Executive Officers

Peter Bell, 56
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Director

Mr. Bell has served as the General Partner of Amity Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Silicon Valley, since 2018. He has spent three decades starting, building, and investing in technology businesses, which resulted in investor liquidity of more than $6 billion. His thematic areas of focus include Machine Learning, Big Data, Virtual/Augmented Reality, Cybersecurity, Internet of Things, Autonomous Logistics, Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Personal/Mobile Commerce, Payments, and Enterprise Software. Mr. Bell began his career at Price Waterhouse in Boston and in late 1986, Mr. Bell joined EMC and relocated to San Francisco in 1987 to help lead EMC efforts in Silicon Valley. In 1998, Mr. Bell embarked on his own entrepreneurial journey and co-founded StorageNetworks, a pioneer in cloud computing. Mr. Bell led the company as its Chief Executive Officer and helped take the company from concept to $123 million in annual revenue within three years and also completed its IPO in 2000. After StorageNetworks, Mr. Bell formed his own investment firm, Stowe Capital, focusing on early stage investments in enterprise software, data center infrastructure, and consumer internet companies. In 2006, Mr. Bell joined Highland Capital Partners, a global venture capital firm with current AUM of $3.5 billion, where he led investments in early and growth stage technology companies, and served as the managing general partner of the firm from 2015 to 2016. In the last five years, Mr. Bell has served on the board at Playco Global, a developer of instant-play games across variety of platforms, Vowel, a developer of a meeting application designed to help clients record and annotate conversations, Column, the first collaborative public notice platform helping journalists, governments and legal services work together and Apex Technology Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: APXT), a blank check company currently in the process of consummating its initial business combination with AvePoint, Inc., a data management solutions provider of Microsoft cloud services to large and mid-market enterprises, since 2019. Additionally, he has served on the boards of numerous technology companies including, LevelUp, an ordering, payments and loyalty experiences provider for restaurants from 2008 to 2018, Turbonomic, an enterprise software company from 2009 to 2018, WePay, an integrated payments provider affiliated with Chase bank from 2010 to 2017, Qumulo, a hybrid cloud storage provider from 2012 to 2018, Gigamon, provider of network visibility and data traffic management software from 2010 to 2012, Ocarina, provider of online storage optimization solutions from 2007 to 2010, and ENJOY, a provider of same day technology delivery and setup services from 2015 to 2019. Additionally, Mr. Bell was a member of the faculty at MIT Sloan School of Management from 2003 to 2006, where he taught Entrepreneurship. He was also a Distinguished Executive in Residence and member of the faculty at Boston College from 2003 to 2010, where he taught at the Carroll School of Management. Mr. Bell served as a University Trustee at Boston College from 2002 to 2010 and currently serves as a Trustee Associate. Mr. Bell holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Boston College, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and an Honorary Doctorate from Babson College.

Board of Directors

Arthur Coviello, 67
Chairman of the Board

From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Coviello served as President and Chief Executive Officer of RSA (previously NASDAQ: RSAS) and following RSA’s acquisition by EMC (previously NYSE: EMC) for $2.1 billion, as an Executive Vice President of EMC and head of its Security Division from 2006 to 2015. During his leadership tenure at RSA, Mr. Coviello oversaw 17 acquisitions, driving growth and solidifying RSA’s leadership position in the cybersecurity industry. Mr. Coviello has been a central figure within the information security industry for more than 25 years. His strategic vision and management as Chief Executive Officer of RSA helped drive the company’s growth to revenues of approximately $1 billion in 2015. Under his leadership, Mr. Coviello built RSA Conference into one of the most respected, vendor agnostic events in cybersecurity. Mr. Coviello’s expertise and influence have made him a recognized leader in the industry as he is frequently a featured presenter at conferences and forums around the world, and he has played key roles in several national cybersecurity initiatives. Mr. Coviello currently serves on the board of directors of both public and private companies, including Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), a consumer financial services company since 2015, and Tenable (NASDAQ: TENB), a provider of Cyber Exposure solutions since 2018, Bugcrowd, a crowdsource cybersecurity platform since 2015, Capsule8, an infrastructure security solution provider since 2017, ZeroNorth, a SaaS-based DevOps security automation platform since 2019 and SecZetta, a third party identity risk solutions provider since 2019. Previously, Mr. Coviello has served on the boards of directors of various technology companies including Cylance, sold to Blackberry (NYSE: BB) for $1.4 billion, Verodin, sold to Fireeye (NASDAQ: FEYE) for $250 million, Gigamon, provider of network visibility and data traffic management software and Enernoc, provider of energy intelligence software and demand response services. Currently, Mr. Coviello is an active investor, advisor and board member of a number of private companies, guiding technology startups as a private investor and in his roles as a Venture Partner at Rally Ventures, an early stage investor in business technologies, as an advisor to ClearSky Security Fund and as a Senior Advisor to Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities Group. Prior to RSA, Mr. Coviello had extensive executive management experience in several technology companies. He started his career as a certified public accountant at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. Mr. Coviello graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts with a BBA, concentration in accounting.

