HDMA Councils/Smith Drug Meet

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association’s Industry Relations Council (IRC) and Government and Public Policy Council (GPPC) recently met in Arlington, Virginia.  

The councils, which meet twice a year in person and more frequently via teleconference, provide guidance on major association initiatives and help review and set association priorities. One of the features of the in-person meetings is an opportunity to visit with key members of Congress before the meetings get under way. 

Ken Couch, Smith Drug Company president, and a past chairman and current board member of HDMA, met with Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Representative Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). Couch discussed issues of importance to the health care distribution industry, such as the average manufacturer price (AMP) reimbursement issue, as well as other points of interest in health reform proposals currently before Congress.     

Smith Drug Company is listed among one of the top 10 wholesale drug companies in the United States. The company supplies independent, locally owned pharmacies with pharmaceutical products, health and beauty aids and home medical equipment throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas. 

Ken Couch, president, Smith Drug Company, meets with Rep. Jack Kingston. 

07/17/10

H.D. Smith Names Callaway to V.P. Position

Karen Callaway has been promoted to vice president, human resources, at H.D. Smith. In this position, Callaway will assume a key role in H. D. Smith’s corporate strategic planning, translating those plans into tangible recruitment and professional development practices.

Cultivating over 30 years’ experience in human resources, recruitment, public relations and marketing, Callaway possesses a strong background in strategic development of comprehensive human resources programs that embrace organizational development and positioning for future growth, says H.D. Smith. She joined H.D. Smith in 2004 and most recently served as director of human resources. 

07/17/10

Amerisource Bergen Re-elects Three Directors

During the AmerisourceBergen Corporation annual meeting of stockholders, held recently in Philadelphia, company stockholders re-elected three directors: Richard W. Gochnauer, Edward E. Hagenlocker and Henry W. McGee.

Gochnauer has been a member of the board of directors since September 2008. He has been president and CEO and a director of United Stationers Inc., a wholesale distributor of business products, since 2002, and served as COO from July to December 2002. He was president and COO and vice chairman and president, International, of Golden State Foods Corporation from 1994 to 2002. He currently is a director of Golden State Foods Corporation.  

Hagenlocker has been a member of the AmerisourceBergen board of directors since the company’s inception in 2001. Prior to that, he was a director of AmeriSource Health Corporation from 1999 to 2001. He was vice chairman of Ford Motor Company from 1996 until his retirement in 1999 and chairman of Visteon Automotive Systems from 1997 to 1999. He also served as president of Ford Automotive Operations from 1994 to 1996 and chairman of Ford of Europe in 1996. Hagenlocker is also a director of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited.  

McGee has been an AmerisourceBergen Director since 2004, and since 1995 has been president of HBO Home Entertainment. He has held a variety of other positions with Home Box Office Inc., Time Warner Inc. (parent of Home Box Office) and their predecessors since 1979. He is president of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Inc.  

The AmerisourceBergen Board of Directors is comprised of eight members, all of whom are independent directors, except president and CEO, R. David Yost.

07/17/10

Aceto Promotes Van Eis to Vice President

Jan Van Eis  has been promoted to vice president of International Operations and International Pharmaceutical Strategy at Aceto Corporation, a global leader in the sourcing, quality assurance, regulatory support, marketing and distribution of pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, specialty chemicals and crop protection products.

Van Eis joined Aceto in March 2001, as a result of Aceto's acquisition of the distribution business of the Schweizerhall Holdings and has been managing director of Aceto BV since January 2007. Prior to joining Aceto, she was sales and business development manager for International Pharmaceutical Chemicals BV (which was subsequently acquired by Schweizerhall Holdings) since 1992.

07/17/10