Lifecore Biomedical Inc., a fully integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has appointed Mark DaFonseca as its Chief Commercial Officer. 

A seasoned CDMO and pharmaceutical services executive, DaFonseca has nearly 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience spanning all aspects of drug development from preclinical and chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) activities through late-stage clinical trials. Notably, over the past 15 years, he has established an impressive track record of success guiding sales organizations in the CDMO space.

At Lifecore, DaFonseca will lead efforts to further elevate the company’s brand within the CDMO market by continuing to build out a talented sales and marketing team, strengthening and expanding existing customer partnerships, and growing the overall business portfolio through new customer collaborations.

“Mark is the ideal individual to serve as Lifecore’s chief commercial officer as we continue to work diligently to execute against the three-pronged growth strategy that we outlined late last year. He is deeply experienced in the CDMO space having worked with several well-known companies where he successfully led sales, marketing and business development efforts,” said Paul Josephs, President and CEO of Lifecore. “We are thrilled to add him to the leadership team at Lifecore and look forward to the contributions he will make to the company’s growth efforts.”

Experience

DaFonseca most recently served as vice president, head of North American sales for CordenPharma, where he was responsible for overseeing a sales organization spanning North America across a range of technologies that provided development solutions for small molecules, peptides, high-potency molecules and RNA delivery.

His success in the CDMO sector has also included tenures as executive vice president, sales and global business development at AmbioPharma and chief business officer at CoreRx. During his career, DaFonseca has also held sales leadership positions at well-known CROs and CDMOs such as Clinical Research Management Group (CRMG), Catalent Pharma Solutions and Aptuit.