Texas Wesleyan University, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce are pleased to announce that Paul Dorman, CEO and chairman of DFB Pharmaceuticals, LLC, has been selected as the 2017 Fort Worth Business Executive of the Year.

He will be honored at the 48th annual Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame event on Thursday, Oct. 5, at The Fort Worth Club. This year's presenting sponsor is Capital One.

“Paul Dorman represents an extraordinary blend of business acumen and scientific curiosity. He has made an enormous contribution to the Fort Worth community and beyond in the way he has built businesses and contributed to the greater good,” Texas Wesleyan President Frederick G. Slabach, said. “Texas Wesleyan is honored to be connected with such an outstanding leader and most deserving recipient of the Business Executive of the Year award.”

Tickets

Tickets for October 5 event at the Fort Worth Club are $250 each for the general public or $2,500 for a 10-person table. To make reservations, contact Adrian Bumgarner at 817-531-5806 or RSVP@txwes.edu. The reception begins at 6 p.m. and the dinner begins at 7 p.m. Dress is business attire.

About this year's honoree

Paul Dorman is Chairman and CEO of DFB Pharmaceuticals, a Fort Worth-based holding company that has successfully invested, developed and operated multiple pharmaceutical businesses over the last 20 years.

Dorman, with two associates, purchased DPT Laboratories in San Antonio from Alcon Laboratories of Fort Worth in 1990. As Chairman of the Board and CEO, he expanded DPT into a DFB portfolio of healthcare companies that provide both services and proprietary branded pharmaceutical products to the global market with facilities in Texas, New Jersey, Germany and Canada.

In 2008, Dorman sold Coria Laboratories, a DFB portfolio company developing and selling skin care products to dermatologists and consumers, to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. In 2012, Dorman sold 70% of DPT Laboratories to RoundTable Healthcare Partners (Renaissance Pharmaceuticals) and later that year sold Healthpoint Biotherapeutics, another DFB portfolio company, to Smith & Nephew. The DFB team working with its new partners, RoundTable, grew DPT into two businesses – sterile and nonsterile (topical).  The nonsterile topical was sold to Mylan in 2016.

The combined current revenue resulting from the above sales was in excess of $2 billion.

Before acquiring DPT, Dorman had nearly two decades of executive experience in the pharmaceutical industry with Baxter and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in various leadership roles, including serving on the Board of Directors for two J&J companies. He is also the past owner of three industrial distribution companies that he acquired and turned around to profitability from Chapter 11 status at acquisition. All three companies were sold to a large, public corporation.

Today, Dorman continues to oversee operations for Phyton Biotech, one of the remaining portfolio companies, with facilities in Germany and Canada. Additionally, he is the largest outside investor in Tabletop Media LLC, a Dallas company having a product named Ziosk®.  Ziosk is a tablet that allows restaurant guests to order food and beverage, play games, and pay-at-the-table, and has receipt printing capabilities.

However, Dorman is most excited about developing and investing in new leading edge proprietary technology utilizing nanoparticles of chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of cancer. This technology allows direct tumor injection which puts more drug into the tumor. The nanoparticles of the drug have a longer residence time in the tumor. The combination of more for longer has the potential to significantly improved treatment outcome and simultaneously reduces the side effects. His companies are currently utilizing this technology in clinical trials for pancreatic, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers and late stage development for lung and bladder cancer.  Additionally, they have ongoing clinical trials in actinic keratosis, skin metastases and cervical intraperitoneal neoplasia (CIN).

About the Fort Worth Business Hall of Fame

Each year, Texas Wesleyan, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Fort Worth Chamber join forces to present the event, which promotes business as a challenging and dynamic profession. Last year's recipients were Martha Williams and Joan Trew.

The event supports the Thomas H. Law scholarship program, which benefits business students at Texas Wesleyan University.