Board of Directors
Ms. Curran has served as a member of the Board since November 2016. Ms. Curran has served as the Chief Executive Officer at Phathom Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, since December 2019 and has served as the President of Phathom Pharmaceuticals since November 2020. From April 2017 to November 2019, Ms. Curran served as President, Global Inflammation and Immunology Franchise of Celgene Corporation, a biotechnology company, and as a member of its Executive Committee. Previously, she was Head of Worldwide Markets for Celgene’s Global Inflammation and Immunology Franchise. Ms. Curran joined Celgene in 2013 as the U.S. Commercial Head of the Global Inflammation and Immunology Franchise and built the capabilities and recruited the teams that executed the successful U.S. launch of OTEZLA®. Before Celgene, she served as Senior Vice President and General Manager—Global Women’s Health business at Merck and Co., Inc. At Merck, she was responsible for all commercial activities within the global business and led a number of successful global product launches. Prior to Merck, Ms. Curran was a General Manager at Schering-Plough where she successfully launched Remicade in Switzerland and Australia. Ms. Curran currently serves on the boards of directors of Phathom Pharmaceuticals and Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc., both pharmaceutical companies. Ms. Curran received her B.S. and Graduate Diploma of Marketing degrees from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. We believe that Ms. Curran’s extensive leadership experience and knowledge of the life sciences industry qualify her to serve on the Board.
Mr. Guinan has served as a member of the Board since July 2018, and currently serves as our Lead Independent Director. From July 2013 to July 2022, Mr. Guinan served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, a provider of diagnostic information services. From 2010 to 2013, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., a manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and related services for the health care industry. Previously, he served in a number of finance and operations roles in a long career at Johnson & Johnson including from 2009 to 2010 as Vice President, Chief Procurement Officer, and 2005 to 2009 as Vice President, Group Finance Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Johnson & Johnson in 1997, he held a number of finance roles at Procter & Gamble. Mr. Guinan received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and his M.B.A. from Olin Business School at the Washington University in St. Louis. We believe that Mr. Guinan’s substantial executive management, business development and finance experience qualify him to serve on the Board.
Ms. Gulfo has served as a member of the Board since December 2019. Ms. Gulfo has served as Chief Commercial and Business Development Officer at Sumitovant Biopharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company and a subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., since December 2019, in which capacity she is responsible for overseeing global business development and commercialization activities across a diverse pipeline. Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. is our majority shareholder and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., a pharmaceutical company. From May 2020 to March 2021, Ms. Gulfo served as the Interim Chief Commercial Officer of Myovant Sciences, Inc. From May 2018 to December 2019, Ms. Gulfo served as Chief of Commercial Development at Roivant Sciences, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, in which capacity she was responsible for directing business development activities and overseeing commercialization strategies. Prior to joining Roivant in May 2018, Ms. Gulfo served as Executive Vice President and Head of Global Commercial Development for Mylan N.V., a global pharmaceuticals company, from January 2014 to January 2018, in which capacity she was responsible for developing and implementing strategies of marketing and commercialization of biosimilars, branded generic, and specialty pharmaceutical products. Prior to that, Ms. Gulfo spent five years at Pfizer Inc. in a number of executive positions, including President and General Manager, U.S. Primary Care. She also ran Commercial Operations and the Managed Markets organization across Pfizer’s biopharmaceutical business in the U.S. Prior to joining Pfizer, she held several executive positions at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and at the Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert (which later merged with Pfizer) where as the Senior Director, Cardiovascular Marketing she launched LIPITOR®, a well-known pharmaceutical product. Ms. Gulfo currently serves on the board of directors of EnPro Industries, Inc., a company producing proprietary engineered industrial products, and Medexus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company. From June 2015 to June 2019, Ms. Gulfo served on the board of directors of Bemis Company, Inc., a manufacturing company. Ms. Gulfo also serves on the Innovation Growth Board for Mass General Brigham and is an advisor for the Life Sciences Council of Springboard Enterprises. Ms. Gulfo received her B.S. in Biology from Seton Hall University, and her M.B.A. (with highest honors) in Marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus. She studied post-graduate Molecular Biology and began her career at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. We believe that Ms. Gulfo’s extensive commercial development, marketing, and general management experience in the pharmaceutical industry qualify her to serve on the Board.
