David Scheer
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tengion
President of Scheer & Company
Mr. Scheer possesses more than two decades of experience with activities in venture capital, corporate strategy, and transactional advisory services focused on the life sciences. In venture capital, Mr. Scheer has been involved in the founding and has been a member of the Boards of Directors of ViroPharma, Inc., OraPharma, Inc., now a unit of Johnson & Johnson, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., now a unit of Pfizer, Inc. (of which he was Chairman), Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sopherion Therapeutics, Inc (of which he was Chairman). He has led engagement teams from Scheer providing corporate strategic advisory services to a broad range of publicly- and privately-held companies. Mr. Scheer has also led or played a significant role in a series of transactions involving corporate alliances, licensing arrangements, divestments, acquisitions and mergers in the life sciences. He received his A.B. cum laude from Harvard College, and an M.S. from Yale University.
Steven Nichtberger, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Nichtberger is a veteran of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with 15 years leading global organizations and overseeing successful product development, commercial launch and business development activities. As co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Tengion, Dr. Nichtberger has led the company since its inception in 2004. He has been a driving force in building the scientific and manufacturing infrastructure within Tengion capable of advancing multiple neo-organs and tissues from discovery through development and commercialization, built the world's first facility to grow human organs for surgeons to implant in patients, and advanced several key clinical programs from IND to late stage clinical trials.
Prior to co-founding Tengion, Dr. Nichtberger was a member of the senior management team at Merck, where he held a variety of positions including: leadership of the global marketing organization with responsibility for developing marketing strategy for all Merck brands globally; operational leadership with P&L responsibility for a $3.5 billion US product portfolio; and, leadership of the New Product Planning function. He also played an integral role in several corporate licensing, divestiture, and product acquisition deals. Previously, Dr. Nichtberger founded and developed a profitable, privately-held company that licenses intellectual property in the field of internet-based paperless couponing. He holds a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Economics from the Wharton School, and an M.D. from the School of Medicine and Biosciences, SUNY at Buffalo. He is currently on the board of directors of Pennsylvania Bio and BioAdvance, the external advisory board of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and the board of the Montgomery County Association for Retarded Citizens.
Carl-Johan Dalsgaard, M.D., Ph.D.
Partner, HealthCap Venture Capital
Dr. Dalsgaard also serves as CEO of certain companies in which HealthCap has invested. He has been the start-up CEO of Biolipox AB, CePeP AB. Biofactor Therapeutics AB, and Biocrine AB. Prior to joining Odlander Fredrikson in 2000, Dr. Dalsgaard gained 10 years of senior management experience from the pharmaceutical industry as VP Preclinical Research, Astra Pain Control AB; President, Astra Pain Control AB and most recently VP and Head of Therapy Area Pain Control, AstraZeneca R&D. He became MD at the Karolinska Institute, has a Ph.D. in neurobiology, post-doc experience from Harvard Medical School, served as a tutor for Ph.D. students and published 79 scientific articles in the areas of neurobiology, cell biology and surgery. Dr. Dalsgaard has fulfilled specialist training for board certificate in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Karolinska Hospital.
Brenda M. Gavin, D.V.M.
Managing Partner, Quaker BioVentures
Dr. Gavin is a founding partner of Quaker BioVentures. Previously, she was President of S.R. One, Limited (S.R. One), GlaxoSmithKline's bioscience venture capital investment company, and a general partner of EuclidSR Partners, an independent venture capital limited partnership focused on healthcare and information technology. Since its inception in 1985, S.R. One has invested in more than 100 life sciences companies and 20 venture funds. Dr. Gavin was responsible for many of the direct venture and strategic investments made by S.R. One, and she served as a board member or active board observer for many of its portfolio companies. She is currently a board member of Celator Pharmaceuticals,Tengion, Inc.,TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals, and Tranzyme Pharma; she is an active board observer of Nucleonics, Inc and Diasome Pharmaceuticals. In addition, she serves on the boards of the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, Innovation Philadelphia, BioAdvance (the Biotechnology Greenhouse Corporation of Southeastern Pennsylvania), and the Pennsylvania State University Research Foundation; she also serves on the International Advisory Board of the Monell Institute. Dr. Gavin is a past board member of the National Venture Capital Association . Dr. Gavin is a graduate of Baylor University. She received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Missouri and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas - San Antonio.
Ginger More
Independent Director
Ms. More is currently an advisor to several venture capital firms and serves as a Board member to University of Connecticut R&D. She retired from Oak Investment Partners in 2002 where she served as a General Partner of the Oak Funds. Founded in 1978, Oak manages venture capital funds capitalized in excess of $5 billion. Oak has invested in over 400 companies to date. Ms. More joined Oak in 1978 and was responsible for investments in the telecommunications and healthcare industry. Early stage investments include Compaq Computer, Stratus, Genzyme, Keravision, Octel, Network Equipment Technologies, Alkermes, Osteotech, Pharmacopeia, Dyax, Alexion, OraPharma and Tengion. She also served on the boards of Psychiatric Solutions, Sopherion and Esperion. Prior to joining Oak, Ms. More held a number of financially-related positions over a ten year period at Wright Investors' Service, a pension management firm with assets exceeding $4 billion. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Venture Group and a Member of the Intellectual Property Committee of Children's Hospital in Boston. Ms. More studied Mathematics at the University of Bridgeport and became a Chartered Financial Analyst (C.F.A.) in 1978.
James Nahirny
Managing Director, Bain Capital Ventures
Mr. Nahirny is a Managing Director of Bain Capital Ventures, where he leads the healthcare investing activities. Prior to Bain Capital Ventures, Mr. Nahirny was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, where he worked closely with the senior management and boards of his clients on a broad range of strategic and operational issues. Before joining McKinsey, he was in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group at the investment bank First Boston. Mr. Nahirny received an M.B.A with High Distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar, and a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University.
Brian J. G. Pereira, M.D.
President and CEO of AMAG Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Pereira joined AMAG Pharmaceuticals as president in November 2005, and was appointed chief executive officer in November 2006. Prior to joining the company, he was president and chief executive officer of New England Health Care Foundation, a physician's group at Tufts Medical Center, from 2001 to 2005, and held various other positions at Tufts Medical Center from 1993 to 2001. From 2002 to 2004, he served as president of the National Kidney Foundation, and served on the editorial board of 12 scientific journals. Dr. Pereira is a nationally-recognized expert on kidney disease, and is the editor of the widely read textbook Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis and Transplantation and has over 200 scientific papers to his credit. He is a professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and at the Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences of Tufts University. Dr. Pereira currently serves on the board of directors of the National Kidney Foundation, Satellite Health Care Inc., and Biodel, Inc., and is the Chairman of the Board of the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Enterprise Program. Dr. Pereira earned his medical degree from St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, India and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Business School, Northwestern University.
Lorin J. Randall
Independent Director