Leadership Team

Ted Smith Oakwood LabsEdward Smith

Chairman and CEO

Ted has served as Chairman of Oakwood since its inception in 1997. From 1990 and 1997 he served as Chairman and CEO of Ben Venue Laboratories. Prior to that he served as President and Executive Vice President. He began his career at Ben Venue Laboratories as General Counsel. Prior to this, Mr. Smith was an Associate Professor at Delaware Law School. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard in 1970, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1973.

Mark Smith Oakwood LabsMark Smith

President

Mark Smith has served as President of Oakwood since its founding. He was formerly Director of Business Development at Ben Venue Laboratories. When he joined Ben Venue Laboratories in 1991 he worked as Manager of Business Development. Prior to this he worked as an independent consultant specializing in business planning for start-up companies. He received a Bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from Harvard in 1976, and an MBA from Stanford in 1980.

Jeff Fehn Oakwood LabsJeffrey Fehn

Executive Vice President and CFO

Jeff Fehn joined Oakwood in 2004 after having spent 19 years in corporate and investment banking. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Fehn was with McDonald Investments, as a Senior Vice President of Investment Banking. In addition to having 13 years of healthcare finance experience, Mr. Fehn brings expertise in a variety of corporate finance activities, including project financing, private equity placements and mergers and acquisitions advisory services. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

Dave Henderson Oakwood LabsDave Henderson

Vice President, Manufacturing Operations

Most recently Vice President of Operations at Ben Venue Laboratories, Mr. Henderson has over thirty years of pharmaceutical operations experience in aseptic manufacturing, facility design and construction. Mr. Henderson joined Oakwood in 2012 as the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and is responsible for the overall operations and activities that take place in Oakwood’s aseptic manufacturing facility.  Mr. Henderson has a B.S. in Management and Finance from Kent State University.

John Cook Oakwood LabsJohn Cook

Vice President, Quality

Formerly Director of Quality at Ben Venue Laboratories, Mr. Cook has twenty-five years of pharmaceutical operations experience in aseptic manufacturing.  With comprehensive exposure to global regulatory environments and significant regulatory inspection experience, Mr. Cook provides valuable leadership in all areas of Quality.  Mr. Cook has a B.S. in Biology from Youngstown State and performed graduate work in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron.  

Tracy Richey Oakwood LabsTracy Richey, Ph.D.

Principal Scientist, Manager of Formulations Group

Dr. Richey leads the Formulations Group at Oakwood and has decades of industry experience designing and developing controlled release systems.  She has been with Oakwood since 2001 and has designed and prepared dozens of successful sustained release injectable formulations in her career.  Dr. Richey has a Masters from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D from the University of Akron.  Her post-doc work was completed at Kyoto University in Japan.

Neal Sheth Oakwood LabsNeal Sheth

Senior Scientist, Manager of Analytical Group

With over 20 years of industry experience, Mr. Sheth joined Oakwood in 2014 as the Manager of the Analytical Chemistry group. Mr. Sheth was most recently with Ben Venue Laboratories and was responsible for the development and commercial approval of numerous standard injectable products in his time there. He also worked on remediation and life cycle management of products to bring them up to current industry standards.  Mr. Sheth has a B.S. in Chemistry from Bhavans College in Mumbai, India,  and an M.S. in Biochemistry, from the University of Scranton, PA.