Violent Death at Medicis CEO's Home Will Change His Company Forever
If you had to pick a pharmaceutical CEO who would be linked to a homicide investigation, it would not be Medicis (MRX) chief Jonah Shacknai, owner of the Coronado, Calif., mansion where the body of his 32-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca M. Nalepa, was found naked in the backyard, tied up with an orange cord. Medics failed to revive her.
Shacknai is different from other drug company CEOs. He's refreshingly candid. If you call to ask the company a question, Shacknai calls you back himself. At most companies, CEOs employ an army of PR people to spin things for them. Shacknai, by contrast, is happy to chat. Prior to the recession, for instance, Shacknai freely admitted that business was going to be hurt -- Medicis sells discretionary cosmetic drugs like the wrinkle-filler Restylane and the Botox competitor Dysport. He doesn't use a private jet, either.
Police said Shacknai was not at the home when the incident occurred. Authorities described Nalepa's death -- she was found hanging from a balcony with her hands tied behind her -- as "suspicious" and "violent."
Shacknai will be hobbled by probe
It's jarring stuff, and MRX has tumbled all morning as investors realized that Shacknai will be sidelined and distracted by the investigation. In addition to Shacknai, police will probably want to talk to Shacknai's ex-wife, Dina Flores, who also lives in Coronado, and the second family that rents the guest house attached to the house. Meanwhile, police have taken evidence from the house including a large painting and a table with a broken leg.
Whatever the outcome, the death will likely hurt Shacknai's ability to run his company the idiosyncratic way he did in the past. Shacknai makes 1,500 phonecalls a year to cosmetic dermatologists -- his customers -- to wish each one a happy birthday, personally. He's been doing it for 20 years. Those calls -- a uniquely charming marketing gimmick -- will be suspended indefinitely.
It will also likely put an end to Shacknai's habit of picking up the phone himself to engage with media and investors. Everyone will want to ask him about the incident, and he won't want to repeatedly recount it to strangers. The fact that Nalepa was found naked is an unfortunate parallel to Shacknai's habit of putting flesh-baring models on the covers of his annual reports.
Medicis employees may not realize yet, but the horrible death at the historic home of the man who owned the Hotel del Coronado will also kill off a piece of their corporate culture.
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