Simulations Plus, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLP), a leading provider of simulation and modeling software for pharmaceutical discovery and development, today announced changes in its senior management structure.
Walt Woltosz, chairman and chief executive officer of Simulations Plus, Inc., said, “The board of directors has appointed Mr. John DiBella president of the Lancaster, California division, known as Simulations Plus. Dr. Ted Grasela will remain as president of the Buffalo, New York Cognigen division, and Dr. Brett Howell will remain as president of the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina DILIsym Services, Inc. division. I will remain as chairman and chief executive officer and continue working at the 60% level as I have for the past three years.”
Dr. David Ralph, a member of the board of directors, added, “With the acquisition of DILIsym Services, Inc., which expanded the responsibilities of the corporate president over all divisions, and recognizing the already considerable demands on Dr. Grasela’s time with the continued growth of Cognigen, including the five-year, nearly $5 million contract with a major research foundation, the board felt it was optimal to have three division presidents, each responsible for the operation of their division alone, reporting to Mr. Woltosz as CEO. We are holding open the position of president of the overall corporation, but not filling it at this time.”
Walt Woltosz further added, “John DiBella was the clear choice to become the president of the Lancaster division, and we’re delighted that he has accepted the position. John has been with Simulations Plus for over 14 years, starting as a software development engineer after graduating with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, then moving into marketing and sales as a salesperson. Since 2009 when he was promoted to manager of marketing and sales, and 2012 when he was promoted to vice president for marketing and sales, the company’s revenue growth under his leadership has been obvious, going from about $6.3 million for FY2009 (not including the former Words+ subsidiary) to $20 million in FY2016, and further growth in 2017, which will be boosted further by our fourth quarter ending today with additional revenues and earnings from our newly acquired DILIsym division.”
“Dr. Grasela continues to do an outstanding job with the Cognigen division, maintaining growth, providing great customer satisfaction, and continually improving efficiencies under his leadership,” continued Mr. Woltosz. “The acquisition of DILIsym Services, Inc. in June added another geographic location and new technology to our offerings. Each division provides a mostly unique set of products and services, so we believe having a president of each division with P&L responsibility is the best way to manage our operations. Of course, we will continue to foster cooperation among the divisions to take advantage of the synergies among them. This has worked very well for Simulations Plus and Cognigen for three years, and we are already seeing the benefits from integrating our GastroPlus™ capabilities in Lancaster with the DILIsym software in Research Triangle Park. We expect further synergies between Cognigen and DILIsym going forward.”