the Senior Vice President of Global Regulatory and Medical Affairs at Apotex. Since joining Apotex in 2006, he has been instrumental in shaping the global regulatory and medical affairs strategy for Apotex, managing a worldwide team of regulatory professionals. Dr. Krishnan leads the company’s efforts to develop top-level regulatory strategies, supporting the launch and commercialization of key products across the specialty, biosimilar, and generic portfolios. With more than 20 years of regulatory experience in the generic pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Krishnan has integrated regulatory strategy into the drug development process, and his team has enabled the submission and approval of numerous first products in the generic, specialty, and biosimilar spaces.

Dr. Krishnan is actively involved with the American Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) and Canadian Generics Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA) scientific and regulatory committees. He was also actively engaged with the US FDA as part of the AAM team to negotiate and develop the commitment letters that formed the basis to reauthorize the Generic Drug User Fee Act (GDUFA) II and III.

Dr. Krishnan holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy with a specialization in Industrial Pharmacy and a PhD in Pharmacy from the Department of Pharmacy, Annamalai University, India.

Mark Nawacki

President, Searchlight Pharma

Mark Nawacki is the President of Searchlight Pharma, Apotex’s specialty pharmaceutical division. Mark co-founded Searchlight Pharma having spent his career building businesses through acquisition, licensing and business development leadership.

Mark has wide-ranging experience in the pharmaceutical industry in Canada and internationally. Under his guidance, the acquisitions of Miravo Healthcare, Erfa Canada, and Besins Healthcare Canada, as well as over 20 external partnering transactions, have grown Searchlight Pharma into a fast-growing and profitable Canadian industry leader.

Mark is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Licensing Executive Society (USA & Canada) and is a former President and Board Member of the Canadian Healthcare Licensing Association. Mark has also been a past board member and chair of the board of Kane Biotech (TSXV: KNE) on the board of Litha Healthcare from 2012 to 2014. He currently sits on the Board of Intelgenx Technologies Corp. (TSX:IGX), where he serves as chair of the compensation committee.

Mark holds a BA in International Relations and Russian and East European Studies from the University of Toronto (Trinity), an MBA also from the University of Toronto, and is a current member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario).

Pradeep Sanghvi

Executive Vice President, Global Research and Development

Dr. Pradeep Sanghvi rejoined Apotex as Executive Vice President of Global R&D in October 2021 and is responsible for research and development across our businesses.

Dr. Sanghvi is a strategic, transformational, and influential leader with 30 years of experience building high-performance and process-driven R&D organizations. He is a pioneer in many drug delivery platforms, such as ODT and thin films, and has many patents associated with those inventions. He has extensive technical, clinical, commercial, and regulatory knowledge of developing and manufacturing complex generics, 505b2s, and NCEs in various pharmaceutical dosage forms for global markets.

Dr. Sanghvi is actively involved with the American Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM). He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutics from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh.

Ray Shelley

President, Apotex Canada

Ray Shelley is the President of Apotex Canada. With nearly 30 years of service at Apotex, he is responsible for our business in Canada, including expanding our presence within the Canadian healthcare industry.

Throughout his career at Apotex, Ray has held various positions in Sales and Marketing, progressively taking on more senior roles. Before assuming his current position as President, Ray oversaw commercial operations for the Canadian and Rest of World Markets.

In 2021, Ray became a member of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association’s (CGPA) Board and was elected as the Chair of CGPA in February 2023.

Ray holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Windsor and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.