Mr. Flynn has served as a member of the Board of Directors since December 2022. Mr. Flynn is currently a Managing Member and Portfolio Manager of Nerium Capital LLC, an investment adviser he founded in 2021. Nerium Capital LLC is the General Partner of Nerium Partners LP, a healthcare focused investment partnership. Mr. Flynn also currently serves as a Board Member for Axiom Health, a provider of software and big-data solutions to the healthcare industry, since 2022, and has been an advisor to the company since 2020. From 2017 to 2018, Mr. Flynn worked as a therapeutics analyst at Aptigon Capital (a Citadel Company), an investment firm. Prior to that, from 2003 to 2017, Mr. Flynn served in various roles at Amici Capital, LLC, an investment firm, including healthcare portfolio manager (2008 to 2017). From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Flynn worked in the credit research/high yield group at Putnam Investments, an investment firm. Mr. Flynn earned a S.B. degree in Management Science with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Economic Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Flynn is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. We believe Mr. Flynn is an appropriate member of the Board of Directors because of his experience as an investor in life sciences companies, an analyst for investment firms and his academic background.
Group: Board of Directors
Jacob Ma-Weaver
Mr. Ma-Weaver was appointed to the Board of Directors in June 2022. Mr. Ma-Weaver is the Managing Member of Cable Car Capital LLC, an investment adviser he founded in 2013. Cable Car Capital LLC is the General Partner of The Funicular Fund, LP, a hedge fund. Since 2013, Mr. Ma-Weaver has been continuously involved in implementing the firm’s investment approach through the fund and its predecessor accounts. From 2012 to 2013, Mr. Ma-Weaver was employed as an investment analyst at Amici Capital LLC, where he focused on healthcare. He was previously employed as an equity research associate at Dodge & Cox and a corporate finance business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Ma-Weaver received a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature & Society and Economics and a Master of Arts in Statistics from Columbia University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.
Anders Hove
Dr. Hove has served as a member of the Board of Directors since February 2017. Dr. Hove is the manager of Acorn Bioventures, a partnership focusing on long-term investments in biotech, specialty pharma and medical device companies. Before Dr. Hove was a general partner of Venrock Associates, a venture capital firm, which he joined in 2004 and remained at through 2016. In 2008, Dr. Hove was a founder of Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Venrock’s public funds focused on small capitalization biotech companies and late-stage private companies. From 1996 to 2004, Dr. Hove was a fund manager at BB Biotech, an investment firm, and from 2002 to 2003 he also served as Chief Executive Officer of Bellevue Asset Management, an investment company. Dr. Hove previously held senior level positions in the medical, clinical and business operations of the pharmaceuticals division of Ciba-Geigy and Novartis. Mr. Hove was a member of the boards of directors of Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, from 2005 until its acquisition by Pfizer in June 2016, and Edge Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotechnology company, from 2015 to 2016. In addition, Dr. Hove is a member of the board of directors of MC2 Therapeutics. He received a M.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, an M.D. from the University of Copenhagen and an M.B.A. from INSEAD (the Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires). We believe Dr. Hove is an appropriate member of the Board of Directors, given his extensive training and experience as a medical doctor and masters of business administration, an executive in the pharmaceutical industry, and as an investor in biotechnology companies.
Linda Grais
Dr. Grais has served as a member of the Board of Directors since May 2007. Dr. Grais was a director of Ocera Therapeutics, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company, since January 2008 and became President and Chief Executive Officer of Ocera in June 2012, and served in that role until Ocera’s acquisition by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in December 2017. Dr. Grais served as a Managing Member at InterWest Partners, a venture capital firm from May 2005 until February 2011. From July 1998 to July 2003, Dr. Grais was a founder and executive vice president of SGX Pharmaceuticals Inc., a drug discovery company. Prior to that, she was a corporate attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she practiced in such areas as venture financings, public offerings and strategic partnerships. Before practicing law, Dr. Grais worked as an assistant clinical professor of Internal Medicine and Critical Care at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Grais received a B.A. from Yale University, magna cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa, an M.D. from Yale Medical School and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Since September 2015, Dr. Grais served on the board of PRA Health Sciences, which was acquired by ICON plc in 2021, a public contract research organization, and currently serves on the board of ICON plc. Dr. Grais also joined the board of Corvus Pharmaceuticals., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, in January 2019, and joined the board of Collective Health, a private healthcare services company, in March 2023. We believe Dr. Grais is an appropriate member of the Board of Directors because of her diverse training and experience as both a medical doctor and a lawyer, her experience as a founder and senior executive of a pharmaceutical company, and her experience as an investor in new life sciences companies. She also has extensive experience with and knowledge of the Company’s business from her service on the Board of Directors of the Company since 2007.
Robert E. Conway
Mr. Conway was appointed to the Board of Directors in September 2013, and has served as the Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2014. Mr. Conway served as the Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Array Biopharma, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from 1999 to 2012. Prior to joining Array, Mr. Conway was the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Hill Top Research, Inc., from 1996 to 1999. From 1979 until 1996, Mr. Conway held various executive positions for Corning Inc. including Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Corning Hazleton, Inc., a contract research organization. From 2004 to 2013, he served on the board of directors of PRA International, Inc., which was a public company for a portion of his tenure there, from 2012 to the present, he has served on the board of directors of eResearch Technology, Inc., a private company, and from 2015 to July 2017, Advarra, Inc. from 2019 to August 2022, and he has served on the board of directors of Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc. a public, clinical stage pharmaceutical company. In July 2017, Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc. combined with Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc., a public, clinical stage pharmaceutical company, and Mr. Conway continues to serve on the board of directors following such combination. In addition, Mr. Conway is a member of the Strategic Advisory Committee of Genstar Capital, LLC and is a member of the board of directors of Signant Health. In April 2023, Mr. Conway became Executive Chairman and member of the board of directors of ClinOne, Inc. Mr. Conway received a B.S. in accounting from Marquette University in 1976. We believe Mr. Conway is an appropriate member of the Board of Directors given his experience and expertise in the pharmaceutical industry, in pharmaceutical development and clinical trials, and in corporate finance, governance, accounting and public company compliance.