David C. Cavalier (Chairman)
David C. Cavalier has been the Chairman of our Board since April 30, 2004. Since 2001, he has been a founding Principal and the Chief Operating Officer of Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC, a manager of a family of private investment funds. Prior to founding Xmark, Mr. Cavalier worked for Tiger Real Estate Partners, LLC, a $785 million private investment fund sponsored by Tiger Management Corporation. Mr. Cavalier began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. working on debt and equity offerings for public and private real estate companies. He also serves as the Chairman of the New York Advisory Board of Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., a national nonprofit and leading provider of capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development. He received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.Phil. from Oxford University.
John M. Clerici
John M. Clerici is a founding Principal of Tiber Creek Partners, LLC, a company focused on providing scientific and business counseling to biotechnology companies seeking to use non-dilutive capital from the U.S. and foreign governments and from non-governmental organizations. Mr. Clerici is also a Partner in the government contracts practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. For over 14 years, Mr. Clerici has been at the forefront of the creation of the public health preparedness sector, including helping large pharmaceutical and emerging biotechnology companies develop creative approaches to access non-dilutive capital to fund the development of biotechnology for emerging disease and engineered threats. Since 1999, Mr. Clerici has assisted over three dozen companies in obtaining nearly $4 billion in funding for research, development and procurement of public health countermeasures from the Federal government, which includes the majority of the awards made under Project Bioshield, the U.S. Government’s initiative for preparing the United States against a bioterrorist attack. Prior to joining McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP,Mr. Clerici was a judge advocate with the U.S. Air Force where, among other assignments, he advised the Air Force Research Laboratory on the procurement of technology from research institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Clerici earned his Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995. He did his undergraduate work at the Catholic University of America, graduating summa cum laude.
John M. Farah, Jr., Ph.D
John M. Farah, Jr., Ph.D. is an experienced professional with over 25 years in the biopharmaceutical sector and acting as an independent consultant since December 2011. He was formerly Vice President, Operations of Asia Pacific Pharmaceuticals for Cephalon, Inc. until Cephalon’s acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Farah joined Cephalon in 1992 to manage technology requirements and collaborations for the research and development organization. He then served in several roles with increasing responsibilities in scientific affairs, managing biotech research partnerships, product licensing and academic collaborations. In 1998, Dr. Farah was promoted to senior director and, in 2001, vice president of worldwide business development responsible for promoting and negotiating R&D and commercial alliances with multinational and regional pharmaceutical firms. In 2003, Dr. Farah was appointed head of worldwide product export, and in 2006 he became responsible for strategic growth and commercial success of Cephalon in Latin America, Japan and certain commonwealth countries. Prior to joining Cephalon, Dr. Farah was a research investigator at GD Searle and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health. He received his Doctorate in physiology in 1985 from the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. He also received a B.S. degree in Zoology from the University of Maryland and a B.H.A. degree from New College of California in San Francisco.
Mitchell D. Kaye
Mitchell D. Kaye, J.D., is the Founder of MedClaims Liaison, LLC and has served as its Chief Executive Officer since 2009. MedClaims is a consumer advocacy business, which works on behalf of families in managing reimbursement disputes with medical providers and insurance companies. From 2008-2010, Mr. Kaye was a Managing Director with Navigant Capital Advisors, a financial and strategic advisory services firm, and Head of Navigant’s Financial Institutions Restructuring Solutions Team (FIRST). While at Navigant, Mr. Kaye led numerous high profile engagements on behalf of investment funds and investors. Previously, as a successful entrepreneur in the asset management industry, Mr. Kaye launched two highly profitable asset management companies. Mr. Kaye was the founding member of Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC, an investment fund exclusively focused on investments in publicly traded life sciences companies, and has served as a member of the management committee since 2001. In 1996, Mr. Kaye began his career as a founding member of Brown Simpson Asset Management, LLC(Brown Simpson), an investment fund that was at the foreground of private placement investing in the public markets. Brown Simpson’s life sciences investment unit produced a value weighted cash-on-cash return in excess of 100% during the life of the fund. During his career, Mr. Kaye has consummated over 100 transactions as a lead investor, structured over a billion dollars in debt and equity-linked transactions, and taken an active role in the management of numerous portfolio companies. Mr. Kaye has served on the boards of several private and public companies, and also served on the board of the New York Alzheimer’s Association. Mr. Kaye received his BA from Wesleyan University, and his Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law.
