Experience

Virovek, Inc.

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Chief Executive Officer

  • Sep 2023 - Present

  Houston, Texas, United States * Serve as Chief Executive Officer of Virovek, Inc. * Virovek is a privately-held, commercial stage biopharmaceutical company that develops, markets, manufactures and sells viral vector-related products for use in the development of advanced therapeutics. Established in 2006, Virovek has established itself as one of the leading AAV manufacturers in the gene therapy field. With its highly efficient AAV manufacturing technology, Virovek has established a worldwide customer base advancing… Show more * Serve as Chief Executive Officer of Virovek, Inc. * Virovek is a privately-held, commercial stage biopharmaceutical company that develops, markets, manufactures and sells viral vector-related products for use in the development of advanced therapeutics. Established in 2006, Virovek has established itself as one of the leading AAV manufacturers in the gene therapy field. With its highly efficient AAV manufacturing technology, Virovek has established a worldwide customer base advancing clinical trials from clinical Phase I through to BLA. * Virovek also offers lentivirus-based packaging services and custom lentivirus production. Show less



Esperance Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

• Director, Board of Directors

  • 2017 - Present

  Houston, Texas Area * Serve as a member of the Board of Directors, providing strategic guidance and governance to the executive management team * Esperance Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing oncolytic therapies to treat a variety of cancers * The company’s Cationic Lytic Peptide (CLYP) technology is capable of targeting surface receptors and disrupting the cell membrane of tumor cells, killing the tumor directly * Its lead product, EP-100 is currently in… Show more * Serve as a member of the Board of Directors, providing strategic guidance and governance to the executive management team * Esperance Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing oncolytic therapies to treat a variety of cancers * The company’s Cationic Lytic Peptide (CLYP) technology is capable of targeting surface receptors and disrupting the cell membrane of tumor cells, killing the tumor directly * Its lead product, EP-100 is currently in Phase II clinical trials in ovarian cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Phase I clinical trials for other solid tumors * CLYP induced cell necrosis can trigger an immunogenic reaction that leads to a broader immune response, and has been shown to enhance efficacy in conjuction with PD-L1 checkpoint blockade Show less



Sympheron Partners LLC

• United States
• Investment Banking

• Chairman & Director, Board of Advisors

  • 2016 - Present

  New York, NY * Preside over the proceedings of the strategic advisory board of Sympheron, an independent investment banking firm based in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Fargo, ND. Sympheron provides strategic and financial advice on mergers, acquisitions, sales, divestitures, and private capital solutions. * Provide strategic advice to the partners, managing directors and senior executive leadership -- Provide outside insight into business, market and industry trends -- Advise on issues… Show more * Preside over the proceedings of the strategic advisory board of Sympheron, an independent investment banking firm based in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Fargo, ND. Sympheron provides strategic and financial advice on mergers, acquisitions, sales, divestitures, and private capital solutions. * Provide strategic advice to the partners, managing directors and senior executive leadership -- Provide outside insight into business, market and industry trends -- Advise on issues raised by the Firm's partners, managing directors and senior investment bankers -- Provide unbiased insights and ideas from a third-party point-of-view -- Encourage and support the exploration of new business ideas -- Act as a resource for executives to enhance quality of client advisory -- Facilitate the development of a governance framework that enables sustainable growth of the Firm -- Monitor business performance -- Challenge directors and management to find avenues to improve the business Show less



Marker Therapeutics, Inc.

• United States
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• President & CEO, member of the Board of Directors

  • 2017 - 2023

  Houston, Texas Area *Served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Marker Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRKR), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing next-generation, multi-antigen targeted T cell therapies *Marker is advancing a non-genetically modified cell therapy for various cancer indications including AML, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and pancreatic cancer *Formed the company through a reverse merger of a Baylor College of Medicine platform with TapImmune *In conjunction with the merger… Show more *Served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Marker Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRKR), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing next-generation, multi-antigen targeted T cell therapies *Marker is advancing a non-genetically modified cell therapy for various cancer indications including AML, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and pancreatic cancer *Formed the company through a reverse merger of a Baylor College of Medicine platform with TapImmune *In conjunction with the merger, raised $70 million in a PIPE led by New Enterprise Associates, Aisling Capital, and Baker Brothers *Significantly advanced product development from an academic medical program to a commercially appropriate therapy *Reduced manufacturing time from 28 days to 8 days *Dramatically simplified manufacturing process – eliminating over 95% of the technical interventions required to produce a patient product *Increased product specificity by approximately 5x, leading to an 4x increase in tumor-killing potency *Initiated 3 new clinical trials and advanced the company’s AML study into potentially pivotal stage *Planned, constructed and qualified a state-of-the-art, FDA-approved 50,000 sq ft cGMP manufacturing facility and a 20,000 sq ft process development laboratory *Marker’s facilities are capable of conducting all work necessary for clinical operations in-house through to commercialization Show less



Kiromic Biopharma, Inc.

