PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
The names and certain biographical information about our directors, including each director’s business experience, director positions held currently or at any time during the last five years, information regarding involvement in certain legal or administrative proceedings, if applicable, and the director’s experiences, qualifications, attributes, or skills are set forth below.
Directors
Howard Clowes. Mr. Clowes has served on our Board since April 1, 2020. From January 2005 until he retired as a lawyer in December 2018, Mr. Clowes was a partner in the law firm DLA Piper (US) LLC. From 1982 until the formation of DLA Piper in 2005, he was an associate and then a partner in the predecessor firms of DLA Piper, holding various management positions, including serving on its board of directors. Mr. Clowes currently serves on the board of Equalize Health and as Chair of its Governance Committee. Equalize Health is a nonprofit product development company focused on equalizing access to health care around the world. Mr. Clowes served on the board of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley from 2008 until December 2018, serving during that period in various positions, including President of its board of directors, and Chair of a Strategic Planning and CEO Search Committee. Since 2017, Mr. Clowes has served as a Lecturer at U.C. Berkeley’s Berkeley School of Law, teaching a course in International Business Negotiations. Mr. Clowes earned his J.D. at U.C. Berkeley and his B.A. in Experimental Psychology at U.C. Santa Barbara. We believe Mr. Clowes’ qualifications to serve on the Board include his extensive experience as a lawyer advising boards of directors and their audit, compensation and governance committees on a wide range of matters, his experience with a wide range of transactions, and his experience serving on various boards of directors.
An van Es-Johansson. Dr. An van Es-Johansson has served on our Board since January 1, 2020. Dr. van Es-Johansson served as the Chief Medical Officer for AlzeCure Pharma, a Swedish pharmaceutical company with a primary focus on Alzheimer’s disease, from September 2018 through March 1, 2021 and now serves as Senior Advisor. From May 2005 to September 2018, Dr. van Es-Johansson served in a range of executive roles of increasing responsibility at Sobi, an international rare disease company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, including as Vice President and Head of EMENAR Medical Affairs for Specialty Care and Partner Products from March 2013 to January 2018. Prior to her time at Sobi, Dr. van Es-Johansson served in leadership positions within large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, including Roche, Pharmacia, Eli Lilly, Active Biotech, and BioStratum. From 2004 to 2016, she was a member of the Scientific Adboard for Uppsala Bio and currently serves on the board of directors at Medivir AB (NASDAQ Stockholm), Savara, Inc. (NASDAQ: SVRA), Lumos Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: LUMO) and privately held Agendia BV. She also served on the board of directors at BioInvent International AB (NASDAQ OMX Stockholm), from June 2016 to February 2021. Dr. van Es-Johansson received a M.D. from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. We believe Dr. van Es-Johansson brings extensive medical knowledge and experience in the pharmaceutical industry to our Board.
Richard J. Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins has served on our Board since December 2007 and as Chairman of our Board since January 2018. In 1982, Mr. Hawkins founded Pharmaco, a clinical research organization, or CRO, that merged with the predecessor of PPD-Pharmaco in 1991 and is one of the largest CROs in the world today. In 1992, Mr. Hawkins co-founded Sensus Drug Development Corporation, or SDDC, a privately-held company focused on the treatment of drugs to treat endocrine disorders, which developed and received regulatory approval for SOMAVERT®, a growth hormone antagonist approved for the treatment of acromegaly, which is now marketed by Pfizer, Inc., and he served as Chairman of SDDC until 2000. In 1994, Mr. Hawkins co-founded Corning Biopro, a contract protein manufacturing firm, where he served on its board until Corning BioPro’s sale to Akzo-Nobel, N.V., a publicly-held producer of paints, coatings and specialty chemicals, in 2000. In September 2003 Mr. Hawkins founded LabNow, Inc., a privately held company that develops lab-on-a-chip sensor technology, where he served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until October 2009. Mr. Hawkins has served on the board of SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly-held specialty pharmaceutical company, from October 2004 through December 2017. In February 2011, Mr. Hawkins became Chief Executive Officer, and is currently Chief Executive Officer, president and chairman of Lumos Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: LUMO). He has also served on the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Center for Nano and Molecular Science and Technology at the University of Texas in Austin, and was inducted into the Hall of Honor for the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas. Mr. Hawkins is a member of the National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. Mr. Hawkins graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Biology from Ohio University, where he later received the Ohio University Konneker Medal, the highest award given to a faculty member or former student for entrepreneurial excellence. We believe Mr. Hawkins’s qualifications to serve on our Board include his executive experience working with life sciences companies, his extensive experience in pharmaceutical research and development, his knowledge, understanding and experience in the regulatory development and approval process, and his service on other public company boards and committees.
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