Corporate Governance

Lewis H. Bender is our founder and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since April 2012. Prior to our founding, Mr. Bender was the CEO of publicly traded (AMEX & OTC) Interleukin Genetics, Inc. from 2008 until 2012. Interleukin was a personalized medicine company. Mr. Bender was successful in raising capital for us via a direct placement with institutional investors and partnered with the insurance industry for development of an IG product. Prior to joining Interleukin Genetics, Mr. Bender held numerous positions at Emisphere Technologies, Inc. at the time a publicly traded (Nasdaq) drug delivery company specializing in the development of oral delivery of poorly absorbed molecules. While at Emisphere from 1993 to December 2007, Mr. Bender held positions including Interim President & CEO, Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President of Business Development, and Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Development. Mr. Bender has over 26 years of biotech and pharmaceutical executive management experience. He has led development teams taking products from discovery to Phase 3 for compounds using novel drug delivery techniques. Mr. Bender has a both a BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and an MA in International Studies also from the University of Pennsylvania. He is fluent in French and German.

Daniel J. Donovan joined the Board in January 2023. Mr. Daniel Donovan is an entrepreneur with extensive experience within the biotech industry. Since 2014 to present he has been the Chief Executive Officer of rareLifeSolutions, Inc., a company creating the connections to engage, unify, and amplify the voices of patients, advocates, and caregivers to inform and accelerate the development and commercialization of emerging treatments especially in rare diseases. Dan was a member of the Board of Directors and Chief Business Officer at Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals (CPP), a late-stage pharmaceutical development company with compounds targeted at several rare diseases. Prior to rareLife and CPP, Dan established Envision Pharma in 2001, serving as President through June 2011. He was the visionary behind the creation and development of Datavision, the market leader in medical publications technology. Envision Pharma was acquired by the United BioSource Corporation (UBC) in April 2008. At UBC Mr. Daniel Donovan was Senior Vice President Strategy and Market Development. Dan began his career at Pfizer serving in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility, ranging from sales to market research and marketing in the US domestic and international market place, culminating in his position as Director and European Team Leader. During his time at Pfizer, he played a pivotal role in the commercialization of some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most successful product launches. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance at Lehigh University. We believe that Mr. Daniel Donovan’s background in cancer and rare disease, finance, drug development, patient advocacy and small company board experience allows him to make valuable contributions to our Board.

Dr. Emer Leahy has served on our board of directors since June 2016. Dr. Leahy received her Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from University College Dublin, Ireland, and her MBA from Columbia University. Since 2000, she has served as CEO of PsychoGenics Inc., a profitable preclinical CNS service company. She is also CEO of PGI Drug Discovery LLC, a company engaged in psychiatric drug discovery with five partnered clinical programs including one in Phase III. Further, she holds an Adjunct Associate Professor of Neuroscience position at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Leahy has more than 30 years of experience in drug discovery, clinical development and business development for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including extensive knowledge of technology assessment, licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning. Dr. Leahy served on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board for the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the Business Review Board for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors of PsychoGenics Inc., Bright Minds Biosciences, Pasithea Therapeutics, and on the Board of Trustees of BIONJ.

Mark A. Goldberg, M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2018. Dr. Mark A. Goldberg recently served as President and COO of PAREXEL International, one of the world’s largest global biopharmaceutical service providers, with consolidated service revenue of approximately $2.1 billion, over 18,000 employees, and 86 locations in 51 countries. He was responsible for overseeing all revenue generating business segments including Clinical Research Services, PAREXEL Informatics, and PAREXEL Consulting as well as sales, marketing, corporate quality, and information technology. Dr. Goldberg helped to pioneer PAREXEL’s strategic partnering approach with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and to build out the company’s global infrastructure, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, through both organic growth and acquisitions. Earlier in his PAREXEL career, he founded the company’s Medical Imaging business and helped establish its technology subsidiary, Perceptive Informatics (now PAREXEL Informatics). Dr. Goldberg holds a BS degree in computer science from MIT and an MD from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He completed residency training in Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he also served as Chief Resident and a staff physician with academic appointments at Harvard Medical School.