Leadership
Lee Karras
CEO of Halo Pharma
Mr. Karras assumed the role of Group CEO at Halo Pharma in May 2026, following its spin out from the Noramco Group as a standalone drug product CDMO. He previously served as Group Chief Executive Officer of the Noramco Group an API business which was sold to Siegfried in May 2026. Prior to his leadership at Noramco, he was a Director at SK Capital Partners, where he provided operational, sales, and general management guidance to various healthcare portfolio companies. Mr. Karras previously served as President of IBA Molecular North America (also an SK Capital Partners portfolio company) that was sold to Illinois Health and Sciences in 2015. Before IBA, Mr. Karras was President and CEO of AAIPharma Services Company where he led the company’s transition from bankruptcy to a successful exit in 2009. Prior to AAI, Lee held various positions at Baxter Healthcare and Cook Medical (Cook and Baxter Pharmaceutical Solutions), where he served as General Manager and helped build the pharmaceutical services start up into a sizable sterile injectable pharma services business.
Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University Bloomington and a Masters of Science in Environmental Science from Indiana University Bloomington School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Laurent Malgouyres
Site Director
Mirabel, Quebec
Laurent Malgouyres is the Site Director at Halo Pharma’s Mirabel, Quebec facility, where he oversees production, quality, and overall site performance. He joined Halo Pharma in 2025 after serving as Vice President of Operations at Omega Laboratories/Juno Pharmaceuticals in Canada.
With more than 14 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Laurent previously held leadership roles at Pharmascience, where he managed FDA- and Health Canada-approved sites employing more than 200 people. Throughout his career, he has led initiatives to expand production capacity, improve operational efficiency, and execute major capital investment projects.
Laurent holds a bachelor’s degree in physics (ITEC License) and a university degree in Chemistry from Paul Sabatier University in France.
Ruben Ortiz
General Manager
Halo Whippany
Ruben is recognized as a strategic and transformational leader with over thirty years of experience in the industry. His expertise lies in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Drug Product Development Operations. He is adept in Quality Systems remediation, Supply Chain Planning, Change Management, and Project Management, with a strong footing in Operational Excellence Platforms. Ruben has honed his leadership skills collaborating with industry giants, including Merck, J&J, Pfizer, Wyeth, Watson, and Schering Plough, to name a few.