Amit Kumar, Ph.D.
Amit Kumar, Ph.D. has been President and Chief Executive Officer of CombiMatrix Corporation since September 2001 and has been a director of CombiMatrix since September 2000. Previously, Dr. Kumar was Vice President of Life Sciences of Acacia Research Corp. From January 1999 to February 2000, Dr. Kumar was the founding President and CEO of Signature BioSciences, Inc., a life science company developing technology for advanced research in genomics, proteomics and drug discovery. From January 1998 to December 1999, Dr. Kumar was an Entrepreneur in Residence with Oak Investment Partners, a venture capital firm. From October 1996 to January 1998, Dr. Kumar was a Senior Manager at Idexx Laboratories, Inc., a biotechnology company. From October 1993 to September 1996, he was Head of Research & Development for Idetek Corporation, which was later acquired by Idexx Laboratories, Inc. Dr. Kumar received his B.S. in Chemistry from OccidentalCollege. After joint studies at Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology, he received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1991. He also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University from 1991 to 1993. Dr. Kumar is also a member of the board of directors of Ascent Solar Technologies, a publicly-held solar energy company and Tacere Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company.
Chris A. Rallis
Chris A. Rallis has been an executive-in-residence at Pappas Ventures, a life science venture capital firm since January 2008. Previously, Mr. Rallis was the President and Chief Executive Officer of ImmunoBiosciences, Inc. (“IBI”), a vaccine technology company located in Raleigh, North Carolina from April 2006 through June 2007. Prior to joining IBI, Mr. Rallis served as an executive in residence (part time) for Pappas Ventures, and as a consultant for Duke University and Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Rallis is the former President and Chief Operating Officer and director of Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Gilead Sciences in January 2003 for approximately $465 million. Prior to assuming the role of President and COO in March 2000, he was Executive Vice President, Business Development and General Counsel. While at Triangle, Mr. Rallis participated in 11 equity financings generating gross proceeds of approximately $500 million. He was also primarily responsible for all business development activities which included a worldwide alliance with Abbott Laboratories and the in-licensing of ten compounds. Before joining Triangle in 1995, Mr. Rallis served in various business development and legal management roles with Burroughs Wellcome Co. over a 13-year period, including Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development. Mr. Rallis also serves on the board of Salisbury School, a private secondary school in Salisbury, Connecticut. Mr. Rallis received his A.B. degree in economics from Harvard College and a J.D. from Duke University.
Jeffrey A. Scott, M.D.
Jeffrey A. Scott, M.D., whose specialty is oncology, currently is General Manager/Senior Vice President for P4 Healthcare, a division of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, which is a division of Cardinal Health. He is also a member of Cardinal Health’s Operating Committee. Prior to the 2010 sale of P4 Healthcare to Cardinal Health, Dr. Scott was the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of P4 Healthcare, since its inception in 2006. P4 Healthcare was a multimedia Healthcare Marketing and Education Company with a focus in Oncology. From 1998 to 2002, Dr. Scott served as the National Medical Director and President of the International Oncology Network (ION), a network of more than 4,000 U.S. private practice oncologists headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2002, ION became a subsidiary of Amerisource Bergen Corporation upon its sale. Dr. Scott continued to serve as President and General Manager for ION until 2005. Dr. Scott was a practicing physician, Founding Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Georgia Cancer Specialists located in Atlanta, Georgia from 1990 to 2000. During Dr. Scott’s tenure as Chief Financial Officer of Georgia Cancer Specialists, the physician practice had over $100 million in revenue and Dr. Scott was responsible for development of financial programs of practice after the merger and corporate buyout by Phymatrix. Also at the Georgia Cancer Specialists, Dr. Scott took responsibility for the development of an extensive clinical research program. From 1998 to 2000, he also served as Medical Chief of Staff at Emory Northlake Regional Medical Center inAtlanta, Georgia. Dr. Scott’s biotechnology experience includes his role as a Consultant to NexStar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ofBoulder, Colorado. As a consultant to NexStar, Dr. Scott was responsible for assisting and educating the sales force in dealing with physician networks and consulting with investment advisors regarding potential investments in other biotechnology companies. Dr. Scott’s educational background includes a B.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,Michigan, a medical education at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, and a fellowship in Oncology at University of Texas Health Sciences, San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Scott has Board Certifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine, September 1987, and the American Board of Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, November 1989. Dr. Scott has served on the board of directors of Biovest International, Inc. since March 2004.