Neil Matheson
Global CEO

Neil is Huntsworth Health’s Global CEO. His 30 years of experience in healthcare marketing provides a solid base of well-learned lessons, but it's his leadership skills and passion for teamwork, honed while playing rugby in his homeland of New Zealand, that helped him build successful businesses.

After founding ApotheCom in 1999 he quickly established a group of healthcare communications agencies. An advocate for the power of collaboration, Neil strives to bring together teams of talented individuals who understand and appreciate this strategy—a principle he calls the positive power of plus. He believes clients are looking for agencies that can deliver bold, engaging and innovative integrated solutions by working seamlessly across multiple communication channels and is confident that Huntsworth Health is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge.

Neil holds a Diploma of Physical Education from the University of Otago in New Zealand. He is on the Board of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Philadelphia, as well as several privately held companies. He is active in many charities and can be found on the golf course in his spare time.

David Dunn
Chief Growth Officer

David is Huntsworth Health’s Chief Growth Officer as well as the Global CEO of Nitrogen. His 20-plus years of leadership experience in medical publishing, medical communications and advertising combined with his passion for pitching and winning business make him the ideal person to strategically lead HCP communications across the group as well as the APO Group of agencies.

Before joining Huntsworth Health David served as US President of Complete Medical Group and President of HealthVizion Communications, divisions of McCann Healthcare Worldwide.

David has a B.S. (Hons) in Human Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Toronto and an MBA in Marketing and Economics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. If you are up early enough in the morning you will find David at the swimming pool. He is very proud of the fact that he can swim his age in miles every week.

B. Reid Connolly
CSO, Consumer

Reid is Huntsworth Health’s CSO for consumer as well as the Global CEO for Evoke Health. He brings 15 years of expertise in consumer health and wellness marketing to the team. Named in the “PharmaVOICE 100” as one of the most inspiring people in the life sciences, Reid is responsible for leading the growth and development of Evoke Health. He drives the company’s strategic vision by partnering with clients to develop rich, insight-driven strategies that shift brand business.

Prior to founding Evoke, Reid held numerous leadership roles with agencies such as Digitas Health, imc2 (now MEplusYOU) and Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare. He has worked with some of the largest brands and clients in the healthcare arena, including: Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Shire.

Reid holds a B.S. in Marketing and Philosophy from Saint Joseph’s University, located in Philadelphia, PA. He is also a former rugby player and has represented the US in rugby league.

Mike Brown
Global COO

Mike is Huntsworth Health’s Global COO. He brings 35-plus years experience and expertise in business performance, strategic partnerships and international business development. As COO Mike is responsible for the effective operation of the group with respect to real estate, communications and contractual relationships with clients and third parties.

Appointed to this role in 2004 after joining Huntsworth Health as the President of ApotheCom, Mike has expertise in business performance, logistics, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and international business development. Prior positions include founder and VP of Marketing at Catalyst Corporation and executive management positions at Inductotherm Industries, Athena Controls and an Asia-based technology company.

Mike earned his MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Sheffield University, England. He is an avid golfer and has played some of the most spectacular courses in the world—from Scotland to New Zealand, the US and Europe.

Kate Mount
Chief Talent Officer

Kate is Huntsworth Health’s Chief Talent Officer. She brings 15 years of experience recruiting and retaining valuable team members, and her number one priority is maximizing the potential of the very best talent across all the Huntsworth Health agencies.

Prior to joining ApotheCom (now part of Huntsworth Health) in 1999 as its second employee, Kate held positions with Merrill Lynch and the Oxford Clinical Communications (OCC) Group.

Kate earned a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA and her PHR certification from the Human Resource Certification Institute, Villanova University, Philadelphia, PA. Not only is Kate an active member of many groups and organizations, including the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), and the Council for Public Relations Firms HR Roundtable, she is also an active triathlete and runner, serving as a CGI Racing Ambassador.

Richard Neave
Chief Financial Officer

Richard is Huntsworth Health’s CFO. With over 10 years Pharmaceutical and media financial experience, he brings a robust resume of expertise in business planning and analytical thinking to Huntsworth. Richard heads the strategic finance function across the group and leads the budgeting and audit processes as well as acquisition integration.

A Chartered Accountant from Australia, Richard has the ability to display exceptional thinking while possessing advanced communication and technical skills. Currently residing in Yardley, PA, Richard and his family relocated from London where he was previously the Group Finance Director of Nucleus Holdings.

Richard holds his Bachelor of Business in Accounting and Finance from Griffith University, Australia. Richard has a love of food and wine and is quite happy to provide recommendations for restaurants in most cities around the world.

Annabelle Sandeman
Chief Commercial Officer

Annabelle is Huntsworth Health’s Chief Commercial Officer. With over 13 years of expertise in the pharmaceutical arena, Annabelle grew as a member of Huntsworth’s advertising and medical communications agencies. Today, she is one of the key strategic leaders for the group’s integrated marketing communications accounts.

