PPD names new CEO

Shares of PPD, one of the Triangle's largest drug-research companies, fell as much as 9.9 percent this morning after the company appointed a new CEO.

PPD's board of directors announced today that they named Raymond H. Hill as CEO and gave him a spot on the board.

PPD's founder and executive chairman Fred Eshelman has been managing the company since former CEO David Grange retired in May.

Hill comes to PPD from IMS Health, a Connecticut-based company which provides data, market research and consulting to pharmaceutical companies. According to a statement from PPD this morning, as president of IMS Consulting Group in New York, Hill oversaw the company's "acquisition-based growth."

Hill has some ties to the Triangle: He got his master's degree from Duke University.

PPD, which has about 1,400 workers in the Triangle, was founded 25 years ago by Eshelman. It is based in Wilmington.

Earlier this summer, several national media outlets were reporting that PPD was on the market, with private equity firm the Carlyle Group being given the edge.

Eshelman, at the time, said that PPD didn't comment on speculation, but that management was reviewing its "long-term plan and our capital structure to see if there are any actions" that would increase shareholder value.