About Us

It’s not what you make. It’s what we make possible together.

Partnering with customers to develop and manufacture life-changing pharmaceuticals has been our highest calling for decades. Customer innovations are brought to life by our people, working with purpose and supported by strong infrastructure that allows us to deliver on promises.

Our History

Lifecore’s Senior Leadership Team

We are proud to collaborate with customers who create products that improve lives. We also recognize the importance of our role and our responsibilities to employees, customers, consumers, and the planet.
Paul Josephs

President & CEO

Ryan D. Lake, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

Tom Salus

Chief Legal and Administration Officer

Jackie Klecker

Executive Vice President, Quality and Development Services

Thomas Guldager

Sr. Vice President, Operations

Mark DaFonseca

Chief Commercial Officer

Darren Hieber

Sr. Vice President of Corporate Development & Partnerships

Brikkelle Thompson

Sr. Vice President of Human Resources

Matt Augustson

Sr. Vice President of Information Technology

Phil Sticha

Vice President of Business Operations

Scott Collins

Vice President of Finance

Kipling Thacker, Ph.D.

Vice President & Chief Scientist

Rick Sitarz

Vice President of New Business Development

Lifecore Foundation

Just as we care about our employees, we care about the communities where we live and work. That’s why, in 1993, we created the Lifecore Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that coordinates volunteer efforts and charitable contributions from Lifecore Biomedical and our employees. We partner with other non-profits to donate goods, raise funds, provide services, and generate awareness for a variety of causes in the Twin Cities metro communities and beyond. Also, in alignment with our corporate position as a leading supplier to the ophthalmics industry, we support non-profits that provide ophthalmic-related services. 

Organizations that have benefitted from our work include the ASCRS Foundation’s Operation Sight, Toys for Tots, Feed My Starving Children, Love INC Carver County, and Make-A-Wish Foundation of Minnesota.

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Tax ID: EN 41-1736832

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Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG)

We are committed to developing our ESG framework based on globally recognized institutions. As stewards of the environment, we engage all levels of the organization to ensure our sustainability initiatives are executed with excellence. These initiatives are communicated within Lifecore through our Continuous Process Improvement team. Read our Environment, Health, Safety, and Sustainability (EHSS) policy.
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Sodium Hyaluronate

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© 2025 Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. All rights reserved.

Paul Josephs

President & CEO

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 D. Lake, CPA

Chief Financial Officer

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.

Tom Salus

Chief Legal and Administration Officer

Tom Salus brings more than 30 years of legal and management experience to Lifecore, gained from tenures with major law firms and multi-billion-dollar corporations. He possesses a proven track record across a range of legal and operational areas including corporate governance, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting and compliance, complex domestic and international business transactions, financings, and corporate compliance. Before joining Lifecore in April 2025, Mr. Salus spent 11 years with Viatris Inc., a multi-billion-dollar, Nasdaq-listed international pharmaceutical company, most recently serving as General Counsel – Corporate, Securities & Transactions and Assistant Secretary. Prior to that, he held key leadership positions with VWR International (now part of Avantor, Inc.), a multi-billion-dollar international distributor of laboratory equipment, chemicals and supplies for the life science industry. Prior to joining industry, Mr. Salus was an attorney at several major law firms, including Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
At Lifecore, Mr. Salus oversees all legal activities and human resources, while playing a key role in strategy development and corporate development activities focused on strategic alliances and partnerships.

Jackie Klecker

Executive Vice President, Quality and Development Services

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

Sr. Vice President, Operations

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.

Mark DaFonseca

Chief Commercial Officer

Mark DaFonseca serves as Chief Commercial Officer at Lifecore, bringing 25+ years of industry experience and leadership in the life science services sector. Prior to Lifecore, Mark spent several decades in commercial leadership at CoreRx, AmbioPharm and CordenPharma, consistently delivering strong market expansion, revenue growth, and client engagement results.
Mr. DaFonseca began his career as an analytical chemist at AAI Development Services (now Alcami), and progressed from the lab to various commercial support, front-line sales, and sales leadership positions across a variety of service providers. His deep experience spans the drug development continuum from API to Drug Product and across a multitude of modalities. Mark holds MBA and Bachelor of Science (Biology) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Darren Hieber

Sr. Vice President of Corporate Development & Partnerships

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

Sr. Vice President of Human Resources

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 a Master’s in Business Administration from St. Thomas University.

Matt Augustson

Sr. Vice President of Information Technology

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).

Phil Sticha

Vice President of Business Operations

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.

Scott Collins

Vice President of Finance

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.

Kipling Thacker, Ph.D.

Vice President & Chief Scientist

Kip is the co-inventor of the process Lifecore uses to make sodium hyaluronate. He has held various research and business development positions with Lifecore from 1981 to 2000, when he then served as our Director of New Business Development.
In 2004, he was appointed as our Vice President of New Business Development, and in 2010 he rose to his current position as Vice President and Chief Scientist.

Rick Sitarz

Vice President of New Business Development

Responsible for new business development, marketing, strategic planning and project management, Rick brings over 30 years of biotech experience to Lifecore.
After leaving his previous role as Vice President of Peripheral Interventions Marketing at Boston Scientific, Rick joined us as our Vice President of New Business Development in June 2015.