QuintilesIMS Holdings announced Wednesday a new president of the research and development solutions business and a new chief customer executive.

Richard Staub III and Paul Spreen, respectfully, and will take over the roles.

Staub, who will begin leading the R&D business on Thursday, Dec. 1, is currently the president of Novella Clinical, a long-time subsidiary of Quintiles. He is also the leader of Quintiles’ Global Functional Resourcing division and a member of its R&D Solutions Executive Committee.

A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, he joined Novella in 2004 and was working in pharmaceuticals by 1989 with Zeneca Pharmaceuticals.

Spreen served as the president of the Customer Solutions Management Group for a year until this September, and is now returning as executive vice president and chief customer officer. He spent 20 years at Quintiles prior to leaving.

The executive changes also include the retirement of its current president of R&D, Thomas Pike, who also holds an executive vice president position. His retirement will be effective this Friday, Dec. 2.

Pike has been with Quintiles since April 2012, and has agreed not to accept employment with competing business within 36 months of leaving the company. And because his securities held in the company are those of an executive officer, he has also agreed not to sell his shares within six months of leaving the company.

“The integration is coming along quickly,” said Pike in the release. “I have worked with Richard extensively in the past few years and am highly confident in his ability to drive R&D Solutions forward.”

Quintiles saw previous executive changes in August in preparation for its recent merger with IMS Holdings.

The company’s stock price rose 0.3 percent after hours and opened at $81.18 Wednesday. But it has been trending downward most of the day, reaching a low of $76.50 as of 3 p.m.