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Director, Board of Directors

  • 2017 - 2019

  Houston, Texas Area * Served as a member of the Board of Directors, providing strategic guidance and governance to the executive management team * Kiromic is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing next generation immunotherapies using its BLADE-SMART antigen/target discovery platform * Kiromic is currently enrolling patients in a Phase I/II clinical trial in Acute Myeloid Leukemia for its BSK01 parenteral therapy and has been granted orphan drug designation on its BSK02… Show more * Served as a member of the Board of Directors, providing strategic guidance and governance to the executive management team * Kiromic is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing next generation immunotherapies using its BLADE-SMART antigen/target discovery platform * Kiromic is currently enrolling patients in a Phase I/II clinical trial in Acute Myeloid Leukemia for its BSK01 parenteral therapy and has been granted orphan drug designation on its BSK02 orally-administered agent * The company also has preclinical programs developing antibody and adoptive cell therapies Show less



TapImmune Inc

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• President & Chief Executive Officer, Director

  • 2017 - 2018

  Jacksonville, Florida Area * Served as President & Chief Executive Officer of TapImmune (Nasdaq: TPIV), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing next generation immunotherapies designed to elicit a broad-based patient immune response to treat cancer * Drove a 20-fold increase in market capitalization for the company, from approximately $27 million to over $550 million, in less than a year * Significantly advanced the Company’s clinical development, completing one Phase II clinical trial and… Show more * Served as President & Chief Executive Officer of TapImmune (Nasdaq: TPIV), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing next generation immunotherapies designed to elicit a broad-based patient immune response to treat cancer * Drove a 20-fold increase in market capitalization for the company, from approximately $27 million to over $550 million, in less than a year * Significantly advanced the Company’s clinical development, completing one Phase II clinical trial and initiating three new Phase II clinical studies * Led a significant fundraising and strategic acquisition that led to major investments by leading healthcare investors including NEA, Aisling Capital and Perceptive Advisors, driving significant institutional investment and equity research coverage for a company that previously had limited institutional ownership and no research coverage * Attracted one of the industry’s leading Scientific Advisory Boards including: -- James P. Allison, Nobel Laureate in Medicine -- Malcolm K. Brenner, former American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) President and founder of Baylor College of Medicine’s Institute of Cell And Gene Therapy (CAGT) -- Helen E. Heslop, President of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy -- Padmanee Sharma, Coley Prize recipient and immunotherapy pioneer -- Cliona M. Rooney, immunotherapy pioneer in T cell therapy * TapImmune is advancing three clinical stage T-cell vaccines in six separate clinical trials (five Phase II clinical trials and one Phase I/II trials) at leading cancer institutions including Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Moffitt Cancer Center and Sarah Cannon Research Institute * In addition, TapImmune is also advancing PolyStart™ is an enabling technology that makes immunotherapies more effective. PolyStart can significantly enhance the recognition of tumor cells by the immune system, increasing the efficiency with which tumors can be identified and eliminated Show less



Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

• United States
• Biotechnology Research
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Vice President, Business Development & Strategy

