Thornton & Ross keeps on growing
LINTHWAITE-BASED pharmaceutical giant Thornton & Ross is helping combat germs at home with demand for its Zoflora disinfectant soaring.
But the company is also in the medicine market helping people stay fit and healthy with products including Covonia and Setlers.
The global firm has increased its local workforce substantially over the last 12 months and now employs more than 600 people.
It recently announced a number of senior appointments as part of its ongoing strategy to expand the business.
Steve Makin has been appointed vice president OTC research and development. He will be based at the Linthwaite HQ but holds global responsibility.
Kathryn Heywood has come on board as vice president human resources for the UK.
A qualified pharmacist, Steve brings with him a wealth of experience in consumer health research and development.
He started off his industrial career in Unilever before moving to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he was responsible for R&D on some of GSK’s largest consumer brands.
He has led large groups in oral health and skin health, where he worked on many of the brands recently taken on by Thornton & Ross.
Most recently he was based in Switzerland, where he led R&D efforts on GSK’s pain relief portfolio.
Steve holds a PhD in pharmaceutics from the University of Manchester and is an Honorary Professor at King’s College London, and Keele University School of Pharmacy.
He has been elected a fellow of both the Royal Society for Chemistry (2014) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (2018).
At Thornton and Ross he is responsible for all research and development for the firm’s over-thecounter consumer brands including Covonia, Setlers, Hedrin, Flexitol, Cetraben and Natures Aid nutritional range.
Kathryn Heywood has over 20 years’ HR, leadership and development experience working across a variety of industry sectors including media, engineering, telecommunications and food and drink.
She worked in a senior role for the TalkTalk Group before moving to Smith and Nephew where she was senior HR director for global business services.
Her role at Thornton & Ross will include building and leading the HR function of the business and supporting the firm’s growth.
Roger Scarlett-Smith, executive
THORNTON & Ross has captured a prestigious industry award for one of its market-leading skin care products.
The company was shortlisted for no less than eight awards across five categories at the Pharma Intelligence OTC Marketing Awards held in early March.
Cetraben received the award for Best OTC Public Relations Campaign for a Non-Medicine and, along with Covonia, was highly commended in the Social Media Category.
Flexitol was highly vice-president of Thornton & Ross, said the opportunities had been created as a result of the company’s continuing growth and added: “Steve, Kathryn and our other recruits have joined us at a time of rapid expansion and will be real assets in driving the business forward through this period of transformation and growth.
“Steve has a proven track record of delivering differentiated pipelines to support brand growth in FMCG,
commended in the Best Niche OTC Marketing Campaign.
Roger Scarlett-Smith, Thornton & Ross executive vice-president, said awards were important to the company and he hoped for more to come.
Amy Brennan, senior brand manager for Cetraben, added: “We were thrilled to be named as the winner in the Best OTC Public Relations Campaign for a Non-Medicine category.
“My thanks go to everyone on the team who worked so hard to help us achieve this richly deserved result.”
Consumer Health and OTC industries as well as the leadership experience during major organisational changes.
“Coupled with Kathryn’s experience in delivering large scale growth trajectory, we are in the best position possible to develop a clear roadmap for HR transformation across the organisation and develop employee engagement.”
For further information please visit www.thorntonross.com