Acasti Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ:ACST)(TSX VENTURE:ACST) today announced that Linda O'Keefe has been named chief financial officer. Ms. O'Keefe brings to Acasti over 30 years of financial experience in the life sciences, manufacturing and business service sectors. As part of the company's strategy to operate independently of parent company Neptune Technologies & Bioressources Inc., Mario Paradis has resigned as chief financial officer from Acasti to focus solely on his role as vice president and chief financial officer of Neptune.
"We appreciate Mario's commitment to Acasti and wish him all the best as he dedicates his time to serving as Neptune's chief financial officer," said Jan D'Alvise, president and CEO of Acasti. "Linda joins us as an accomplished individual with significant financial experience in the life sciences industry, and a proven track record of overseeing finance and accounting and building value at emerging biotech companies. Linda will be an asset to Acasti as we execute our drug development and commercialization strategy for CaPre with financial discipline and compliance."
Ms. O'Keefe has worked with both public and private biotechnology, diagnostics, medical devices and healthcare services firms, and also in other private equity-financed markets, including business services, education and technology. Prior to joining Acasti, Ms. O'Keefe consulted with various firms after serving as chief financial officer and executive-in-residence for Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. At Gryphon Investors, she led fundraising, limited partner relations, risk management and advised portfolio company management teams on growth, financing and back office strategies. In addition, Ms. O'Keefe provided M&A and integration support, established and led audit committees, and supported the expansion of teams and systems to meet the needs of growing companies. Ms. O'Keefe also served as chief financial officer of Delphi Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, and Elevate Ventures; as vice president of finance at Genelabs Technologies and Target Therapeutics; and as controller at Collagen Corporation.
Ms. O'Keefe is an active Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant in California and Indiana and was formerly an audit senior with Ernst & Young. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the California and Indiana Societies of CPAs, Association for Corporate Growth, Financial Executives International, and Healthcare Financial Management Association. Ms. O'Keefe holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of California, Berkeley.