Board

Chair – Martin Simonetti

nexgeniacorpmartyMr. Simonetti is currently the COO of Mist Pharmaceuticals. He joined Nexgenia as Chairman of the Board of Directors in September 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Simonetti served as VLST’s President and CEO from 2005 to 2013. From 1999 to 2005, he was employed at Dendreon Corp., most recently serving as the CFO, Senior Vice President Finance and Treasurer. From 1991 to 1998, he was employed at Amgen Inc., serving as the VP of Operations and Finance of Amgen BioPharma and its Director of Colorado Operations. From 1984 to 1991, he worked at Genentech, Inc., first as a scientist in its Medicinal and Analytical Chemistry Department and later as a financial analyst and group controller.

Besides Nexgenia, Mr. Simonetti serves on the Board of Directors of Curtana Pharmaceuticals, EpiThany and VLST Corp., Inc. He served on the Boards of Directors of Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE), from 2005 – 2013 and Icagen, Inc., a Nasdaq company, from 2005 until its sale to Pfizer in 2011. He was also a past member of the Dean’s executive advisory board for the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University and former chairman of the board of Life Sciences Washington. He received an M.S. and B.S. from the University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from the University of Santa Clara.

 

H. Stewart Parker

H. Stewart ParkerStewart is an experienced Seattle biotech executive. She has served as CEO of the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) and remains on their Board. Stewart founded Targeted Genetics Corporation (Nasdaq: TGEN) in 1992, a Seattle-based biotechnology company formed to develop gene-based treatments for acquired and inherited disease. She held the position of President and CEO from the company’s inception until November of 2008. Prior to founding Targeted Genetics, Stewart held various positions at Immunex Corp. from 1981-1992, ending her tenure there as VP of Corporate Development. Stewart currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for several for-profit and non-profit institutions, including the WBBA.

 

Dave Urdal, Ph.D.

DaveUrdalDavid is an experienced biomedical research executive. He served as the CSO of Dendreon Corp. from July 1995 to December 2011. Prior to Dendreon, Dr. Urdal served various positions with Immunex Corp., including President of Immunex Manufacturing Corporation, VP and Director of Development, and Head of the Departments of Biochemistry and Membrane Biochemistry. Dr. Urdal continues to serve on the Boards of a number of corporations. Dr. Urdal received a B.S. and M.S. in Public Health and a Ph.D. in Biochemical Oncology from the University of Washington.

 

Steven Gillis, Ph.D.

steve_gillis2Steven is a Managing Director with ARCH, joining the firm as a Venture Partner in 2005. Dr. Gillis is focused on the evaluation of new life science technologies and also on the development and growth of ARCH’s biotechnology portfolio companies. He is a director and chairman of Bluebird Bio (BLUE), Allozyne, VBI Vaccines, Pulmatrix, VLST, and Accelerator, among others.

Dr. Gillis was a founder and director of Corixa Corp. and served as CEO from its inception and as its Chairman from 1999 until its acquisition in 2005 by GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to Corixa, Dr. Gillis was a founder and director of Immunex Corp and served in a variety of roles as Immunex’s Director of Research and Development, CSO, and as CEO of Immunex’s R&D subsidiary. Dr. Gillis was interim CEO of Immunex Corp. following its majority purchase by American Cyanamid Co. and remained a member of the board until 1997. Amgen, Inc. acquired Immunex in 2002.

 

Chad Waite

Chad-WaiteChad joined OVP Venture Partners in 1987 and focuses on investments in the digital biology, and network security sectors. A subset of his investments include: Accelerator, CellPro, Corixa, Filenet, GenoLogics, Limerick BioPharma, Loudeye Technologies, NanoString, Quantum Medical, Raytel Medical, Rosetta Inpharmatics, Seattle Genetics, Symform, Talyst, and Verdezyne, among others. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Accelerator, Adapx, NanoString, Symform, Talyst, Verdezyne and The W Fund.

Prior to joining OVP, Chad was a General Partner at Hambrecht & Quist Venture Partners where he focused on investments in IT and life sciences. Prior to H&Q, he was in marketing and sales management at Cobe Laboratories, Inc. in its cardiovascular medical products division. Chad received his BA in History from Kenyon College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

 

Ron Myers

nexgeniacorpron myersRon Myers brings more than 20 years of biotech experience to his new role as CEO of Nexgenia, most recently as chief legal officer and VP of strategic transactions at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA. Myers was also the Chief Business Officer at VLST Corp. and, prior to that, held executive positions at both Corixa Corp. and Pfizer.