Executive Management

Jonathan O'Connell, Chief Executive Officer
Jonathan O'Connell has over 18 years of international finance and operations experience. He has served as CFO at Merrion since November 2005. From October 2004 to May 2005, Jonathan served as Director of Finance of Avaya, a provider of business communications software. From April 2000 to September 2004, Jonathan was CFO and a member of the board of directors of Spectel, a provider of integrated audio and web conferencing solutions. From June 1994 to March 2000, he served as CFO and on the board of directors of Trinity Biotech, a NASDAQ-listed developer and manufacturer of diagnostic tests. Jonathan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and graduated from Trinity College with a BBS (Hons) degree.

Thomas W. Leonard, PhD, Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer
Thomas has 27 years of new product formulation and drug development management experience. He joined Merrion from Endeavor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, he was Senior Director, Product Development at aaiPharma. Thomas also held the position of Associate Director at Wyeth-Ayerst Research. Thomas holds a BS in Pharmacy from The University of South Carolina and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from the Medical College of Virginia. He has published extensively in his field, holds numerous approved patents in the areas of drug development, and is an active member of several professional pharmaceutical organisations.

John Fox, PhD, Chief Development Officer
John has over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He was previously Chief Operating Officer for Hunter Fleming. John held a variety of senior positions for Shire Pharmaceuticals, including Group Planning Director. John holds a PhD and BSc in Biochemistry from Queens University Belfast and an MBA from Henley Management College. He has published several papers and abstracts and is a member of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Drug Information Society.