Senior Management

Donald J. McCaffrey

President and CEO, Co-Founder

Don is Resverlogix’s strategic leader, founder, mentor and the overall ‘heart’ of the company.

Biography


Don has led Resverlogix through significant change and achievement from its initial days as a private company to becoming a TSX listed company, including raising over $70 million. In addition to garnering appropriate financing for Resverlogix’s aggressive development plan, Don has strategically directed the Company in its discussion with top global pharmaceutical companies, created new therapeutic markets for its key technology platforms and hired Research & Development staff from international markets. Prior to his current role with Resverlogix Corp., Don spent 25 years as an entrepreneur in trade show and international conference development in various industries including biotechnology.  He is former President of BioFuture Conferences, a national event hosting biotechnology researchers, financiers & industry speakers.

Don’s career accomplishments have been recognized by the business community and peers, as he was nominated for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year twice, both in 2004 and 2005. Don is a leader and pioneer in the business community as well, he is a strong supporter and contributor to community organizations including Mount Royal College, Alberta Children’s Hospital, Education Matters and Calgary Urban Project Society ‘CUPS’ Literacy Program.



Norman C.W. Wong, M.D., FRCP

Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, Co-Founder

Norman is the visionary for the scientific development of Resverlogix’s therapeutic platforms.

Biography


Norman's research interest focus on the molecular actions of hormones related to the regulation of lipoprotein expression and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. His clinical interest encompasses patients with thyroid disease or diabetes mellitus. Norman 's most recent successes have come from elucidating the potential therapeutic opportunities for cardiovascular disease by harnessing the regulation of Apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) gene expression. Norman keeps active in the academic community with speaking engagements at national and international medical conferences. Norman has been the author and co-author of more than 220 articles and abstracts and has been invited to sit on more than 35 panels and committees. Norman has also acted as a consultant to several leading pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Merck Frost, GlaxoSmithKline, Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Laboratories.


Kelly McNeill, B.Comm (Hons), M.Acc, C.A.

Chief Financial Officer

Kelly is responsible for accounting, taxation, finance, treasury, corporate governance and risk management.

Biography


Kelly has over 14 years experience with major manufacturing firms in Canada in various senior management capacities. His most recent role was General Manager at Haworth Ltd., a global office interiors manufacturer located in Calgary, Alberta. Haworth Ltd. is a subsidiary of Haworth Inc., a multinational office interiors manufacturer with nearly 9000 employees worldwide.  Kelly was previously Vice President, Finance at SMED International, a global office interiors manufacturer where he was part of a team that successfully defended a hostile takeover bid resulting in the sale to Haworth Inc. at a 74% premium over the share price prior to the unsolicited offer in December 1999. During his tenure at SMED International he was part of a team that raised $40 Million in equity financing in a secondary public offering on the TSX and NASDAQ. Kelly is a chartered accountant and earned a B.Comm (Hons), and M.Acc from the University of Manitoba.


Jan O. Johansson, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Vice President Medical Affairs

Jan oversees the clinical and regulatory development, and provides scientific guidance to the corporation.

Biography


Jan has had a distinguished 30 year career of which the past 15 years have been in small biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies with expertise in the cardiovascular disease therapeutic area. He has served as Chief Medical Officer at Nuvelo, Inc., VP, Clinical Research and Development at Lipid Sciences, Inc. and was Co-founder, VP, Clinical Affairs and Senior Clinical Research Fellow of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. Esperion was recently bought by Pfizer for $1.3 Billion USD. From 1995 to 1997, Dr. Johansson was a medical adviser with executive responsibilities at Pharmacia bringing one lipid lowering product to the market and heading the apolipoproteinA-IMilano clinical program.

Jan earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden where he lead a successful career as a tenured associate professor at the Karolinska Hospital and as a practicing physician. He has published more than 50 peer-review medical articles, and is a member of several scientific organizations including the American Heart Association and the European Atherosclerosis Society.



Kenneth Lebioda, BA

Senior VP Business & Corporate Development

Ken is responsible for the business and market development of the company’s technology pipeline and alliance management.

Biography


Ken has over 23 years experience in the innovative pharmaceutical industry with leading global companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. He held a variety of management positions with these companies in the areas of sales and business development, regulatory affairs, reimbursement and market access. Ken's past contributions in helping build leading global cardiovascular brands such as Plavix, Pravachol, Cardizem, and Avapro will provide strategic guidance for the company's technologies in the areas of market analysis, regulatory affairs, licensing and commercial development.



Gregory S. Wagner, Ph.D., DABT

Senior VP Preclinical Development

Greg oversees the company’s preclinical programs and provides extensive expertise in the areas of drug development, regulatory filings, and toxicology.

Biography


Greg has over 30 years of broad and successful experience in early drug and pharmaceutical development. He has worked with leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies such as Kosan Biosciences, Sugen (a subsidiary of Pharmacia), and Rigel Inc.  His expertise is focused on toxicology, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics and pharmacology. Greg has been a leading force in the early preclinical preparation and development of several important new drug programs such as Sutent, Pfizer’s cancer drug. He will lead Resverlogix’s efforts in establishing overall management of the preclinical programs to support development of compounds for IND candidates.


Dr. F. Allan Gordon, M.D., Ph.D

Senior Vice President of Clinical Development

Allan will lead Resverlogix through clinical development.

Biography


Over the past 20 years Allan has built up a successful career as a Research and Development professional in cardiology. With his expertise and understanding of the market place, he is able to uniquely motivate teams of scientists on both the levels of discovery and applicability. Prior to joining Resverlogix, Allan was the CEO for Nile Therapeutics, an early stage bio-pharmaceutical in cardiovascular science, particularly in acute heart failure. Moreover, Allan led the international development program for Natrecor at Scios Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. In addition to this work in the United States, Allan has worked with several large pharmaceutical companies in leading positions on the clinical development programs for cardiovascular disease including Astra-Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Novartis.

Allan received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden where he initially worked in a number of hospital settings, followed by his position as an Associate Professor in Cardiology at the Karolinska Institute. He has published approximately 50 articles and abstracts.



Theresa Kennedy, B.Sc.

VP Corporate Communications

Theresa is responsible for all internal and external corporate communications.

Biography


Theresa has spent the past 17 years in the biotechnology industry in a variety of leadership positions. Her experience is focused on corporate positioning, executive profiling, media strategy, stakeholder outreach and government relations. While at Hill & Knowlton, some of her clients included large and small U.S. and Canadian biotechnology companies. In addition, she did work for a variety of international federal governments. Recently Theresa was appointed by the Federal Government of Canada to the Board of Directors of the Assisted Human Reproduction Canada Agency.  She is a guest lecturer for Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation, which included lecturing on the topic of strategic communications in biotechnology at Oxford University. In recognition of her work in the biotechnology sector, Theresa won an award for Advancing the Benefits of Biotech for Canadians, was a finalist for the 2005 Silver Sabre Award for biotech and a finalist for 2004 Influential Women in Business awards. In 1998 Theresa was awarded the BIV Top 40 Under 40 Award. Theresa received her B.Sc. from the University of Calgary.