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Sellers ’66 has the right stuff
SciClone Pharmaceuticals CEO Don Sellers ’66 survived being “held up to the light” when his company’s board of directors hired an outside personnel assessment company to examine the CEO. The assessment was prompted by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which overhauled the way public companies handle accounting and financial statements and requires them to make inquiries into their management. Sellers passed with top scores.
Sellers has been with SciClone, San Mateo, Calif., since 1993 when he was hired to run its Hong Kong division. He has been CEO since 1996. Previously, he spent 20 years with Sterling International as vice president of drug development. He lived in the Philippines with his family during the People’s Revolution of the early 1990s.
Sellers began his career at Pfizer’s plant in Saigon. Previously, he had been a Green Beret and counter-intelligence special agent for five years during the Vietnam War.
“In many ways, it all started at Lafayette,” said Sellers, a history graduate who had life-shaping experiences with chemistry professor Joe Sherma, history professor Al Gendebien, and choir director John Raymond.
“Those professors were all very good and clearly had a passion for what they did,” he says. “Those subjects helped shape my life: I’m now with a biotech company. I’ve lived through historic events around the world. And music has always been an important part of my life.”