Board of Directors

John Butler was appointed to our Board in April 2018. He has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. since 2013, where he has led the company through its IPO and multiple strategic partnering transactions. Previously Mr. Butler served as the Chief Executive Officer of Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. where he led the transactions that resulted in the sale of Inspiration’s hemophilia assets to Cangene Corporation and Baxter International for a total aggregate consideration that could exceed one billion dollars. From 1997 to 2011, Mr. Butler held various positions of increasing strategic importance at Genzyme Corporation, culminating in his tenure as President of the company’s rare genetic diseases business. Prior to his work at Genzyme, Mr. Butler held sales and marketing positions at Amgen and Hoffmann-La Roche. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Relypsa, Inc. from 2013 to 2016, and Chairman of the Board at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Butler received a B.A. in Chemistry from Manhattan College and an M.B.A. degree from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Pamela Stephenson was appointed as a member of our Board of Directors in February 2019. Ms. Stephenson has more than 20 years of experience leading the development and implementation of pharmaceutical marketing plans. Since March 2019, Ms. Stephenson has served as chief commercial officer for Albireo Pharma, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, she served as a vice president at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Vertex, a publicly traded global biotechnology company, from July 2008 to March 2019, where she was responsible for leading the global market access and pricing strategy for current and future products. Earlier in her tenure at Vertex, Ms. Stephenson led marketing and sales activities for the company's hepatitis C and cystic fibrosis lines of business, and oversaw the U.S. launches of Incivek® (telaprevir) and Orkambi® (lumacaftor/ivacaftor). Prior to Vertex, Ms. Stephenson held roles of increasing strategic importance at Pfizer Inc., a publicly traded global pharmaceutical company, from October 1998 to June 2008. Ms. Stephenson received her B.A. from Brown University and M.P.H. from the Boston University School of Public Health. With her extensive experience in the commercialization and marketing of pharmaceutical products, including for the treatment of rare and near rare diseases, Ms. Stephenson brings valuable expertise in commercial planning, market development, product launch and market access to our Board.

Armando Anido has served as chairman of our board of directors and as our chief executive officer since October 2014. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Anido served as our business consultant from May 2014 to October 2014. Mr. Anido has more than 30 years of executive, operational and commercial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Anido served as chief executive officer and as a director of NuPathe, Inc., or NuPathe, a publicly-traded specialty pharmaceutical company, from July 2012 through March 2014, during which time he led the company through FDA approval of its lead product, Zecuity, a transdermal patch for migraines. Prior to joining NuPathe, Mr. Anido served as chief executive officer and president and as a director of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Auxilium, a specialty pharmaceutical company, from July 2006 through December 2011, where he led the company through FDA approval and commercialization of its lead product, Testim, a testosterone gel. Mr. Anido served as a director of Respira Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from May 2012 through September 2014 and as a director of Adolor Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, from September 2003 through December 2011. Mr. Anido was retired from January 2012 through June 2012. Mr. Anido holds a B.S. in Pharmacy and an MBA, both from West Virginia University. With more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Mr. Anido brings valuable executive, operational and commercial expertise to our board of directors.

Dr. Warren Cooper has served as one of our directors since August 2015 and was appointed lead independent director in November 2015. Dr. Cooper is a UK-trained physician with more than 35 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical industry. Previously, Dr. Cooper was the CEO of Prism Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed, specialty pharmaceutical company that he led from inception in September 2004 until the sale of the Company to Baxter International in May 2011. His career in the pharmaceutical industry began with Merck, Sharp and Dohme and spanned 12 years, initially as a clinical research physician in the UK, then as head of European and subsequently Worldwide Clinical Research Operations for Merck Research Laboratories across all therapeutic areas. Moving to AstraMerck (now AstraZeneca PLC) in a broad clinical development role, he eventually led that company’s cardiovascular business division, a role with full business lifecycle leadership from in-licensing through development, to P&L responsibility for sales and marketing. Dr. Cooper is a member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom. He has previously served on the Boards of Nutrition 21 Inc, Nuron Biotech Inc., Cardiorentis AG and the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. Dr. Cooper studied at the London Hospital where he earned degrees in Physiology (1974), Medicine and Surgery (1977) granted by the University of London.
 

