Board of Directors
Bill Radvak
Chairman & Co-Founder
Bill Radvak is a co-founder and has been the Executive Chairman or Chairman of NervGen since its inception. Mr. Radvak has been the chief executive officer and director of multiple start-up companies. He was a founder and the CEO of Response Biomedical Corp., a (formerly publicly listed) medical device company (which continues to carry on that business), which he led from its inception to a 90-employee, sales and manufacturing company.
Since 2010, Mr. Radvak has been the President and CEO of Monitor Ventures Inc. (an inactive mining exploration company) and President and CEO of Clean Air Metals (formerly Regency Gold Corp.) from April 2007 to April 2019 and from June 28, 2019 to February 2020.
Mr. Radvak holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Mining Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Harold Punnett, DMD
Director & Co-Founder
Dr. Punnett, co-founder of NervGen, is an accomplished angel investor who has been the director of multiple start-up companies. As a dental surgeon with a practice in British Columbia, Canada, he has extensive knowledge of medicine and physiology, including cell biology. Along with this knowledge, he has a deep passion for those suffering from spinal cord injury and other nerve-related challenges. Dr. Punnett is a Member of the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia, Member of the British Columbia Dental Association and Member of the Canadian Dental Association. He received his doctorate degree from the University of British Columbia.
Brian Bayley
Director
Brian Bayley is Executive Chairman and Director of Earlston Investments, a private merchant bank, with transaction experience of over $2 billion. Previously, Mr. Bayley was CEO of Quest Capital and worked at the Vancouver Stock Exchange, now the TSX Venture Exchange. Mr. Bayley has over 30 years of public issuer experience, both as a director and officer, in numerous private and public companies.
Glenn Ives
Director
Glenn Ives served 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 St. Paul’s Foundation (Vancouver), where he served as Chair, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, where he was a Director from 2010 to 2019 and Chairman from 2016 to 2018.
Mr. Ives is a Director and the Audit Committee Chair of Kinross Gold Corporation and a Director of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. He holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree (Honours) from the University of Waterloo, is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia, a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, and is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Randall Kaye, MD
Director
Dr. Kaye is currently Chief Medical Officer of Longboard Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, California. Prior to Longboard, Dr. Kaye was the CMO of Neurana Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Neurana, Dr. Kaye served as CMO of Click Therapeutics, Axsome Therapeutics and Avanir Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaye held leadership positions at Scios, InterMune and Pfizer. Dr. Kaye earned an MD, MPH and BS at The George Washington University and 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 US 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 US 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.
Krista McKerracher
Director
Krista McKerracher is a biopharmaceutical leader, Board member and strategic advisor with over 35 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.
Adam Rogers
Director
Adam Rogers, MD 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 25 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 graduated from Emory University 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 led Maverix’s first investment in Viral Nation and sits on their board. He is also the Founder of OMERS Ventures and Co-Founder and Vice Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators. As an active board member in the profit and not-for-profit sectors, Mr. Ruffolo currently works with many leading innovative organizations including AI Partnerships Corp., engineering.com, OneEleven, the Rick Hansen Foundation, the CIBC Foundation, Caldwell’s Top 40 Under 40, the Investigative Journalism Foundation, and the Dean’s Global Council for the Schulich School of Business.
Craig Thompson
Director
Mr. 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 President, Chief Executive Officer, and a board member of Neurana Pharmaceuticals. His previous biotech experience includes President & Chief Executive Officer of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Chief Operating Officer of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals and Chief Commercial Officer of Trius Therapeutics where he was involved in the $700M+ acquisition of Trius Therapeutics by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, as well as a partnership with Bayer.
Prior to Trius Therapeutics, Mr. Thompson served in various global and U.S. roles at Pfizer, 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 degree in Commerce from McMaster University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.