  • 2014 - 2017

  Houston, TX * Created, developed and enhanced the strategic vision for Bellicum * Implemented daily execution of the business strategy * As head of corporate development: -- Examined potential acquisitions, alliances, and alternative commercial approaches -- Developed capital markets strategies -- Explored strategic alternatives -- Assessed and executed transformative corporate transactions * As leader of business development: -- Originated and pursued… Show more * Created, developed and enhanced the strategic vision for Bellicum * Implemented daily execution of the business strategy * As head of corporate development: -- Examined potential acquisitions, alliances, and alternative commercial approaches -- Developed capital markets strategies -- Explored strategic alternatives -- Assessed and executed transformative corporate transactions * As leader of business development: -- Originated and pursued business transactions to grow Bellicum's revenues, product offerings and capabilities -- Negotiated and executed collaborations, licenses, material transfer and research agreements with corporate and academic partners -- Notable transactions included Adaptimmune and Astellas transactions * As head of corporate strategy: -- Created, defined, developed and implement the company's strategic vision -- Performed market research, intelligence gathering and forecasting to enable informed strategic decisions * Featured speaker at leading global biotech, pharma and oncology conferences -- 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Annual Cancer Biopartnering & Investment Forum at the New York Academy of Sciences: New York, NY -- Hanson Wade CAR-T Summit: Boston, MA -- Inaugural Immuno-Oncology Conference at ASCO: Chicago, IL -- 4th Annual Oncology & Deal Partnering Conference: San Francisco, CA -- 2nd Annual Summit on Harnessing the Immune System in Cancer: West Palm Beach, FL -- 15th Annual Biotech in Europe Forum: Basel, Switzerland -- Next-Generation CAR-T Immunotherapy Seminar: Shanghai, China -- 8th and 9th Annual European Life Science CEO Exhibition: Zurich, Switzerland -- Cancer Biotherapeutics & Immuno-Oncology: London, UK -- ADOPT 2016 Adoptive Cell Therapies Summit: London UK -- Biopharm Asia 2016: Singapore -- EyeForPharma Flagship Summit: Philadelphia PA -- Adoptive T-Cell Congress: Boston, MA and London, UK -- Phacilitate 2016: Berlin, Germany -- BIO Japan: Yokohama, Japan Show less



MD Anderson Cancer Center

• United States
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 700 & Above Employee

• Managing Director

  • 2012 - 2014

  Houston, Texas Area * Led the Office of Innovation (Strategic Industry Ventures) for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center * Originated, developed and managed a portfolio of market-based new venture opportunities on behalf of the institution * Led and managed the institution’s portfolio of new venture startups and associated equity investments -- Sale of IDEV Technologies (an MD Anderson startup company) to Abbott Laboratories for $350 million (board observer and executive management… Show more * Led the Office of Innovation (Strategic Industry Ventures) for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center * Originated, developed and managed a portfolio of market-based new venture opportunities on behalf of the institution * Led and managed the institution’s portfolio of new venture startups and associated equity investments -- Sale of IDEV Technologies (an MD Anderson startup company) to Abbott Laboratories for $350 million (board observer and executive management advisor) -- Divestiture program for holdings in Bio-Path Holdings, Ziopharm Oncology and Arrow Research * Originated and executed transactions with industry partners to create transformative healthcare ventures -- Led commercialization team for MD Anderson’s Adoptive CAR-T Cell Therapy research program (analogous to commercial ventures such as Juno Therapeutics, Kite Pharma, Bellicum, Cellectis and Bluebird Bio), culminating in a $175 million transaction ($115 million in stock consideration plus $60 million in research spending) with Intrexon (NYSE: XON) and Ziopharm (NASDAQ: ZIOP) -- Advised LG CNS, a division of LG Electronics, for the creation of a Texas cloud-based Medicaid healthcare information exchange ($1 million fee engagement fee) -- Advised and collaborated with Panasonic Healthcare to create a pharmacy automation venture ($450,000 fee advisory fee) -- Collaborated with DEKA Research & Development for the creation of a new company to develop a robotic chemotherapy system -- Collaborated with Novacentrix to develop a printed compensator for proton therapy -- Explored possible microwave therapy and magnetic capacitor startup with NASA Johnson Space Center * Advised scientists at MD Anderson in all aspects of innovation including discovery, invention, commercialization, financing and development of technology and intellectual property * Advised and assisted senior management teams of MD Anderson portfolio companies, and served as MDACC's representative as Board observer/advisor Show less



Toost Control Corporation

• President and Director, Board of Directors

  • 2007 - 2013

  New York, NY * Presided over the Board of Directors of Toost Control Corporation, a residential real estate cooperative corporation, which owns and manages a 165+ unit, 16-floor residential building at 301 East 63rd Street in New York City * Negotiated and led the $45 million purchase of real estate assets for Toost Control Corporation from Ruffy Corporation * Raised $51 million senior debt financing for land purchase transaction



CIT

• United States
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions - Healthcare Investment Banking