William J. Federici has served as one of our directors since August 2015. Mr. Federici has served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., a publicly traded global pharmaceutical technology company, since August 2003. He served as a member of the Board of Directors at NuPathe Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Chairman of the Audit committee from January 2011 until February 2014. From June 2002 until August 2003, he was National Industry Director for Pharmaceuticals of KPMG LLP (accounting firm) and prior thereto, an audit partner with Arthur Andersen, LLP. Mr. Federici holds a BA in Economics and an MBA in Professional Accounting from Rutgers University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
 

Dr. Thomas Harrison has served as one of our directors since August 2015. Dr. Harrison is a noted author and speaker and since April 2013, has served as Chairman Emeritus of Diversified Agency Services, the world’s largest group of marketing services companies, and a division of Omnicom Group, Inc. In 1987 he founded Harrison & Star Business Group, a healthcare marketing agency that was acquired by Omnicom in 1992. From 1992-1997, he served as Chairman of the Harrison & Star Group and Chairman of Diversified Healthcare Communications for Omnicom. In 1997, Dr. Harrison was appointed President of Diversified Agency Services, and in 1998 was named Chairman and Chief Executive, serving until 2011. In 1980 he began his agency career at Rolf Werner Rosenthal a mid-sized healthcare advertising agency. From 1974-1980 he served in sales and marketing roles at Pfizer. Dr. Harrison is a member of the Executive Committee of the Montefiore Hospital, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and Governor of the New York Academy of Sciences where he sits on the Sackler Global Nutrition Committee. Dr. Harrison became partner and board member of Dipexium Pharmaceuticals in 2013 and board member of rVue, a digital out-of-home media company, in 2013. In 2014, he was appointed to the boards of Social Growth Technologies and of Fifth Street Asset Management where he serves as Chairman of the audit committee. He previously served as a board member of the New York Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation; a board member for ePocrates, a publicly traded healthcare information company, until its 2013 acquisition; and The Morgans Hotel Group (2006-2013). Dr. Harrison holds an Advanced Degree in Cell Biology and Physiology and received an Honorary Doctorate from West Virginia University in 2007.
 

Dr. Daniel Kisner has served as one of our directors since August 2015. Dr. Kisner currently serves as a consultant to the pharmaceutical/biotech industry. From 2003-2011 he served as a venture partner/partner at Aberdare Ventures. Prior to that he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Caliper Technologies from 1999 and remained Chairman until 2008. He led Caliper from a startup dealing with microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technology to a publically traded commercial company. From 1991 until 1999 He served as COO and president of Isis Pharmaceuticals, a biomedical pharmaceutical company. Previously, Dr. Kisner was Division Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development at Abbott Laboratories and Vice President of Clinical Research at SmithKline Beckman Laboratories. In addition he previously held a tenured position at the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. Dr. Kisner currently serves on several boards of directors including those of Dynavax Technologies, Lpath Pharmaceuticals and Conatus Pharmaceuticals. He holds a B.A. degree from Rutgers University and an M.D. from Georgetown University.
 

Kenneth I. Moch has served as one of our directors since August 2015. Mr. Moch has more than 25 years of experience in managing and financing biomedical technologies, and has played a key role in building five life science companies. He is currently the president of Euclidean Life Science Advisors LLC, where he provides strategic and tactical counsel to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to that, he served as president and chief executive officer, and as a director, of Chimerix, Inc. from April 2010 to April 2014, having joined the company as chief operating officer in June 2009. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer of three life science companies—BioMedical Enterprises, Inc., Alteon, Inc., and Biocyte Corporation—and was a co-founder and vice president of The Liposome Company, Inc. He also served as managing director of Healthcare Investment Banking at ThinkEquity Partners and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. In the public policy arena, Mr. Moch has served as chairman of BioNJ and as a member of the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Mr. Moch received an A.B. in Biochemistry from Princeton University and an M.B.A. with emphasis in Finance and Marketing from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.