Executive Leadership

Patrick Flanagan is Chief Executive Officer of Veristat, responsible for the company’s strategy, business management and financial performance. In collaboration with company leaders, Patrick oversees the development and implementation of Veristat’s organizational goals and business strategies, which include successfully spearheading integration planning for Veristat’s numerous acquisitions.

Patrick has built an impressive career—effectively leading organizations, successfully driving commercial growth and international expansion, and profoundly impacting healthcare around the globe. Prior to joining Veristat in 2013, Patrick supported the success of organizations across the consulting, healthcare, and software fields in business and financial management roles with increasing responsibility including at A.T. Kearney, Baxter International, Allegiance Healthcare and Oracle. Patrick served as Chief Operating Officer of Certara and the General Manager of Certara’s Pharsight Consulting Services Group, a Vector Capital portfolio company engaged in the business of providing consulting services and software to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Patrick plays an active role as an advocate of the rare disease community. Patrick, his family, and the Veristat team have been annual supporters for 8 years of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Cycle for Survival, the movement to beat rare cancers. Together, they have generated approximately $500,000 for cancer research.  

Beyond realizing successful business and financial results, Patrick has fostered a positive and inclusive corporate culture where employees are valued and recognized. He has been a steadfast champion of Veristat’s corporate values, rooted in teamwork and scientific excellence, viewing them as essential in helping to bring new therapies to market to save and extend lives. 

Patrick holds a BS in Business from Penn State University and an MBA with a concentration in Finance and Marketing from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Patrick is also an active father, skier, golfer, occasional marathon runner and aging tri-athlete. 

John Balser, PhD, co-founder, President & Chief Statistical Officer of Veristat, has developed the company as industry leaders in areas of clinical monitoring, data management, biostatistics and programming, medical writing, and project management. John is actively involved with clinical projects in his role as one of Veristat’s principal statistical consultants. In this role, he assists clients with clinical study design and program development based on his many years of experience in the statistical aspects of clinical research. He is often called upon to aid clients on a variety of statistical issues at meetings with regulatory agencies.

Prior to founding Veristat in 1994, John served as Vice President, Biostatistics, and Data Management at Medical & Technical Research Associates, Inc. He has held positions of increasing responsibility in the biostatistics departments at various pharmaceutical companies including E.R. Squibb, Biogen, and Miles.

John received his MS and PhD in Biometrics from Cornell University, and has been actively engaged in clinical biostatistics for over 30 years. John is an avid runner and has competed in the Boston Marathon.

Barbara Balser, VMD, co-founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Veristat, is primarily responsible for strategic planning and consulting, medical oversight and production of regulatory submission documents. Barbara has more than 30 years of clinical research experience that encompasses both the pharmaceutical and contract research organization industries. Her experience includes oversight and production of Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, regulatory agency briefing documents, preparation for and representation at advisory panel meetings, and consultation across Phase 1 to 4 trials in multiple therapeutic areas with a specific focus in oncology and anti-infectives.

Barbara has participated in the writing, oversight, and submission of multiple marketing applications to US, Canadian, Japanese, and European Union regulatory authorities. Prior to co-founding Veristat, Barbara served as Associate Director of Clinical Research at Medical & Technical Research Associates, Inc. where she was responsible for strategic planning, design, and management of clinical development programs; preparation and submission of regulatory applications; and scientific communications.Barbara began her career in the pharmaceutical industry at Miles, Inc. (currently Bayer Corporation). In her capacity as Assistant Director of Clinical Research at Miles, Barbara assisted with strategic planning for the clinical development of anti-infective compounds from Phases 2 to 4 and with the planning, writing, and compilation of two successful NDAs for anti-infective products. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, Barbara practiced veterinary medicine at a private veterinary hospital. Barbara holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and a VMD from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine. When Barbara isn’t busy traveling the world for our clients, she enjoys spending time on the beach with a good book.

Joe joined Veristat in 2022 and serves as Chief Financial Officer. In his role, Joe leads the company’s global finance and IT functions and teams, overseeing all strategic and tactical matters as they relate to financial planning, budget management and forecasting needs. He drives the financial data needed to inform and support the Company’s operational and global growth plans. Additionally, Joe oversees the IT function and maintains a strong technology infrastructure and controlled operating environment.