  • 2010 - 2012

  New York, NY * Headed M&A advisory for CIT Healthcare investment banking department * Most senior M&A investment banker at CIT Group * Hired to serve new CEO John Thain (former CEO of Merrill Lynch and the New York Stock Exchange, and Co-President of Goldman Sachs) to help rebuild CIT Group investment banking advisory business after the divestiture of CIT's M&A boutique, Edgeview Partners * Originated and executed all merger, acquisition and sale mandates for clients in the life… Show more * Headed M&A advisory for CIT Healthcare investment banking department * Most senior M&A investment banker at CIT Group * Hired to serve new CEO John Thain (former CEO of Merrill Lynch and the New York Stock Exchange, and Co-President of Goldman Sachs) to help rebuild CIT Group investment banking advisory business after the divestiture of CIT's M&A boutique, Edgeview Partners * Originated and executed all merger, acquisition and sale mandates for clients in the life sciences, biotechnology, medical technology, and healthcare services sectors * Served as principal contact officer for a select group of leading healthcare venture capital and private equity firms * Acted as subject matter expert and instructor for M&A law and tax issues, as well as fairness, inadequacy and structuring opinion adjudication * Authored and instructed seminars on: (i) M&A tax and structuring considerations, (ii) Formulating the cost of capital in M&A transactions, (iii) New developments in shareholder rights plans and implications for hostile transaction advisory assignments Show less



Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Executive Director, Global Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 2005 - Nov 2010

  New York, NY Executive Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Oppenheimer (formerly CIBC World Markets USA) * Served as the senior M&A officer for advisory transaction teams for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a $40 billion publicly traded bank (NYSE: CM, TSE: CIBC) and Oppenheimer & Co., a $1 billion publicly traded investment banking firm (NYSE: OPY) * Appointed to sit on the firm's Fairness and Financial Advisory review committees * Acted as subject matter… Show more Executive Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Oppenheimer (formerly CIBC World Markets USA) * Served as the senior M&A officer for advisory transaction teams for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a $40 billion publicly traded bank (NYSE: CM, TSE: CIBC) and Oppenheimer & Co., a $1 billion publicly traded investment banking firm (NYSE: OPY) * Appointed to sit on the firm's Fairness and Financial Advisory review committees * Acted as subject matter expert for the M&A group's contested or hostile situations teams as well as the complex transaction advisory team * Youngest and most junior investment banker ever to be appointed to the Investment Banking Executive Committee (which reviews performance management and determines compensation for individual bankers, recruiting and retention strategy, and training and development issues) * Served as the firm's lead expert witness in court for shareholder litigation * Serve as global head of recruiting and deal staffer for the M&A Group * Authored and instructed firmwide seminars on: (i) M&A tax and structuring considerations, (ii) Formulating the cost of capital in M&A transactions, (iii) New developments in shareholder rights plans and implications for hostile transaction advisory assignments Show less



CIBC Capital Markets

• Capital Markets
• 700 & Above Employee

• Executive Director, Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 2005 - 2008

  New York, NY Executive Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Oppenheimer (formerly CIBC World Markets USA) * Served as the senior M&A officer for advisory transaction teams for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a $40 billion publicly traded bank (NYSE: CM, TSE: CIBC) and Oppenheimer & Co., a $1 billion publicly traded investment banking firm (NYSE: OPY) * Appointed to sit on the firm's Fairness and Financial Advisory review committees * Acted as subject matter… Show more Executive Director in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Oppenheimer (formerly CIBC World Markets USA) * Served as the senior M&A officer for advisory transaction teams for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a $40 billion publicly traded bank (NYSE: CM, TSE: CIBC) and Oppenheimer & Co., a $1 billion publicly traded investment banking firm (NYSE: OPY) * Appointed to sit on the firm's Fairness and Financial Advisory review committees * Acted as subject matter expert for the M&A group's contested or hostile situations teams as well as the complex transaction advisory team * Youngest and most junior investment banker ever to be appointed to the Investment Banking Executive Committee (which reviews performance management and determines compensation for individual bankers, recruiting and retention strategy, and training and development issues) * Served as the firm's lead expert witness in court for shareholder litigation * Serve as global head of recruiting and deal staffer for the M&A Group * Authored and instructed firmwide seminars on: (i) M&A tax and structuring considerations, (ii) Formulating the cost of capital in M&A transactions, (iii) New developments in shareholder rights plans and implications for hostile transaction advisory assignments Show less



J.P. Morgan

• United States
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Global Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 2004 - 2005

  New York, NY Global Mergers & Acquisitions



Merrill Lynch

• United States
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 2000 - 2002

  San Francisco, CA Mergers & Acquisitions



Deutsche Bank

• Germany
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 1996 - 2000

  San Francisco, CA



Alex. Brown & Sons

• Mergers & Acquisitions - Investment Banking

  • 1996 - 2000

  Healthcare, Consumer and Technology Investment Banking