Paul Deninger, 62
Vice Chairman of the Board

Mr. Deninger previously served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Broadview International, a technology focused investment bank, from 1996 until 2003, when the company was acquired by Jefferies. During Mr. Deninger’s tenure as Chief Executive Officer at Broadview, he helped the company increase its revenue from $50 million in 1996 to over $300 million by 2000. From 2003 to 2020, Mr. Deninger served in senior leadership positions at prominent investment banks. Mr. Deninger was a Vice Chairman at Jefferies from 2003 to 2010 and was Co-Head of Technology Investment Banking at Jefferies immediately following its acquisition of Broadview. In that capacity, Mr. Deninger led Jefferies’ entry into the technology initial public offering business. From 2011 to February 2020, Mr. Deninger was a Senior Managing Director and Senior Advisor at Evercore. Over the past 30 years of his distinguished career, in the technology industry, Mr. Deninger has developed a deep capital markets experience, having completed over 150 IPO, M&A, and financing transactions with the world’s leading technology companies and top-tier private equity and venture capital firms and advised hundreds of CEOs and boards on shareholder value creation, including how to leverage technology to achieve transformation and growth. Mr. Deninger currently serves as a Senior Managing Director at Davis Partners Group, an advisory firm that provides C-suite and Board level consulting services. Mr. Deninger is considered a thought leader in Technology Finance and has been a keynote speaker at numerous technology and VC industry events including National Venture Capital Association, European Venture Capital Association, Red Herring Global and a panelist and a 14-year attendee at World Economic Forum at Davos. Mr. Deninger was a member of the US Treasury IPO Task Force that led to the 2012 JOBS Act, and a member of the Executive Council of TechNet, a national network of technology CEOs and senior executives. Additionally, from 2001 to 2006, he also served on the board for The Boston Globe, a leading newspaper in New England and a division of the New York Times. Mr. Deninger currently serves on the boards of three public and two private companies that are primarily focused on technology or have been undergoing a technology transformation including Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), an enterprise information management company focused on data and record management, since 2010 where Mr. Deninger sits on the Finance Committee and Compensation Committee and previously served on the Risk and Safety committee and oversaw the CEO search process, Resideo (NYSE: REZI), a smart home products and systems solution provider, since 2018 where Mr. Deninger sits on the Audit Committee and Technology Committee and Chairs the Finance Committee, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER), an online marketplace for consumer auto, home and life insurance, since 2019 where Mr. Deninger sits on the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee, VANTIQ, a technology platform that allows users to develop and deploy real-time applications and SmartShift, a provider of legacy to cloud automation tools. Mr. Deninger received a Bachelor of Science from Boston College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

Kirk Arnold, 61
Director

Ms. Arnold has since 2018 been an Executive-in-Residence at General Catalyst Ventures, a venture capital firm,, where she works with management teams to help scale and drive growth. In that capacity, Ms. Arnold serves on the board of The Predictive Index, a provider of talent optimization software, since 2019. Ms. Arnold spent over 30 years as an executive in the technology industry, most recently as the Chief Executive Officer of Data Intensity, a cloud-based applications and analytics provider from 2013 to 2017. Prior to Data Intensity, Ms. Arnold served as the Chief Operating Officer of Avid Technology (NASDAQ: AVID), a developer and seller of software and hardware for digital media production and management from 2008 to 2012, as Chief Executive Officer and President of Keane, Inc. (NYSE: NEX), a mid-tier outsourcer global technology company in 2007 and as Chief Executive Officer of NerveWire Inc, a management consulting and systems integration provider from 2000 to 2003. Ms. Arnold is currently an independent board member of Ingersoll Rand (NYSE: IR), a provider of industrial technologies and services, Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a manufacturer and servicer of HVAC systems, and Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE: TRI), a multinational media conglomerate. Ms. Arnold is involved with a number of non-profit organizations, including the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, where she is a trustee and member of the Executive Committee, and the UP Education Network, where she serves on the Board. In addition, she is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and an advisor to the Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Ms. Arnold holds a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College.