Joe has a reputation for being an action oriented, engaged, and knowledgeable financial leader. He is known for driving company growth in collaboration with functional teams, often rolling up his sleeves and mentoring high performing teams, bringing competencies in corporate finance and ensuring regulatory compliance. The thoughtful insights Joe brings to the executive team strongly support the value we deliver to our clients.

Prior to joining Veristat, Joe served as Chief Financial Officer at Advanced Group, focused on establishing the financial infrastructure, improving efficiencies and driving top line growth for a CRO / staffing company. Prior to that, Joe was at Parexel where he held positions of increasing scope and responsibility, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Strategic Finance. Joe led the organization through significant expansion, managing a substantial global budget, enhancing internal controls and overseeing the global talent upgrade of the Finance department which resulted in an efficient team aligned with metrics-driven performance.

Joe graduated from University College, Cork, with a Bachelor of Commerce Honors Degree. He is expert in Six Sigma process improvements and Sarbanes Oxley compliance controls. Joseph was born and raised in Ireland and remains an avid fan of both the Patriots and Liverpool.

Colleen Pelton is Chief Talent Officer of Veristat, responsible for overseeing our global Talent and Culture function including global HR management, leadership development, career growth and development, organizational design, diversity, integration of acquired businesses, and accelerating growth globally.

Colleen has dedicated her entire career to human resources roles across a variety of industries, the majority of which have been healthcare-related. Her wide-ranging expertise spans the design and implementation of global talent management and acquisition-related initiatives for billion-dollar global enterprises operating in 30+ markets with thousands of employees.

Prior to joining Veristat in 2021, Colleen served as Senior Vice President, People and Performance for Dental Services Group, leading the HR function. From 2014-2016, Colleen served as Senior VP, HR Leader at St. Jude Medical, Inc. where her responsibilities included developing a multi-year road map to evolve the broader organizational structure and capitalize on high growth opportunities. From 2004-2014, Colleen served in global HR roles with increasing responsibility at Smith & Nephew PLC, leading transformative global HR initiatives, harmonizing HR processes globally, mentoring management and improving the employee experience.

Colleen graduated from the University of Florida where she received a B.A. in Communications. When reflecting on her career, Colleen expresses her heartfelt satisfaction from supporting organizations that help people live longer, healthier lives. She brings a reputation for fostering a positive workplace culture and helping employees adapt to ever-changing work environments.

Cindy Henderson is the Chief Commercial Officer at Veristat responsible for our commercial strategy and execution. In her role, Cindy brings a unique blend of commercial expertise and customer acumen, oversees all commercial functions including; Strategy, Sales, Proposal & Contracts, Commercial Operations, and Marketing. With over 25 years of experience, 15 with Veristat, Cindy provides the innovative leadership necessary to support the intricate and dynamic requirements of Veristat's growing global client base. Her areas of operational expertise include the ability to lend deep insight into the ideal sequence of events for clinical studies to successfully advance toward the goal of product regulatory submission.

Prior to joining Veristat in 2007, Cindy served as the Senior Manager of Training, Innovations and Processes at Averion International Corporation where she led various initiatives to create and improve standard operating procedures, while implementing new technologies for data management and was a member of the integration team for several key corporate acquisitions. While at Parexel International Corporation as the Associate Director of Data Management, Cindy managed several international clinical trials, developed SOPs and processes, provided training and participated in software development, validation, and implementation efforts.

Outside of Veristat Cindy is a Board Member and Supervising Judge for the North American Flyball Association. She also competes in this fun and fast paced sport with her two border collies as part of the Patriot Flyball Team.

Shaheen Limbada is the Executive Vice President of Innovation and Strategy of Veristat. In this role, Shaheen oversees identifying and building strategic, innovative solutions to advance the clinical development goals of our clients. With over 22 years of experience running clinical trials, he excels in innovative clinical trial solutions, clinical trial execution, business strategy and business growth. He will initially be focused on applying his skills to enhance and build Veristat's pharmacovigilance, commercialization, and decentralized clinical trial solutions.

Shaheen spent four years as the Executive Vice President of Global Clinical Operations at Veristat, where he fully integrated new processes for adopting digital and virtual components to improve the patient experience of participating in clinical trials. He joined Veristat through the acquisition of Topstone Research, a Canadian-based CRO he co-founded, and held the position of Managing Director. Before Topstone, he worked in clinical operations, project management, and leadership roles at various clinical research organizations (CROs) and pharmaceutical firms, including Leo Pharma, Cetero Research, and AstraZeneca.

