Management Team

Mr. Oscar Groet joined KD Pharma in May 2013, bringing over 25 years of Senior Management experience. Throughout the years he supported the growth and turnaround of numerous companies across Europe. In October of 2016, he led the merger between KD Pharma and Marine Ingredients as the Chief Executive Officer of the combined company, KD Pharma Group.

Prior to KD Pharma, Mr. Groet held the following positions:

• CEO of Bioseutica BV, where he helped to execute a comprehensive restructuring of the organization.
• SVP of International Operations at Iveco, where he expanded international growth through a detailed acquisition strategy.
• VP International Operations at Indesit Company, where he expanded the company through implementing internal improvements and innovation.
• Sales & Marketing Director at ePlanet, where the company was successfully listed on the Italian stock exchange.
• Product Development Director at Alfa Romeo, where he successfully repositioning the brand and product line.

Mr. Groet has a degree in Economics from Reading University in the UK, an MBA in General Management from SDA Bocconi in Italy and a Finance Specialization from Harvard University.

Mr. Igor van Santen joined the KD Pharma Group in September 2017, bringing 20 years of Senior Management experience in several different businesses and geographies. During these years he was engaged in business growth initiatives through M&A and partnerships, as well as business restructuring and turn-around projects.

Prior to joining the KD Pharma Group, Mr. van Santen held the following positions:

• Global Business Controller at DSM Nutritional Products, working on several inorganic growth initiatives for its Personal Care division, as well as professionalized innovation portfolio management for all of DSM Nutritional Products businesses globally.
• CFO at DSM Pentapharm, being involved in strategically reposition the business.
• General Manager at DSM Intermediates, responsible for carving out the business from DSM’s other businesses and preparing it for divestment.
• Business Unit controller at DSM Exclusive Synthesis & Intermediates, assessing the strategic viability of the portfolio of businesses and Sites of the Business Unit, and implementing the subsequent re-organization of the unit accordingly.
• Business controller at DSM Pharmaceutical Chemicals, working on repositioning the generic Pharma site and preparing it for sale, and re-organizing the North American CMO API business.

Mr. van Santen holds a master’s degree in Management Science from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and a Post Graduate International Chartered Controller degree from the University of Amsterdam and the Maastricht University.

Kimberly Smith joined the KD Pharma Group in February of 2022 as CEO of KD Nutra.

Prior to joining the KD Pharma Group, Mrs. Smith held the following positions:

• CMO, OmniActive Health Technologies
• VP, Dietary Supplements and Pharma, DSM Nutritional Products
• VP, Market Ready Solutions, DSM Nutritional Products

Adam Ismail is the Chief Strategy Officer of the KD Pharma Group, a position he has held since March of 2018. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, from its founding in 2007 to over 200 member companies when he left. He has spent twenty years working in the omega-3 and nutrition industries, including collaborating with other industry organizations to overturn a ban on fish oil imports in Europe; the establishment of nutritional intake recommendations and health claims in China, Europe and other countries; and co-authoring multiple scientific publications.

Prior to KD Pharma Group, he worked for Cargill, in charge of commercializing their omega-3 food ingredient business, and at Health Strategy Consulting and Health Business Partners on investment banking and strategy consulting projects, where he started the first e-mail newsletter in the nutrition industry and helped advise companies on over 150 projects and transactions

Mr. Uwe Westeppe joined the KD Pharma Group in September 2019, bringing 30 years of Senior Management experience in various businesses, functions and geographies. During his career, he has managed business growth initiatives through M&A and partnerships, as well as business restructuring and turn-around projects with great success. Prior to joining the KD Pharma Group, Mr. Westeppe held the following positions:

• Chief business officer of Rohner AG Switzerland, responsible for the global CMO business 
• Global Head of the Nitrile rubber business unit at LANXESS (France) and  Chairman of the Supervisory board of LANXESS-TSRC Chemical Industrial in Nantong, China; a JV he set up in 18 months
• Head of Business line CDMO Specialty Chemicals at LANXESS and Saltigo
• Global Head of Program Management Bayer Polymers, responsible for the worldwide BPR and SAP introduction
• Global Head Marketing Styrenics at Bayer, leading several acquisition projects in USA, Belgium, Thailand, India and Brazil.
• Global Head Marketing Semi-Crystalline Polymers at Bayer
• Head of Business Controlling BU Plastics at Bayer

Mr. Westeppe holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Max-Planck-Institute for Carbon Research in Mülheim, Germany, conferred by Ruhr-University Bochum. He also studied Business Administration at the Fern Universität Hagen. 

Mr. Daniele Polettini joined KD Pharma in January 2014, bringing 15 years of experience in managing complex Supply Chain organizations in multinational environments. He redesigned and continues to optimize the planning, purchasing and logistics operations of the entire KD Pharma Group, successfully supporting the fast-paced growth of the Company.

Prior to KD Pharma, Mr. Polettini held multiple positions within Fiat Group leading large teams (>400 people) and managing worldwide processes with relevant spending (>0.5Bn$) in the Supply Chain division.

