Board of Directors
Dr. Michael Powell has served as Chairman of the board of directors at Mirna Therapeutics since October 2012. Dr. Powell has been a General Partner of Sofinnova Ventures, a venture capital firm, since 1997. Previously, Dr. Powell has held positions at Genentech, a biotechnology company, Cytel, a research and development company, and Syntex Research Group, a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Powell is currently a director of several private biopharmaceutical companies, and Ocera Therapeutics, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Powell is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas. He is also the Board President of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and serves on the advisory board of the Institute for the Advancement of Medical Innovation at the University of Kansas. Dr. Powell received a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Toronto, and completed his postdoctoral work in bioorganic chemistry at the University of California.
Lawrence (Larry) M. Alleva was appointed to our Board of Directors in July 2014. Prior to his retirement in June 2010, Mr. Alleva worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, or PwC, for 39 years, 28 of which as a partner with the firm. Mr. Alleva served clients primarily in the technology sector, including numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Additionally, he served PwC in a variety of office, regional and national practice leadership roles, most recently as the U.S. Ethics and Compliance Leader (Assurance) for PwC from 2006 until his retirement. Mr. Alleva is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). Mr. Alleva received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Ithaca College (magna cum laude) and attended Columbia University’s Executive MBA Program. Mr. Alleva also serves as a director for public companies Tesaro Inc. and Bright Horizons Family Solutions, and previously served on the board of GlobalLogic Inc.
Peter S. Greenleaf was appointed to Mirna’ Board of Directors in January 2016. Mr. Greenleaf has been the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals since March 2014 and was appointed Chairman of the Board in January 2016. In addition, he is currently a Director of Mast Therapeutics. Prior to his leadership roles at Sucampo, Mr. Greenleaf was CEO and a board member of Histogenics Corporation and also served as President of MedImmune LLC, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca. Mr. Greenleaf also served as President of MedImmune Ventures, a wholly owned venture capital fund within the AstraZeneca Group. Prior to serving as President of MedImmune, Mr. Greenleaf was the Chief Commercial Officer of the company. Mr. Greenleaf has held senior commercial roles at Centocor Biotech, Inc. (now Janssen Biotechnology, Johnson & Johnson) and Boehringer Mannheim G.m.b.H. (now Roche Holdings). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Mr. Greenleaf received an MBA from St. Joseph’s University and a B.S. from Western Connecticut State University.
Dr. Paul Lammers has served as a member of Mirna’s board of directors and as President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2009. Previously, Dr. Lammers was the President of Repros Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Lammers has also served as the Chief Medical Officer for EMD Serono, Inc., a biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Senior Vice President of clinical and regulatory affairs at Zonagen, Inc., which later became Repros Therapeutics, and Organon International, a pharmaceutical company, spending eight years in the commercial and clinical operations in Europe and the United States. Dr. Lammers received an M.Sc. and M.D. from the Catholic University (Radboud University) in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Mr. Ed Mathers has served as a Partner at NEA, a private venture capital firm focusing on technology and healthcare investments since August 2008. Mr. Mathers became a member of Mirna’s board of directors in October 2012. He also serves on the board of directors of Envisia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company; Liquidia Technologies, a biotechnology company; Ra Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company; and Lumos Pharma, a biotechnology company. Previously Mr. Mathers served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Venture, at MedImmune, Inc. and led its venture capital subsidiary, MedImmune Ventures, Inc. Before joining MedImmune, he was Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Licensing and Acquisitions at Inhale Therapeutic Systems. Previously, Mr. Mathers spent 15 years at Glaxo Wellcome, Inc., where he held various sales and marketing positions.
Dr. Perry Nisen was appointed to Mirna’s Board of Directors in June 2016. Dr. Nisen currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Donald Bren Chief Executive Chair of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, where he oversees the organization’s vision of becoming a leader in the growing field of translational medicine. Throughout his career, Dr. Nisen held various roles at GlaxoSmithKline, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Science and Innovation, in which he facilitated innovation and integration of R&D across GSK’s global organization and was integral to the discovery, development, and commercialization of a vast portfolio of drugs. Previously, he also served as the Divisional Vice President of Cancer Research and Oncology Development at Abbott Laboratories. Formerly, he was the Lowe Foundation Professor of Neuro-Oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Nisen holds a B.S. from Stanford University and M.D. and Ph.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Dr. Matt Winkler has served as a member of Mirna’s board of directors since December 2007. Since January 2013, Dr. Winkler has been chairman of the board of directors and Chief Scientific Officer of Asuragen, Inc., a molecular diagnostic and pharmacogenomics service company, where he also served as Chief Executive Officer from March 2006 to December 2012. Prior to Asuragen, Dr. Winkler was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ambion, Inc., a privately held company that developed and sold research reagents for RNA analysis. Dr. Winkler also serves on the board of Second Genome, a biotherapeutics company. He received a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California Berkeley.