Mr. Limbada graduated from the University of Toronto and quickly began his career in clinical trials with AstraZeneca Canada Inc.

Natalia Grassis is EVP of Global Clinical Operations and Delivery at Veristat. In her role, Natalia is responsible for the strategic oversight and success of Veristat’s end-to-end clinical trial operations, which includes managing the global clinical operations and project management teams. A member of the Executive Team, Natalia serves as a critical contributor to the future growth of Veristat. Her dual focus on strategy and execution— with accountability for sustaining operational effectiveness and efficiency— ensures client projects and associated daily operations are handled successfully.

An accomplished business executive with 20+ years in roles with increasing responsibility at global clinical research organizations, Natalia brings extensive knowledge across all phases of clinical development spanning a broad range of therapeutic areas including infectious disease (COVID), gene therapy, rare disease, oncology and CNS. Her deep experience implementing business process improvement initiatives and driving innovative research with patient-centered virtual clinical trial solutions has resulted in accelerated drug development timelines for clients.

Prior to joining Veristat in 2022, Natalia worked at Parexel International for over a decade, most recently as Corporate Vice President (CVP) Parexel Biotech Americas, and previously as CVP Global Clinical Operations where she led a team of 2,500 across Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Americas, responsible for site management and operations worldwide.

Prior to Parexel, Natalia held leadership positions at PPD where she built and directed high-performing teams responsible for ground-up site start-up implementation in Latin America. Natalia’s passions include talent development strategies, diversity and inclusion initiatives both within clinical trials as well as on her global teams, and process improvement programs using lean methodologies.

Natalia graduated from the School of Biochemistry, Rosario National University, with a degree in Biochemistry, and subsequently completed post graduate studies at Belgrano’s University with a degree in Management.

Nan Shao is EVP of Global Operations at Veristat. In her role, Nan oversees the clinical trial data, analytics, and reporting organization across all regions, devising and implementing strategic solutions shaped by her combined perspective of the pharmaceutical and CRO industries, high quality standards, and efficient deployment approaches.

A successful business leader, clinical research professional, and statistician with 19 years of pharmaceutical industry experience and ten years leading global biometrics operations and strategic divisions, Nan brings extensive expertise in analytics strategy, biostatistics, statistical programming, data management, pharmacokinetics, and data standards. She is highly skilled in the clinical development life cycle across a range of therapeutic areas, collaborating with sponsors to achieve their operational and business goals.

Prior to joining Veristat in 2022, Nan served as Global Head of Analytics Strategy, Global Head of Biostatistics and Statistical Programming, and Global Head of Clinical Data Services at Parexel International where she led the global operations and strategy teams, championing a first-time quality mindset, promoting analytics innovations and driving the advancement of clinical research through real-world evidence (RWE), decentralized clinical trials (DCTs), and AI/ML applications.

Prior to Parexel, Nan held leadership positions at organizations that included Covance/LabCorp, Premier Research, and pharmaceutical companies where she built and directed high-performing teams responsible for statistical activities related to regulatory strategies, clinical development programs, study designs, and trial optimization. Nan has served as a mentor and subject matter expert both within organizations and the clinical operations community-at-large, participating in industry-wide forums as an expert statistician to help solve complex problems.

Nan graduated from Rutgers University with a Ph.D. in Ecology and M.S. in Statistics, and from Peking University with a B.S. in Environmental Sciences and an LL.B. in Intellectual Property Law. Nan is an MBA candidate at the University of Oxford. She is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt by the American Society for Quality since 2007.

As Vice President, Europe Dr. Barceló will drive Veristat's strategic European growth plan and expand services through organic and acquisition growth initiatives to ensure customer success. Veristat will continue to broaden its customer base and clinical operations, biometrics, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory operations throughout Europe. Montse will ensure that all growth maintains the high-quality scientific standards that the Company provides clients across its North American, Taiwan, and European geographies.

Dr. Barceló received her medical doctor degree from the University of Barcelona in Spain in General Medicine and Surgery. She started her pharma services career as the General Manager for Spain at Clinical Data Care, a Swedish data management CRO. Later in her career, she joined the Scandinavian CRO, TFS, as Regional Managing Director, ascending to the role of Global Chief Operating Officer, where she was responsible for 18 countries globally and more than 600 clinical research professionals across 23 affiliate locations.