Richard J. Markham
Chairman
Richard J. Markham has been Chairman of the Board of Directors since October, and a member since 2007. Mr. Markham is also a partner at the venture capital firm Care Capital, LLC. Prior to joining Care Capital in 2004, he was the Vice Chairman of the Management Board and COO of Aventis.
Previously, Mr. Markham served as the CEO of Aventis Pharma and Hoechst Marion Roussel and the President and COO of Marion Merrell Dow, Inc. Earlier in his career, from 1973 to 1993, he was associated with Merck & Co., Inc., culminating in his position as President and COO.
Mr. Markham has served as a member of the board of directors of Acura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has also held various roles on the boards of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey, Aventis Pasteur, and the Commerce Bank of Kansas City.
Mr. Markham received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences from Purdue University and has served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the university. He has also been awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree, the university’s highest honor for achievement.
Pierre Legault
Chief Executive Officer and President, Director
Pierre Legault joined NephroGenex in October 2013 as Chief Executive Officer and has been a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since November 2012. Mr. Legault formerly served as CEO of Prosidion Ltd., a mid-size U.K. biotechnology firm.
Mr. Legault has also served as Executive VP, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer with OSI Pharmaceuticals, Senior Executive VP and Chief Administrative Officer of Rite Aid Corporation, and President of the Eckerd Group, with overall manager responsibilities for the Brooks Eckerd operations in the U.S. Mr. Legault also held several senior positions with Sanofi-Aventis and predecessor companies.
Mr. Legault previously served on the boards of Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Cyclacel Pharmaceutical Inc. He studied at McGill University, University of Montreal (HEC) and the Harvard Business School, and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt, a BAA, MBA, CA and CPA diploma.
James Mitchum
Director
James Mitchum has served as Chair of the Audit Committee on the Board of Directors since February 2014. Mr. Mitchum is the CEO of Heart to Heart International, a crisis and medical relief organization based in Kansas City. From 2009 to July 2012, Mr. Mitchum served as President of the Americas for EUSA Pharma (USA), Inc., where he oversaw the streamlining of that business as well as the development, FDA approval and successful launch of a pediatric oncology drug in 2011.
Previously, Mr. Mitchum served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Enturia, Inc., a privately owned drug-device company, based in Kansas City, Missouri. He also served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi-Aventis Group Japan, as well as director on numerous private company and organization boards.
Mr. Mitchum earned an MBA in Business from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Math from Milligan College in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Robert R. Seltzer
Director
Robert R. Seltzer has been on the Board of Directors since October 2013. Mr. Seltzer is a Managing Partner at Amzak Health, an investment firm focused on venture capital and growth equity opportunities in healthcare. Prior to joining Amzak Health in 2015, Mr. Seltzer was a Partner at Care Capital, a life sciences venture capital firm, where he spent over ten years investing in the healthcare sector. In that capacity, he served on the Board of Directors of a number of biopharmaceutical and drug development companies. Prior to his investing career, Mr. Seltzer was a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, and was previously Co-Founder and President of Trenza Corp.
Mr. Seltzer received his MBA from The Wharton School, a Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.
Eugen Steiner, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Eugen Steiner, M.D., Ph.D., has served on the Board of Directors since 2007. Dr. Steiner is a venture partner of HealthCap, a group of multi-stage venture capital funds, investing globally in life sciences. He has more than 25 years of executive management experience, and since 1997 has served as CEO of companies in which HealthCap has invested. He has been CEO of Affibody AB, Biostratum Inc., Calab Medical AB, Creative Peptides AB, Eurona Medical AB, Melacure Therapeutics AB, Nordic Vision Clincs AS, PyroSequencing AB and Visual Bioinformatics AB. Dr. Steiner has also served on several public, private and nonprofit company boards and belongs to several professional medical, industry and investor associations.
Dr. Steiner earned his M.D. as well as Ph.D. degrees at the Karolinska Institute. Until 1987, Dr. Steiner practiced medicine and was active in medical research at the Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Marco Taglietti, M.D.
Director
Marco Taglietti, M.D., joined as an independent director on October 1, 2014, serving on the Audit and Compensation Committees. He has more than 20 years of experience in senior leadership positions in pharmaceutical research and development, most recently at Forest Laboratories, Inc.
Prior to its recent acquisition, Dr. Taglietti served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer of Forest Laboratories, Inc. He also served as President, Chief Medical Officer of the Forest Research Institute. Prior to joining Forest Labs in 2007, Dr. Taglietti held the position of Senior Vice President, Head of Global Research and Development, at Stiefel Laboratories, Inc. for three years. He joined Stiefel after 12 years at Schering-Plough Corporation where he last held the position of Vice President, Worldwide Clinical Research for Anti-Infectives, Oncology, CNS, Endocrinology and Dermatology. Dr. Taglietti began his career at Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute. Over the course of his career, he has brought to market 35 different products in the U.S. and internationally. He received his medical degree and board certifications from the University of Pavia in Italy.