Lonnel Coats has been our president and chief executive officer and a director since July 2014. Mr. Coats previously served in a series of executive leadership positions at Eisai Inc. and Eisai Corporation of North America, where he worked for 18 years before joining our company, most recently as chief executive officer from 2010 to 2014. Prior to joining Eisai, Mr. Coats spent eight years with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, where he held a variety of management and sales positions. Mr. Coats serves as a director of Blueprint Medicines Corporation and holds a B.S. from Oakland University.
Brian T. Crum has been our vice president and general counsel since May 2010 and previously served in a series of legal leadership positions since joining our company in 2001. Mr. Crum was previously a corporate securities attorney with the law firms of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and Andrews & Kurth L.L.P., where he represented companies in the energy and information technology industries. Mr. Crum received his B.B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas.
Alan J. Main, Ph.D. is our executive vice president, innovation and chemical sciences and previously served in a series of manufacturing and scientific leadership positions since joining our company in 2001. Dr. Main was president and chief executive officer of Coelacanth Corporation, a leader in using proprietary chemistry technologies to rapidly discover new chemical entities for drug development, until our acquisition of Coelacanth in 2001. Dr. Main was formerly senior vice president, U.S. Research at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he worked for 20 years before joining Coelacanth. Dr. Main holds a B.S. from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Liverpool, England and completed postdoctoral studies at the Woodward Research Institute.
Praveen Tyle, Ph.D. has been our executive vice president of research and development since May 2016. Dr. Tyle was previously a member of the executive management team at Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp., serving as president and chief executive officer from January 2013 through April 2016 and prior to that as executive vice president and chief scientific officer. Prior to his service at Osmotica, Dr. Tyle held a series of scientific leadership positions within the pharmaceutical industry, including executive vice president and chief science officer for the United States Pharmacopeia, senior vice president and global head of research and development and business development and licensing at Novartis OTC, corporate senior vice president of global research and development and chief scientific officer at Bausch & Lomb Incorporated and vice president and global head of pharmaceutical sciences at Pharmacia Corporation. Dr. Tyle serves as director of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Orient Europharma Ltd. Dr. Tyle received his B.Pharm. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University and his Ph.D. in pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry from the Ohio State University.
Jeffrey L. Wade has been our executive vice president, corporate and administrative affairs and chief financial officer since February 2015 and previously served in a series of finance and legal leadership positions since joining our company in 1999. Mr. Wade was previously a corporate securities and finance attorney for ten years with the law firm of Andrews & Kurth L.L.P., where he represented companies in the biotechnology, information technology and energy industries. Mr. Wade is a member of the board of directors of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute. He received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Texas.
James F. Tessmer has been our vice president, finance and accounting since November 2007 and previously served in a series of finance and accounting leadership positions since joining our company in 2001. Mr. Tessmer was previously assistant controller for Mariner Health Network, Inc. and prior to that served in a variety of financial and accounting management positions for HWC Distribution Corp. and American General Corporation. Mr. Tessmer is a certified public accountant and received his B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and his M.B.A. from the University of Houston.