Board of Directors
Glenn Ives
Chairman
Glenn Ives is a director and the Audit Committee Chair of Kinross Gold Corporation and a Director and member of the Human Resource Committee of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. Mr. Ives retired as a Canadian partner of Deloitte LLP on March 31, 2020. He served as the Executive Chair of Deloitte Canada from 2010 and 2018, a director of Deloitte Global from 2010 to 2018, and Chair of the Deloitte Global Risk Committee from 2012 to 2018. Mr. Ives has extensive corporate governance experience with non-profit organizations, including serving as Chair at St. Paul’s Foundation (Vancouver) and a director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation from 2010 to 2019, which involved serving as Chairman from 2016 to 2018.
Mr. Ives holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree (Honours) from the University of Waterloo, graduating on the Dean’s Honor List. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia, a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, and was the Ontario gold medalist for the Uniform Final Exams in 1984. Mr. Ives is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Harold Punnett, DMD
Director & Co-Founder
Dr. Harold Punnett is a retired member of the Canadian Dental Association, College of Dental Surgeons in British Columbia, and the British Columbia Dental Association. Dr. Punnett is an experienced angel investor and has previously acted as a director of two public issuers. A co-founder and current Board member of NervGen, he has a passion for helping those with spinal cord injuries and nerve related challenges. Dr. Punnett holds a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of British Columbia.
Brian Bayley
Director
Brian Bayley serves as the President and Executive Chairman of Earlston Management Corp. (a private management company) and Executive Chairman of Earlston Investments Corp. (a private merchant bank). Previously, Mr. Bayley was a director and Resource Lending Advisor for Sprott Resource Lending Corp. (formerly Quest Capital Corp.), a Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American listed resource lending corporation. He has held active senior management positions in both private and public natural resource companies and has over 30 years of public issuer experience, both as an officer and a director. Mr. Bayley holds an MBA from Queen’s University. He is also a director and officer of several other public companies.
Randall Kaye, MD
Director
Dr. Randall Kaye is currently a consultant with Hanson Drug Company, LLC. Dr. Kaye is the former Chief Medical Officer of Longboard Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, California where he was involved in the US$2.6 billion acquisition of Longboard by Lundbeck A/S. Prior to Longboard, Dr. Kaye served as Chief Medical Officer at Neurana Pharmaceuticals, Click Therapeutics, Axsome Therapeutics and Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaye held leadership positions at Scios Inc., InterMune and Pfizer Inc. Dr. Kaye earned an MD, MPH and BS at George Washington University. He was a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School.
Mike Kelly
Director, President & Chief Executive Officer
Mike Kelly, MBA, BSBA, brings three decades of pharmaceutical experience playing instrumental roles in the creation, development and strengthening of several companies to his role as President & CEO of NervGen. Most recently, Mr. Kelly served as President of U.S. Operations for Adapt Pharma, Inc. from March 2016 to June 2019, and played a key leadership role in the development and commercialization of NARCAN (naloxone HCl) Nasal Spray in the U.S. and Canada and in the eventual sale to Emergent BioSolutions for US$735 million.
Prior to his tenure at Adapt Pharma, Inc., Mr. Kelly served as the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Covis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where, along with its European affiliate, grew and sold the company assets for US$1.2 billion. Mr. Kelly was also a member of the founding management team of Azur Pharma Limited, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and later, following a strategic merger, served as the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. Mr. Kelly has also held various commercial and medical roles at Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc., ViroPharma Incorporated and TAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. and has been a Director of ARS Pharmaceuticals Inc. since May 2019. Mr. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from The College of New Jersey and a Master of Business Administration from Rider University.
Neil Klompas
Director
Neil Klompas, CPA, CA, is an experienced life sciences and healthcare sector executive and board member. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors, of Augurex Life Sciences Corp. Prior to Augurex, he served as Chief Financial Officer and later as President and Chief Operating Officer of Zymeworks Inc. During his time with the company, he oversaw finance and operations leading the execution of the company’s initial public offering on the NYSE and TSX.
