Our board of directors consists of eight members, Messrs. Lynch, Carragher, Donnelly, Maher, Thornton, O'Sullivan, Dr. McKenna and Stratford. Our directors hold office until the earlier of their death, resignation, disqualification or removal. We have determined that Mr. O'Sullivan, Mr. Thornton and Mr. Stratford are independent directors under the marketplace rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market. There are no family relationships among any of our directors and executive officers.
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Audit
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Nominating and Governance
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Compensation
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Patrick O'Sullivan
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Chairman Patrick O'Sullivan is a Pharmaceutical Business Consultant, he is a member of the board of directors of Warner Chilcott Plc and of Chanelle Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing Ltd. Prior to retirement in 2006, Mr O'Sullivan was CEO of the LEO Pharma Group Companies in Ireland and a member of the board of directors of the parent company of the LEO Pharma Group in Denmark. He also served on the boards of The LEO Foundation, LEO Pharmaceuticals Ltd. UK and LEO Pharma SA. France. Mr O'Sullivan holds Bachelor of Commerce and MBA degrees from University College Dublin, he is a registered pharmacist, member and honorary fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.
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John Lynch
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Chief Executive Officer John Lynch has extensive Pharmaceutical industry experience, with a 20 year career of achievement in many facets of the industry. In that time he has worked in senior positions in operations, business development, sales & marketing and finance. Mr. Lynch has been with Merrion since it commenced operations. Previously, Mr. Lynch was the Chief Executive Officer of JML Healthcare, providing strategic consultancy to blue chip big pharma as well as indigenous life science companies. Previous to that he had a 15 year career with Abbott Laboratories in increasingly responsible management positions, in the USA, UK and in Ireland. Earlier in his career Mr. Lynch held positions with Bayer Diagnostics Limited and Ernst & Young. Mr. Lynch received a B.Comm. from University College Dublin. He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and holds marketing qualifications through the MII. Mr. Lynch also serves on the Tercentenary Board of the School of Medicine at Trinity College and the Board of the Charles Institute at University College Dublin. He is a member of the Taoiseach's Innovation Taskforce.
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Anthony Carragher
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Mr. Carragher has served on our board of directors since December 2004. Since January 2005, Mr. Carragher has served as the managing director of Complete Investment Solutions, and from July 2001 to December 2004, he was the investments manager of Irelandia Investments Limited. Mr. Carragher has served on the board of directors of Irelandia II Limited since July 2001, and on the board of directors of Growcorp Group Ltd. since October 2004. He received an A.C.A. from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He is also Chief Financial Officer to the One Foundation, a major Irish charitable organization.
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Michael Donnelly
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Professor Donnelly has served on our board of directors since April 2004. Professor Donnelly established Growcorp in January 1999. Prior to Growcorp, he was Vice President and General Manager of Cincinnati Sub Zero Inc., a medical products company in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1996 to 1998, Vice President of IEP Group, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina from 1993 to 1996, Professor of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Director of Bioengineering Research at the Perinatal Research Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio from 1986 to 1996, Director of Research and Development from 1983 to 1986 and Director of Marketing from 1980 to 1983 with Air-Shields Inc. Professor Donnelly sits on the boards of Growcorp Group, Growcorp (GP), Gas Sensor Solutions, Fluorocap and Pharmatrin, Orakine, North Wall General Partners, Neutekbio, Irish Venture Capital Association and Irish Biotechnology Association and is the Managing Partner of the European Bioscience Fund.
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Fintan Maher
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Mr. Maher is the Managing Director of Northwall General Partner Ltd., the General Partner of Growcorp Lifescience Limited Partnership an investment fund focused on Lifescience investments, Mr Maher has held this position since October 2004. He has 18 years Investment experience covering Private Wealth Management, Private Equity and Investment Management. From 1999 to 2004 Mr. Maher was the Investment Manager for Irelandia Investments Ltd., the family office of the Ryan Family. He previously held a series of senior roles in Investment Management in the US and Ireland. Mr. Maher sits on the Boards of Growcorp Group, Growcorp (GP), North Wall General Partner Ltd., Merrion Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Gas Sensor Solutions, Orakine and nEUtekbio. Mr. Maher earned a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin, and is a member of The Society of Investment Analysts in Ireland (SIAI) a member society of the CFA Institute.
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Peter Thornton
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Mr. Thornton has served on our board of directors since July 2006. In July 2007, Mr. Thornton was appointed senior vice president, head of product, technology and business development for Elan Drug Technologies. From September 2006 until July 2007, Mr. Thornton served as president and chief operating officer of Circ Pharma Limited, a specialty pharmaceutical product development company with a late stage pipeline focused on the development of novel formulations of existing drugs in the areas of cardiology and neurology. From June 2004 to September 2006, Mr. Thornton served as the senior vice president and chief financial officer of Antigenics, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company focused on cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. From 1994 to 2004, Mr. Thornton held senior management positions in operations and finance with Elan Corporation, plc, most recently as senior vice president of business operations. Earlier, Mr. Thornton worked at the international accounting firm, KPMG, in Dublin and Paris. Mr. Thornton serves as a non-executive director of Antigenics, Inc. He earned a bachelor's degree in commerce from University College, Cork, Ireland, and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
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Michael J. McKenna Ph.D.
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Non- Executive Dr. McKenna served as our chairman from February 2008 to February 2009, as our chief executive officer from April 2004 to February 2008, and on our board of directors since April 2004. From September 1999 to March 2004, Dr. McKenna served as vice president of science and technology at A.M. Pappas & Associates, LLC, a life sciences venture development company. Previously, he owned and operated Pharmaceutical Consulting Services, advising the biopharmaceutical industry in drug development and drug safety. Prior to this he was Vice President, Drug Development at Parke Davis. Dr. McKenna also held numerous scientific and managerial positions in the toxicology laboratories of The Dow Chemical Company and Parke Davis. Dr. McKenna received a B.A. in English from St. John Fisher College and a Ph.D. in Toxicology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
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Harry Stratford
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Non- Executive Harry Stratford is the founder and executive chairman of Stratford Healthcare founded in 2008. Mr. Stratford has over 36 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has built two successful publicly listed pharmaceutical companies from the ground up. Prior to Stratford Healthcare's foundation, Mr. Stratford was the founder, CEO and Executive Chairman of Prostrakan Plc, the UK International specialty pharmaceutical company. He founded Shire Pharmaceuticals in 1986 and was CEO for almost a decade. Mr. Stratford holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of London and was awarded an OBE in 2007 New Year's Honours list for his contribution to the Scottish Life Sciences Industry.
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