Mr. Marek has served as a member of the Board and our Principal Executive Officer, and as Chief Executive Officer of Myovant Sciences, Inc., our wholly-owned subsidiary, since January 2021. Mr. Marek served as Chief Commercial Officer of Axsome Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where he led the buildout of commercial capabilities in preparation for anticipated product launches, from September 2019 to December 2020. Prior to joining Axsome, from June 2017 to August 2019, Mr. Marek held the position of Vice President, and General Manager of the Neuroscience business unit at Amgen, Inc., a pharmaceutical company. At Amgen, Mr. Marek led the U.S. commercialization strategy and launch of Aimovig for migraine prevention. Prior to heading the Neuroscience business unit, he was Vice President of Marketing of Amgen’s U.S. Inflammation and Nephrology business from June 2015 to June 2017, in which role he was responsible for managing revenue forecasts, product strategies, and business planning for the U.S. Inflammation and Nephrology business of Amgen. Before Amgen, Mr. Marek was the principal and owner of Turnstone Strategies LLC, which was a consulting firm providing consulting services on health and wellness, digital health, corporate strategy, marketing, and various other matters. Prior to that position, Mr. Marek served as Executive Vice President, Consumer Services, and Commercial Strategy Officer of WebMD Health Corp., a provider of health information services. Prior to this position at WebMD, Mr. Marek was the Managing Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare Advertising, a multinational communications and advertising agency network. Mr. Marek began his career at Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical company, followed by AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, where he served in a variety of marketing and sales roles of increasing responsibility. He earned his B.A. in Business Administration from Washington State University. We believe that Mr. Marek’s experience as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry, knowledge of biopharmaceuticals, and his position as our Chief Executive Officer qualify him to serve on the Board.
Dr. Nishinaka has served as a member of the Board since October 2022. Since June 2022, Dr. Nishinaka has served as a member of the board of directors of Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., formerly known as Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in Japan (“Sumitomo Pharma”) and the sole shareholder of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., our majority shareholder. He became Sumitomo Pharma’s Senior Executive Officer, Global Business Development, International Business Management in April 2022. Dr. Nishinaka has been with Sumitomo Pharma since 2009 and before serving in his current roles, Dr. Nishinaka also served in a number of executive leadership roles, including as Senior Executive Officer, Global Corporate Strategy and Senior Director of Global Business Development, International Business Management from April 2020 to April 2022, and as Executive Officer, Senior Director of Global Business Development, International Business Management from April 2017 to April 2020. Prior to joining Sumitomo Pharma, Dr. Nishinaka led drug research in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer’s disease, immunology, infection and oncology at Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., a global pharmaceutical company, from 2001 to 2009. Dr. Nishinaka currently serves on the boards of directors of several privately held companies, including Meltin MMI, a Japanese medical technology company focused on the research and development, and commercialization of medical devices and avatar robots, and Sumitomo Pharma Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Sumitomo Pharma (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Sumitovant Biopharma, Urovant Sciences Ltd. (a Nasdaq-listed company until March 2021), Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Taiwan Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Pharma Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, all pharmaceutical companies affiliated with Sumitomo Pharma. From April 2020 to March 2022, he served on the board of directors of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Nishinaka received his Ph.D. from Hiroshima University in Japan, where he also completed a master’s course in Biosphere Science. We believe that Dr. Nishinaka’s substantial experience in global business development in the pharmaceutical industry and management experience qualify him to serve on the Board.
Ms. Potter has served as a member of the Board since September 2018 and has served as the Chairperson of the Board since November 2018. Ms. Potter has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Sumitovant Biopharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company and a subsidiary of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. since December 2019. Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. is our majority shareholder and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Pharma Co., Ltd., a pharmaceutical company. From July 2018 to December 2019, Ms. Potter served as Vant Operating Chair of Roivant Sciences, Inc, a pharmaceutical company. Ms. Potter founded Myrtle Potter & Company, LLC, a private healthcare and life sciences advisory firm, in September 2005, and served as its Chief Executive Officer until June 2018. From August 2009 until December 2014, Ms. Potter served as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myrtle Potter Media, Inc., a consumer healthcare company. From 2000 to 2004, Ms. Potter served as Chief Operating Officer at Genentech, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and from 2004 to 2005, she served as its President, Commercial Operations and Executive Vice President. Prior to that, Ms. Potter held various positions, including President, U.S. Cardiovascular/Metabolics at Bristol-Myers Squibb and as a Vice President at Merck & Co. Ms. Potter currently serves on the boards of directors of Guardant Health, Inc., a biotechnology company, Liberty Mutual Holding Company Inc., a diversified global insurance company and several privately held companies. Ms. Potter previously served on the boards of directors of Urovant Sciences Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company which ceased to be a public company in March 2021, from August 2018 to March 2021, Axsome Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from June 2017 to June 2020, Immunovant, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from December 2019 to February 2020, Axovant Gene Therapies Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company, from September 2018 to February 2020, Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, from October 2018 to February 2020, Insmed Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, from December 2014 to November 2018, Rite Aid Corporation, a leading drugstore chain, from December 2013 to September 2018, Everyday Health, Inc., a leading provider of digital health and wellness solutions, from October 2010 until its acquisition in December 2016, and Amazon.com, Inc., a leading e-commerce company, from 2004 to 2009. She also served on the boards of directors of Medco Health Solutions Inc. and Express Scripts Holding Co., subsequent to its acquisition of Medco Health Solutions, as well as other privately held companies. Ms. Potter earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago. We believe that Ms. Potter’s extensive experience leading biopharmaceutical companies and her expertise in commercializing prescription drugs qualify her to serve on the Board.