Kincannon And Reed Names James K. Leslie Senior Vice President

WASHINGTON, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Kincannon & Reed, the nation's leading retained executive search organization serving the food, agribusiness and life sciences sectors, today announced that James K. Leslie has been named Senior Vice President. Leslie, who heads the firm's life sciences practice, joined the firm in 2000, bringing more than 15 years of experience as a senior executive managing businesses in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

"Jim Leslie brings a very unusual level of both technical and business expertise in the life sciences to our practice. As a result he is highly regarded by clients for the breadth and depth of his understanding of their unique business and technical needs. This broad experience provides Jim with the ability to understand the needs of his clients at several levels. His commitment to meeting their needs has made him a most valued member of our practice," said president and chief executive officer Kelly Kincannon.

In addition to his responsibilities at the firm, Leslie currently serves as Chair of MdBio, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage development of Maryland-based life science companies, and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Maryland BioScience Alliance.

Prior to joining Kincannon & Reed, for more than four years Leslie was President and CEO of PharmaKinetics Laboratories, a publicly traded, contract research organization providing clinical trial services to the worldwide pharmaceutical industry. He also served as President and CEO of BioFin, Inc., a venture capital funded biotech start-up firm and as President and COO of Ecogen, Inc., a publicly traded, agricultural biotechnology firm.

Earlier he was with FMC Corporation for 15 years, serving in progressively more responsible positions including seven years as General Manager of a division which was a leading supplier of ingredients to the worldwide pharmaceutical industry.

He has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kincannon & Reed, based in metropolitan Washington, D.C., was established in 1981 to recruit leaders for organizations that help to feed the people of the world and keep them healthy. The firm also has offices in Brussels, London and San Francisco.

CONTACT: Kelly Kincannon of Kincannon & Reed, +1-703-761-4046

Web site: http://www.krsearch.com/