Management Team

Raymond J. Peterson, Ph.D.
Chairman & Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Peterson has driven Celadon's scientific and technical innovations since founding the Company in 1999. As a scientist whose background has incorporated his deep understanding of the biotechnology industry with commercially-focused research and product development experience, he has been at the forefront of creating software that responds to the need for accuracy, high-throughput design and analysis, and driving the sale of biotech products.

Dr. Peterson's career is unique in combining early experience in a technically-focused family business, and a management degree from the Wharton school, with a PhD in physical anthropology and several years as an award-winning researcher at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.

As a genetics researcher, Dr. Peterson recognized the need for commercial software that would free academic and industry researchers from the laborious and inefficient task of designing genomic assays, a critical element of working with nucleic acids. He founded Celadon with that original purpose, and in the decade since the company's founding, he has helped lead the company into related areas incorporating web-based software as well as empirical research leading to better design for modified nucleic acids.

Dr. Peterson, an author of many peer-reviewed publications has been the principal investigator on seven state, federal, and private non-profit grants and research contracts. He has won research awards from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Peterson has an undergraduate degree from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, and a Ph.D in in Biological Anthropology from Pennsylvania State University.

Lawrence A. Kessner, J.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Kessner has brought his background in business startups and management to guiding the growth of Celadon as a developer of premier biotechnology software tools. Since joining Celadon as CEO in 2000, Mr. Kessner has worked with Dr. Peterson to build and commercialize web-based software for government and industry customers, focusing on the company's strategic, sales, marketing, and legal issues, and working closely with customers to ensure the best results. Mr. Kessner's experience as a writer and lawyer, combined with Celadon's scientific expertise, has helped Celadon win, negotiate, and manage substantial government contracts with agencies including US Air Force, NCI, and CDC.

Mr. Kessner has founded or managed several early-stage enterprises since 1990, including radio stations, a children's museum built in conjunction with the Walt Disney Company, and an online legal-information business . He was a reporter at the Baltimore Sun in the early 1980s and returned to that newspaper as the first publisher of Baltimoresun.com. He also worked as an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., specializing in business transactions and zoning law. He received a B.A. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University and a law degree from Georgetown Law Center.