She started her career at Abbott Laboratories in the UK as a sales rep before moving to the agency side of the business when she joined VB Communications and Jago Pearce (now part of Huntsworth Health). Annabelle plays a pivotal role in our on-going procurement relationships where she is involved with rate and contract negotiations, leading responses to RFIs and RFPs, and coordinating new business pitches. She also maintains the integrity of our global network and is presently supporting the development of our Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America regional capabilities.

Annabelle has a B.S. (Hons) from Edinburgh University in Physiology and Cardiovascular Pharmacology. She also gained her diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). Annabelle has her hands full with her son Charles but manages to hit the ski slopes for a week of skiing every winter.

Sarah Giles
Managing Director, Japan and Asia Pacific

Sarah is the Managing Director for Huntsworth Health, Japan and Asia Pacific, and is responsible for leading the integrated healthcare communications group across the region. She brings 15-plus years of experience in healthcare and has led award-winning change programs with enduring legacies across academia, health service provision and biopharma. Combining her local-market and global knowledge, Sarah partners with stakeholders to effectively demonstrate the value of medicines with the ultimate aim of improving health outcomes and access to care.

Prior to joining Huntsworth Health, Sarah worked with inVentiv Health where she founded a full service healthcare communications business across Asia, established an integrated market access communications service in Europe and worked globally to provide strategic counsel for multiple healthcare industry partners. Sarah has also worked as a health service provider and brings expertise in service design, quality, guideline development and patient group-provider strategy.

Sarah’s skills are underpinned by her biochemistry background and post-graduate studies in international healthcare management, policy, public health and health economics. When she’s not working to improve health, you can find Sarah out and about enjoying the hustle and bustle of city life, cycling through the country side, skiing down mountains and messing around with family and friends.

Elaine Ferguson
CEO, ApotheCom

Elaine is ApotheCom’s Global CEO. She brings more than two decades of healthcare experience and combines expertise across clinical practice as a psychologist and in research, academia, and industry.

Elaine’s work has been recognized for numerous industry awards, most notably in facilitating partnership programs between industry and thought leaders to provide high-quality and relevant medical education across clinical skills, professional development, and service design. Elaine has also designed programs to support local access to new technologies through collaborations with payers, health care professionals, and industry.

Elaine graduated from St. Andrews University and trained in neuro and health psychology at the Scottish Brain Injury and Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit in Edinburgh and held psychology undergraduate teaching roles at Glasgow Caledonian University and Edinburgh University. Elaine then went on to be a research psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital in London and was a specialist lecturer in cognitive neuroscience at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Gaëtan Fraikin
CEO, Audacity

Gaëtan is Audacity’s founder and CEO. Internationally recognized for his branding strategy expertise, he uniquely combines strategic thinking and unconventional creative ideas—a model he extended to Audacity.

Prior to founding the agency, Gaëtan held executive positions in Belgium, France and in the US with technology and consulting leaders, including McKinsey, KPMG Consulting, now Bearing Point.

Gaëtan has experience in the areas of sciences, health and technology marketing, strategic branding, creative directing and strategic management. He is also proud to teach a class on branding at San Diego State University (SDSU). He received his degree in management engineering from H.E.C. in Belgium and is fluent in four languages.

Michael Ballas
CEO, Axiom

Michael is Axiom by ApotheCom’s Global CEO. He brings 15-plus years of experience in pharmaceutical sales, marketing, and training, with a focus on oncology professional development, selling skills, and sales leadership and development. As CEO, Michael is responsible for the strategic development of state-of-the-art, end-to-end training solutions, which focus on pre-launch, launch, and post-launch sustainability platforms for specialty sales representatives, MSLs, and Medical Affairs teams.

Michael is recognized as a global industry leader and speaker in pharmaceutical/biotech sales training and development. Clients appreciate Michael's client-centric focus, which comes from his background as a leader in the training and development departments of large pharmaceutical companies, among them Novartis Oncology and Merck.

Michael earned his BA degrees in business communications and psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and his BS degree in human biology and pre-med from the National University of Health Sciences, and he studied pharmaceutical marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Mary Smiddy
CEO, Tonic

Mary is the Global CEO for Tonic Life Communications. Tonic is part of the Huntsworth Health group of companies and is owned by Huntsworth plc. Huntsworth Health is a global family of best-in-class healthcare communications agencies that provide a full continuum of consulting and communications services to the healthcare and well-being industry with access to 72 wholly-owned offices in 31 countries.

Mary can be considered a true internationalist having worked abroad for over 12 years in the Middle East, Singapore and most recently in Australia where she held senior in-house and consultancy roles. During her time in The Middle East she founded the Burson Marsteller healthcare PR network and established the communications function for GSK across 23 markets. She has won numerous awards for her health communications work.

A keen triathlete, Mary embraced wearable technology which in-turn inspired her keen interest and work in all areas of connected health from devices, monitoring, and infrastructure to mHealth strategy and implementation.

She holds a degree in nursing and a diploma in Business from The University of Westminster, London.