Our Management Team
At the Helm
The vision and direction of KPS comes from the top. Take a moment to meet the people at the helm, who ensure that our clients receive the unparalleled results, successful outcomes, and premium experience they deserve.
David has over two decades of executive management experience in clinical development. He’s built clinical teams and managed global trials in a variety of medical specialty areas including oncology, diabetes, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, infectious disease, renal, pain and hormone replacement.
In 2006, he founded Kelly Clinical Consultants, a functional service provider that supplied Clinical Research Associates and Project Management for long-term trials. Clients included many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Among the many trials under the company’s supervision, they also trained, mentored, and managed a team of Russian CRA’s for a hypercholesterolemia trial, and conducted performance evaluations for 28 independent regional contract CRAs.
In 2010, with the help of a private equity investor, Kelly Clinical Consultants became KPS Life. The headquarters were moved from Philadelphia, PA to New York, NY. The platform of a domestic US functional service provider transitioned to a global focus. Today KPS has operations on six continents and practically every country.
Before founding Kelly Clinical Consultants, David served in numerous senior level positions at major global drug companies. At Novartis Pharmaceuticals, he was a clinical research scientist, project manager and director, responsible for 175 Phase III sites worldwide, as well as 20 clinical research associates in a global long term HTN program.
Prior to that, David was senior lead clinical researcher at Wyeth, in the women’s health therapeutic group. He also served at Amylin Pharmaceuticals with a focus on diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. At SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, he was a regional clinical research associate for the Pulmonary and Diabetes therapeutic unit.
David began his career at the global CRO Covance in 1995 as a clinical research associate monitoring clinical drug trials for developmental phase III and IV for sponsor pharmaceutical companies.
David earned his BA in Biology from Rutgers University and continued with graduate studies in Molecular Biology at Rutgers University. His graduate study work focused on cancer and the enzyme target of topoisomerase. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three sons.
With over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Mark brings a wealth of expertise to his role as Chief Executive Officer at KPS Life. Prior to joining KPS Life, Mark held executive leadership roles in both R&D and Commercial at CSL Behring, where he was instrumental in leading the clinical development operations organization to deliver five successful product approvals. Mark consistently drove growth, improved operational efficiency, and built high-performing teams.
Mark has deep expertise in running clinical trials and extensive experience working with CROs and functional service providers. He brings the pharmaceutical sponsor’s perspective to the vendor side of the business, ensuring that KPS Life creates more value for its clients by understanding their needs from the sponsor’s point of view and delivering solutions that enhance trial outcomes and operational efficiency.
George’s career spans 25 years within the pharmaceutical industry.
He joined KPS in 2014 as Vice President of Business Operations & Alliances accountable for growing the client portfolio within KPS. In 2018, he was appointed to Chief Operating Officer of KPS to expand the operational infrastructure and client base within KPS to support its growth and quality of Services delivered. Prior to joining KPS, George was Global Head of R&D Procurement for Teva Pharmaceuticals and Cephalon, Inc. (prior to Teva’s acquisition of Cephalon in 2011). He provided sourcing and procurement strategies for Teva’s R&D organization on the Branded Products side for all clinical categories. In addition, he was accountable for all Strategic Relationship Management (SRM) execution and oversight with Teva’s 3rd party suppliers across R&D.
George was Director of Contracts at ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services, accountable for all Sponsor contracting and study site negotiations worldwide from 2002-2007. He organized and was accountable for the first centralized outsourcing function within Clinical Research for Pfizer’s Global R&D division in Groton, Connecticut.
George began his career at Covance, Inc., a global CRO, as its Director of Finance.
George earned his B.S. in Marketing and Management from West Chester University. He has spoken at numerous pharmaceutical industry conferences over the years and has been instrumental in driving value and cost savings for the pharmaceutical companies that he has worked for through the strategic use of clinical outsourcing providers.
Emanuel Pichlak serves as CFO at KPS Life, where he is responsible for the company’s finances. In this capacity, Mr. Pichlak manages KPS’s financial planning, reporting and analysis as well as the accounting, tax and controller functions.