Prior to Zymeworks, Mr. Klompas worked with KPMG LLP as part of the Pharmaceutical, Biotech & Medical Devices M&A Transaction Services practice in Princeton, NJ, and with KPMG LLP in the life sciences assurance practice based in Vancouver. Mr. Klompas serves on the Board of Directors of HTuO Biosciences, and has served as Board Chair for Ovensa Inc., and as the Chair of the Audit Committee and Special Committee of Liminal Biosciences Inc. until its acquisition in 2023. He holds his BSc in Microbiology & Immunology from the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.
Krista McKerracher
Director
Krista McKerracher is a biopharmaceutical leader, Board member and strategic advisor with over 40 years’ experience in both large global pharmaceutical and small biotech companies. Her last corporate role was VP, Head of Hemoglobinopathy Programs at CRISPR Therapeutics where she and her team took the first CRISPR gene-edited product into the clinic. Prior to CRISPR Therapeutics, she was VP & Global Program Franchise Head of Novartis where she led a global cross-functional development team.
She also held a series of commercial roles for over 14 years at the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Ms. McKerracher is currently Founder of FIG Advisory LLC focused on advising early-stage companies on strategy and business development. Additionally, she is Board Chair of Genialis, a private precision oncology company and serves on Advisory Boards to Cureleads and BioAxone Biosciences and is a mentor at Springboard, an incubator for female-led healthcare and technology companies. Ms. McKerracher holds a BSc. in Applied Health Studies from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Adam Rogers, MD
Director
Dr. Adam Rogers was the interim President of NervGen Pharma Corp. from September 2022 to April 2023 and is a Principal of Boston-based PFP Biosciences Holdings and is a board-certified ophthalmologist specializing in diseases and surgery of the retina and vitreous. Dr. Rogers co-founded Hemera Biosciences in 2010, a clinical stage gene therapy biotech company targeting dry age-related macular degeneration. He assumed the role of CEO in 2017 and oversaw all aspects of the company until the Hemera assets were acquired in December 2020 by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
From 2001 to 2020 he served as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New England Eye Center of Tufts Medical Center (Boston, MA). Dr. Rogers has published 29 articles in peer reviewed journals and co-authored two textbooks and numerous chapters in major ophthalmic textbooks. Since 2007 he has served on the board of One Family Inc., an organization whose mission is to end homelessness in Massachusetts. He is a member of the Emory University Board of Trustees. Dr. Rogers has a MD from Emory College and Emory School of Medicine.
John Ruffolo
Director
John Ruffolo is the Founder and Managing Partner of Maverix Private Equity, a private equity firm focused on innovation-enabled growth and disruption investment strategies. Mr. Ruffolo chairs the Investment Committee, guides the strategy of the firm, is deeply involved with fundraising and sourcing and leading investment opportunities, particularly within the technology and life sciences industries.
Mr. Ruffolo is also the Founder of OMERS Ventures and Co-Founder and Vice Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. Before joining OMERS, in addition to being a Partner at Deloitte, Mr. Ruffolo was their Global Thought Leader, Global Tax Leader, and Canadian Industry Leader for their Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) practice, and a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Ruffolo serves as a board member across both profit and non-profit sectors, collaborating with organizations including KODE Labs, Raptor Maps, Viral Nation, CIBC Foundation, Rick Hansen Foundation, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Investigative Journalism Foundation and Schulich School of Business’ Dean’s Global Council. Mr. Ruffolo holds a BBA, Accounting degree from York University. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario.
Craig Thompson
Director
Craig Thompson joined Cerevance as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors in April 2022. Prior to Cerevance, Mr. Thompson was at Neurana Pharmaceuticals as President & Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the board of directors from June 2018 to April 2022. Prior to Neurana, Mr. Thompson was President & CEO of Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. His previous biotech experience includes Chief Operating Officer for Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Chief Commercial Officer for Trius Therapeutics, Inc. where he was involved in the $700M+ acquisition of Trius Therapeutics by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as well as a partnership with Bayer Pharma AG.
Prior to Trius Therapeutics, Mr. Thompson served in various global and U.S. roles at Pfizer Inc., including Therapeutic Group Leader of Allergy, Respiratory, Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Inflammation; and ultimately served as Vice President of Marketing for Pfizer’s Specialty Care Business Unit. Previous to Pfizer, Mr. Thompson served in positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., including the European partnership with Schering Plough. Mr. Thompson holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce degree from McMaster University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.