Allergan names new head of global IR and strategy

Dublin-headquartered biopharmaceuticals firm Allergan has named Daphne Karydas as its new senior vice president of global investor relations and strategy, effective April 17.

Karydas will report to CFO Tessa Hilado. ‘Daphne's outstanding reputation and strong relationships across the financial community, coupled with her deep healthcare and industry knowledge provides an excellent fit for this newly created role,’ says Hilado in a press statement. ‘She will be a vital leader for our organization as Allergan continues to deliver short and long-term growth for our shareholders.’

The chemical engineering graduate, who also holds an MBA from Harvard, comes most recently from JPMorgan Asset Management and brings more than 16 years' industry experience to her new role.

Prior to JPMorgan Asset Management, Karydas was a healthcare analyst and portfolio manager at The Boston Company Asset Management, a Bank of New York Mellon company, as well as holding roles at Goldman Sachs. Earlier in her career, she also served as a project chemical engineer in the vaccines division at Merck & Co where she focused on process development for novel vaccines.

‘Daphne brings to our team a tremendous mix of financial, healthcare and biopharma industry leadership,’ adds Brent Saunders, chairman and CEO of Allergan, in the press release. ‘She also brings an outstanding perspective on industry and macroeconomic trends that provide the fire power necessary to identify and set strategic objectives that enhance our growth pharma leadership position.’