Mr. Polettini has a 5 years degree in Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin in Italy, an MBA in General Management from the Chamber of Commerce Business School of Valladolid in Spain, and an Executive Master in Global Supply Chain at Instituto de Empresa (IE) of Madrid in Spain.

Holding a master degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, after some experience at University as researcher in the biotechnology field, she managed different roles in Quality and Operations within different companies since 2000 in the area of finished sterile and non-sterile dosage forms for clinical studies, as well as commercial, Chemical API including HPAPI, Biological API, recombinant proteins and peptides, ADC (antibody drug conjugates), feed and food additives. 
Her major expertise are: 
- design of QMS in order to ensure the successful delivery of business strategy, implementing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Lean approach, whilst adhering to regulatory compliance and achieving commercial success. 
- implementation of Quality by Design approach in the development of new chemical entities 
- management of regulatory inspections from AIFA, FDA, Swiss medic, PMDA, KFDA, TGA, MHRA, CFDA and relevant remediation plans.

Prior to joining KD Pharma Group she held the following positions:

• Quality Director at Olon Biotech 
• Head of Quality EMEA at Soho Flordis International 
• Corporate Quality Director at Cerbios Pharma 
• Technical Director and QP at Lisapharma
• Technical Director and QP at Nerpharma DP &DS (NMS Group)

Mrs Federica de Gennaro joins KD Pharma Group bringing more than 20 years of experience in various HR roles. Throughout the years she developed extensive experience creating value through human capital strategies, driving change management and transformation projects, supporting scale-up and fast growing organisations to optimal performance and growth. Instrumental in developing targeted business and marketing strategies that are budget-sensitive, customer-centric, and goal-oriented. Known for driving changes: relocation of HQs, building new organization, M&A, and restructuring, while building trustful relations with all levels in the organisation. Possess a strong understanding of the financials in business by aligning with HR KPIs for optimizing costs, while executing various greenfield projects and laying the foundation for HR in new business initiatives. 

Prior to KD Pharma, Mrs de Gennaro held the following positions:

• HR Director EMEA of Soho Flordis International, where she re-designed the organisational structure to align with the strategic plans and improved overall financial outcomes by instilling a new work culture through designing and implementation of a change management project.
• VP HR EMEA for VF International, where she headed the Timberland integration following the acquisition, supported the fast growing businesses of The North Face and Vans by accurate talent recognition and acquisition as well as on-time execution of on-boarding and development programs. 
• HR Manager Retail Europe for Bally Shoe Factories, where she participated to the repositioning of the Brand by executing a reorganization of the stores’ portfolio 
• HR Manager for Prada Group, where she managed the whole life circle for the organizations of the Joint Ventures Companies and the acquisitions

Mrs de Gennaro has a Degree in Psychology with specialization in Work and Organizations in Italy, an Executive Master in Strategic Human Resources Management from SDA Bocconi in Italy and a Leadership Circle Certification 360 leadership assessment in UK.

Daniel Wiley joined KD Pharma in September 2021, with over 20 years of specialty chemical and dietary supplement management expertise.  He has broad operational, engineering, and commercial expertise and has built processing plants and successfully launched many new products into the market.  He currently serves as VP Special Projects for KD Pharma Group where he leads commercialization of KD’s emerging business units.  

Prior to joining KD Pharma, Mr. Wiley was CEO of Wiley Ingredients, where he led a team of >190 people in R&D, engineering, and manufacturing operations for a specialty chemical and nutritional ingredients manufacturer.   While at Wiley, he initiated commercial development of AlaskOmega® Omega-3 fish oil ingredients for dietary supplements and commercialized dozens of custom chemical and ingredient manufacturing projects. 

Mr. Wiley has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Grove City College, PA and is a registered professional engineer.

Ms. Olga Tapias joined the KD Pharma Group in June 2019, bringing more than 10 years of legal experience in-house within the food and pharmaceutical industry with global exposure. 
 
Prior to joining the KD Pharma Group, Ms. Tapias held the following positions: 

• Senior Corporate Counsel at Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG
• Legal Counsel – Procurement Matters at Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG
• European Legal Counsel at Mondelez Europe GmbH
• Legal Counsel at Kraft Biscuits Iberia SL  (Kraft Foods)

Ms. Tapias holds a Master in Law Degree from the Maastricht University and a Master Business.

Ms. Sanne Marie joined KD Pharma in March 2023, bringing more than 20 years of Management experience. Over the past 20 years she has held roles within Engineering, Quality, Projects, Operation, Business and General Management across the world. Sanne holds an Industrial Engineering degree and has more than 10 years’ experience within pharmaceuticals.

Over the years she has developed extensive experience creating business results via transformational leadership and change management. She is taking a holistic approach and is using continuous improvement and other LEAN methods as a vehicle for employee empowerment and engagement to facilitate customer centric and goal oriented sustainable business improvements.