Leadership

With 34 years of life sciences experience in senior management, R&D, operations, and quality, Rick was most recently the CEO of Althea Technologies Inc. Prior to Althea Technologies he was the senior director of operations at The Immune Response Corporation. Rick has significant experience in cGMP manufacturing, regulatory affairs, scale up, operational protocols, and team management. He also worked at Hybritech as a quality control analyst, research associate, and laboratory supervisor.

Gayle Arnold is a financial executive with over 30 years of diversified experience including treasury, mergers and acquisitions and systems conversions and integration. She has extensive knowledge of manufacturing and medical device industries and previously served as CFO for Interface Catheter Solutions and I-Flow Corporation. Prior to Gayle’s industry experience, she was a manager at the Big 4 accounting firm, Deloitte & Touche. When not at work, Gayle enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, and riding her horse.

Raj Puri brings extensive experience to Argonaut, having worked on both sides of the CDMO partnership table; as a client collaborating with CDMOs for therapeutic development and manufacturing and within CDMOs providing services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

A dynamic biotechnology executive with expertise in regulatory affairs, marketing, business development, and manufacturing, Raj has a proven track record of driving growth in healthcare focused companies. Before joining Argonaut, he served as VP of Sales & Marketing at Emergent BioSolutions. Prior to that, he held key roles at Edesa Biotech, CMAB Biopharma, Therapure Biopharma, and Eli Lilly.

Raj earned his Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, a Master’s degree in Pharmacology & Toxicology and a Master’s in Business Administration from Queen’s University.

Based in Toronto, Raj enjoys spending time with his family at their cottage, home improvement projects, playing sports and coaching youth basketball.

Chris Duffy is a proven Operational leader with a wealth of experience spanning a 30-year career in biopharmaceutical Operations and Product Development, including 17 years in the contract manufacturing industry. Chris comes to Argonaut from Ajinomoto Althea where he was SVP of Operations and led the Drug Product Manufacturing business unit. He had responsibility for all aspects of tech transfer and production of nine commercial products and hundreds of clinical drug products. Previous to that, Chris was with The Immune Response Corp for 12 years where he was involved in the development and manufacture of the company’s HIV and cancer therapeutic vaccines. Chris has a proven track record as a successful Operator and Executive Manager of business units in the contract manufacturing environment. Chris loves spending time on his boat fishing for anything that swims. When on land, he can be found hiking the scenic trails of San Diego with his family.

Steve Folio has over 25 years of successful leadership and experience in drug product, drug substance, medical device, and combination product development, testing and manufacturing. At Argonaut Manufacturing Services, he is responsible for Quality and Regulatory Affairs.

Steve started at the company in September of 2021 as the Sr. Director of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Drug Products where he was responsible for all aspects of drug product quality. Prior to joining Argonaut, his previous role was Sr. Director and Head of Quality at Ajinomoto BioPharma Services (formerly Althea) where he spent 16 years leading teams to successfully commercialize over twenty drug and combination products in multiple global markets. In addition, he led the commissioning and validation efforts for multiple newly built commercial manufacturing and laboratory facilities. He previously served in various roles of increasing responsibility at Catalent Pharma Solutions, Cardinal Health and Matrix Pharmaceuticals and he also served as a consultant for the BioPharma industry. Steve is a veteran of the United States Navy where he served as a Metrologist and Electronics Technician on a forward deployed surface warfare ship.

Steve was awarded a degree in Liberal Arts with a professional focus in electronics and technology while serving in the US Navy with course work completed at Northwestern University, University of Oklahoma, Old Dominion University, US Navy Campus, Ashland University and the University of Phoenix. In his off time he enjoys hiking, biking and golf.