OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Directors
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Rick Straw, President and CEO
Rick co-founded the USA office with Jorge in 2003 and has led the growth of PACIV within the USA market ever since. Under Rick’s leadership PACIV has become the leading industrial controls and instrumentation service provider in Indiana and has also expanded PACIV services to Chicago, North Carolina, New Jersey, Rhode Island and California. Rick is a Partner and Director in PACIV and has assisted with PACIV expansion in Europe. Rick, while also supporting strategic initiatives that cover all offices, continuous to lead the PACIV USA office.
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Douglas (Mácar) Garrote, Esq.CFO/VP of Administration
Douglas is responsible for managing the financial risks, accounting, human resources, communications and general administration of all three (3) PACIV offices (Puerto Rico, USA and Ireland). Mácar is the key driver behind our global strategic business objectives regarding all matter related to administration (HR, Accounting, Communications and General Admin).
Mácar has over thirty (30) years of industrial equipment distribution and engineering services experience in the areas of general management, operations, accounting, sales, business development and strategy, for various small and medium businesses. Prior to joining PACIV, Mácar served as the “Principal” for Beyond 100 x 35, LLC. and before that, Mácar worked as “Sales Manager” for Aireko Services and Installations and as “General Manager” for UBM Engineering (a division of Aireko Services & Installations). Mácar is a registered lawyer and notary in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and a member of the Puerto Rico Bar Association. He holds a Juris Doctor from the School of Law – Inter American University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico and a B.S. in Finance from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.
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Jeffrey Johnson, Chairman of the Board
Jeffrey Johnson is now the Chairman of the Board of Directors of PACIV after the acquisition of the company through Blackford Capital. He has over 27 years of experience in investment banking and private equity investing. Johnson is involved in all facets of the Blackford Capital’s operations, including transaction sourcing, investment analysis, portfolio construction and management, deal financing, internal operations, and fundraising.
Puerto Rico
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Ernick Figueroa, Business Development Leader
As Business Development Leader for the Puerto Rico and Caribbean region, Ernick focuses specifically on sales and general administration. He handles existing and potential new clients including partnership relationships with strategic business partners.
Ernick has over 20 years of experience with industrial automation and the Biopharmaceutical, F&B and Utilities industry. Prior to joining PACIV, Ernick worked for three (3) years with Business Excellence Consulting, Inc. (BEC) as Business Development Strategist, where he was responsible for attracting business from client companies. Prior to joining BEC, Ernick worked for over nine (9) years with Pharma-BioServ, Inc. where he held various positions such as Business Development Manager for Scienza Labs and Senior Validation and Compliance Consultant for Lilly Del Caribe, Inc.
United States
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Chris Sormalis, Business Development Manager
As Business Development Leader, Chris will be responsible for developing new business, while expanding and sustaining existing business relationships. This includes finding new channels and markets for our core services, and finding ways to expand our services to new and existing customers. Chris will focus specifically on developing right-sized solutions for our clients. Moreover, Chris will handle our partnership relationships with industry collaborators. Chris has over 18 years of experience within the Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries. He first joined PACIV-USA in 2004 and after 3 years, moved on to a major medical device company where he held both technical and management roles. In 2013 he rejoined PACIV where he has spearheaded our expansion efforts in the Chicago region. Chris has worked as Project Team Leader and Automation/Validation Engineer for multiple automation and CSV projects.Chris has experience with multiple control platforms such as AB PLCs, CLx and DeltaV with significant experience in the complete System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and its CSV deliverables. He has thorough knowledge and experience in the Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries’ technologies, processes and systems. Chris has MBA studies completed from Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI -
Doug Metrish, Operations Leader
As the Operations Leader for the Indianapolis office, Doug Metrish is responsible for field project delivery with significant emphasis on project controls and project management. He has oversight of all field projects ensuring that all projects are properly managed and delivered on time, within budget and meeting all of our clients’ expectations. All field personnel within the Indianapolis office reports to Doug. Doug has over 10 years of experience within the industrial automation, controls, instrumentation and validation fields. Prior to this position, Doug held multiple leadership and engineering positions within PACIV USA such as Project Team Leader, Sr. Automation Engineer and Automation/Validation Engineer. Doug joined PACIV USA as an Automation/Validation Engineer I in 2003. Doug holds a double major, Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. -
Jason Burton, Engineering Leader
As Engineering Leader, Jason Burton is responsible for insuring that all projects are delivered with the expected quality and that the company has all needed technical competencies in place at all times. Jason as the Engineering Leader will also assist the Business Development Manager with proposal generation and developing the right-sized and appropriate technical solutions for the client. Jason has over 25 years of experience in industrial automation where he has held multiple engineering and leadership positions. He has over eleven (11) years working at PACIV where he has worked as Sr. Automation Engineer and Project Team Leader in multiple system integration projects. Prior to PACIV, Jason has worked as Automation Engineer for Johnson Controls, Project Engineer for Industrial Controls & Automation and Controls Engineer for Frakes Engineering.
Ireland
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Brendan Hyland, Business Development Manager
Brendan is an experienced Business Development Manager with over twenty (20) years’ experience in the disciplines of process engineering (Design and Implementation) for chemical plants, business development of customer solutions, and development and implementation of marketing strategies. Brendan has significant experience consulting with engineers, technology partners & clients to provide optimum solutions. Prior to joining PACIV, Brendan held roles as Head of Marketing, PMI Software, Head of Marketing for Freefoam, Marketing & Business Development Manager, Cardform (Dublin), Marketing & Business Development Manager for Saint-Gobain Inc. (New Jersey, USA), Marketing Consultant for Kline & Co. (New Jersey, USA) and Marketing Executive and Process Engineer for Chemtex/Mitsubishi (New York, USA).Brendan holds an MBA in Marketing/International Marketing from City University of New York (New York, USA), a Bachelor’s of Science in Technology from London Metropolitan University (London, England) and a Certificate in Digital Marketing from CMIT (Dublin, Ireland). -
Tony Collins, Operations Manager
Tony Collins is an Operations Manager with 28 years of experience in Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical manufacturing, including small molecule API, mammalian cell and vaccine drug substances.
Collins holds a Master of Engineering Science in Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Engineering from University College Cork, a Diploma in Project Management from UCD College of Business, and a Six Sigma Green Belt Certification. He worked on several major capital projects, gaining extensive work knowledge of GMP facility design through product qualification, including audit inspection. Also, he has significant experience in project management, consulting with engineers, technology partners & management teams to provide optimum solutions.
Before joining PACIV, Collins worked as a technical expert for Polpharma Biologics, as operations manager at MSD Cork, as supervisor Regeneron Limerick, and as operations at Pfizer Cork, BMS Dublin, Organon Dublin, and Nycomed Cork.
