Executive Leadership

Patrick Flanagan is Chief Executive Officer of Veristat, responsible for the company’s business management and financial performance. In collaboration with company leaders, Patrick oversees the development and implementation of Veristat’s organizational goals and business strategies.

Patrick has built a career leading commercial growth, international expansion and financial & operational improvement initiatives for leading companies in the consulting, healthcare, and software fields including A.T. Kearney, Baxter International, Allegiance Healthcare and Oracle. Prior to joining Veristat, 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 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 Global Clinical Operations of Veristat. In this role, Shaheen oversees patient recruitment, site engagement, site monitoring, and site management, as well as pharmacovigilance. With over 22 years of experience running clinical trials, he excels in the areas of organizational development and execution, patient recruitment and retention, clinical study conduct and governance, drug safety monitoring, and decentralized trials.

He joined Veristat through the acquisition of Topstone Research, a Canadian-based CRO that he co-founded and held the position of Managing Director. Prior to 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.

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.