Our Executive Team

Jeff Powlowsky, President / Chief Executive Officer

Jeff Powlowsky is a native of New Hampshire and holds his Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction in both Chemistry and Biology from Boston University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He has more than 18 years experience in the nutritional supplement and nutraceutical industry, and his diverse background includes expertise in nutritional product formulation and manufacturing, product research and development, clinical research, direct sales, strategic marketing, direct marketing using infomercial, catalog and internet customer acquisition/retention and branding. Jeff has held senior executive positions with both nutritional supplement manufacturers and consumer direct marketing companies, and in his last two corporate positions, he has helped each company achieve sales in excess of $100 million annually.

Jose Rocca, R.Ph., Ph.D., Executive Vice-President – Research and Development

Jose G. Rocca, R.Ph., Ph.D. is the Executive Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Rocca is a licensed pharmacist and obtained his Bachelor Science of Pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988, where he graduated second in his class, and obtained a Ph.D. in Industrial Pharmacy (Pharmaceutics) in 1993. He has been involved in formulation development of several pharmaceutical dosage forms since 1986.

Dr. Rocca also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutics at the College of Pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) where he helped develop and establish a focused drug delivery research group, and continually provides planning advice for the formation of a graduate research program. He is a member of the Controlled Release Society and American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.

Prior to founding Solara, Dr. Rocca served as the Director of the Solid Dose Research and Development Department for Kos Pharmaceuticals/Abbott Laboratories. A fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company recognized by Fortune 500 as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States in 2005. Kos Pharmaceuticals was engaged in developing and commercializing proprietary prescription products for the treatment of chronic cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic syndrome diseases. During his tenure at Kos, Dr. Rocca was fundamental in the development and FDA regulatory submission of several niacin (Niaspan®), Advicor™ (combo of niacin/lovastatin), and Simcor™ (combo of niacin / simvastatin) formulations to provide improved therapeutic efficacy and managing cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Rocca lead the product development team from its inception to the establishment of a first rate preclinical product development and formulation laboratory which innovated the drug delivery platforms pertinent to the company’s product development objectives, generated new intellectual property associated with these discoveries, and took an active role in the Life Cycle Management of Kos’ in-line products.

Dr. Rocca has authored and presented numerous drug delivery works at the national and international level. He has filed 10+ patents (6 issued) for formulation of delivery/platform technologies and pharmaceutical compositions. Currently, Dr. Rocca is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of several Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical companies.