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.

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.