Prior to joining KPS, Mr. Pichlak spent over a decade in investment management, with transactional experience making private equity & equity growth investments.
Mr. Pichlak received his MBA from Columbia Business School and a MS in Economics from University of Lodz, where he studied computer science and econometrics.
Dr. Czapliński has nearly 30 years experience in medical and clinical research with over 3 years medical practice and 26 years of executive paired with operational management in the clinical research industry.
He obtained his Medical Degree in 1993 at the University of Warsaw. After serving few years as medical doctor at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care in one of the largest paediatric hospitals in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), he joined the CRO segment where he gained 26 years of initially regional then global operational management. He was responsible for the expansion of 4 CROs across Europe, APac and LatAm as well as companies consolidation following several mergers.
He has a very good understanding of multiple countries requirements and firmly believes of the importance of local country scientific leadership input. In 2000 he obtained his MBA from the prestigious Haute Ecole de Commerce (HEC), Paris, France. Born in Poland but grew up in Morocco where over 16 years he learnt to speak fluently English, French, Spanish and basic Arabic. His native language is Polish.
Tina M. Alm, BA, CCRA, CCRC, joined KPS in 2018 and is currently the Vice President of Global Clinical Operations for the Americas.
In this role, Tina provides leadership to the clinical operations team, is a member of the management team, and serves as point of contact for issue escalation. During her tenure at KPS, Tina has managed and help grow our largest FSP Program at a respected Sponsor.
In her 19 years’ clinical research experience, she has held various roles in Clinical Operations, including study coordinator, site co-owner and manager before moving into pharma as a CRA with Roche/Genentech. Tina had a 10+ year career at Roche/Genentech included the roles of CRA, ClinOps Affiliated System Advisor North America, Global FSP System Advisor Lead, and Vendor Manager – Clinical Outsourcing North America, over the IQVIA FSP. She is dual ACRP certified and fluent in English, Spanish and French.
Ken DeCarlo joined KPS Life in 2018 and is currently the Vice President of Global Human Resources.
Ken DeCarlo is responsible for developing and executing the human resource strategy in support of KPS Life’s overall global business plan and strategic direction. His expertise spans several critical areas, including succession planning, talent management, change management, organizational and performance management, training and development, and compensation.
As a strategic leader, Ken articulates HR needs and plans to the executive management team, ensuring alignment with the company’s goals. He also leads a team of HR managers, guiding them to implement effective HR practices across the division. Ken’s leadership ensures that KPS Life attracts, retains, and develops the best talent in the industry, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
Dana Durkan is the Vice President of Global Recruitment at KPS Life. She leads a team of highly experienced recruiters across the Americas, Eastern and Western Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region to support FSP Solutions for our Client’s Clinical Development programs.
Dana joined KPS Life in April 2021, bringing with her a wealth of experience from her previous role as Head of Global Recruitment for Transformative Pharmaceutical Solutions, a position she held for six years. In this capacity, she served North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Before this, she was the Director of Talent Acquisition for the North American and Latin American regions of PRA Health Sciences (PRA) and ReSearch Pharmaceutical Services (RPS).
When PRA and RPS were merged by a private equity firm (KKR) in 2012, Dana was a senior member of the Global Integration Team, working directly with members of KKR. She played a crucial role in uniting and leading the combined RPS and PRA Global Recruitment Teams into a single department that served both the Strategic Solutions (FSP) and Full-Service CRO business units. Dana was also instrumental in the global development of the recruitment division for RPS in 2010 when Warburg Pincus funded the company, executing strategies that prepared the organization for its next phase of growth.
Dana’s journey with RPS began in 2001, and she worked with the combined organizations for over 14 years. During this time, she successfully built global clinical research recruitment engines to deliver Sponsor project teams for Embedded Programs. She has established many long-standing relationships with both candidates and Sponsors, significantly contributing to the sales process.
Dana holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with a Minor in Chemistry from Bloomsburg University. Her extensive experience and strategic vision make her a valuable asset to KPS Life and its clients.