Paul Flanagan, 56
Director

Mr. Flanagan has since 2017 has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Nasuni, a provider of cloud-based enterprise file storage. He spent the first 9 years of his career with Ernst & Young LLP in Entrepreneurial Services and Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Flanagan then served in senior management roles in finance and operations at Vitol Gas and Electric (acquired by Coral Energy) from 1995 to 1997 and Lasertron Inc., a provider of stainless steel (acquired by Corning) from 1997 to 1999. From 1999 to 2002, he served as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at various times of StorageNetworks, a pioneer in cloud computing. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Flanagan was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of VistaPrint Ltd., a manufacturer and retailer of apparel and customizable marketing products, where he helped guide and close its initial public offering in 2005. Mr. Flanagan has been serving a Managing Director at Sigma Prime Ventures, a technology venture firm that he co-founded in 2011, and a Managing Director at Sigma Partners, a venture capital firm, which he joined in 2006. During Mr. Flanagan’s time at Sigma Prime Ventures and Sigma Partners, he has served on the board of Wordstream, an online marketing software solution provider that was acquired by Gannet in 2018, High Street Partners, a provider of finance and administrative services to companies that merged with Nair & Co in 2014 to form Radius, NS1, a developer of traffic management platform, Contently, a developer of a content-marketing platform since 2013, and Coherent Path, a developer of email marketing services since 2014. Mr. Flanagan holds a B.S. in Accounting from Bentley University.

Melissa McJannet, 49
Director

Ms. McJannet has since 2018 serve as Northleaf Capital Partner’s (“Northleaf”) Venture Partner and Senior Advisor, providing strategic oversight of Northleaf’s venture capital program. She is a member of the Investment Committees for Northleaf’s Canadian venture capital funds. Ms. McJannet previously served as a Managing Director on the private equity investment team and leading Northleaf’s corporate development activities. Prior to joining Northleaf’s predecessor, TD Capital, in 2005, Ms. McJannet was an investment professional at Mayfield, one of the leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley from 2000, where she invested directly in early-stage technology companies and worked closely with management teams to help grow their businesses. Previously, Ms. McJannet worked in business development and finance roles for a telecommunications company in Chile and for the high-speed Internet access division of Rogers Cable in Toronto. Prior to that, from 1994 to 1996, Ms. McJannet was in the investment banking group of RBC Dominion Securities, where she worked on a variety of mergers and acquisition assignments. Ms. McJannet received a B.A. (Honours) from Queen’s University and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

JD Sherman, 55
Director

Mr. Sherman served as President and Chief Operating Officer at HubSpot (NYSE: HUBS), a provider of inbound marketing, sales, customer service and CRM software, from 2012 through June 2020. Mr. Sherman helped lead HubSpot into the public markets through the company’s IPO in October 2014 and oversaw 10 M&A deals during his leadership tenure. Prior to HubSpot, Mr. Sherman spent six years as Chief Financial Officer of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), a content delivery network, cybersecurity and cloud services provider, where he was responsible for finance, strategic planning, and corporate development during a period of significant growth for Akamai. He also served as the Chief Financial Executive of IBM’s $21 billion Systems and Technology Group. During his 15-year career at IBM (NYSE: IBM), Mr. Sherman held a number of senior executive positions in finance. Mr. Sherman currently serves on the board of Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS), a desktop virtualization, networking and cloud computing technology provider since March 2020, and has served on the board of various technology companies including Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV), a financial services technology solutions provider from 2015 to 2019, Cypress Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CY), a designer and manufacturer of semiconductor products intended to offer mixed-signal and programmable technology from 2010 to 2015, 3Com (previously NASDAQ: COMS), a provider of ethernet and various network interface controller technologies from 2008 to 2009, and AMI Semiconductor (previously NASDAQ: AMIS), a designer and manufacturer of application specific integrated circuits from 2007 to 2008. Mr. Sherman holds a B.A. in Economics from Emory University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Ross Haghighat, — [Appointed 9/22/22]
Director

Ross Haghighat has served as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and a Director of BioPlus Acquisition Corp. since December 2021. Mr. Haghighat is the founding partner at Jasper Capital Partners, an investment firm investing in transformational technology-inspired growth companies focused on Australia and Asia, and Chairman of Triton Systems, Inc., a private early to mid-stage product development and venture firm creating product-driven enterprises focusing on next-generation innovative technologies spanning biotech, medtech and ESG applications. Mr. Haghighat has been a founder, co-founder, and board member of more than a dozen private and public technology companies in the US, Europe, China and Australia. During Mr. Haghighat’s expansive career as an operator, he generated billions in shareholder value through his roles transforming companies from early-stage technology firms to successful corporations, as well as integrated divisions of Fortune 500 companies. From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Haghighat co-founded and led CoreTek Inc., a photonic-based firm that developed the first tunable optoelectronic laser platform for telecom and was acquired by Nortel Networks Corp. in 2001 for $1.4 billion. Mr. Haghighat currently serves on the Board of Directors at Chinook Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KDNY), a late clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision medicines for kidney diseases, where Mr. Haghighat is Chairman of the Transaction Committee; CITIC Capital Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: CCAC), a blank check company that has announced a $1.4B business combination with Quanergy Systems, due to close in Q4 2021, where Mr. Haghighat also serves as Chair of the Audit Committee of Fluence Corporation Ltd. (ASX: FLC), a leading ESG global water treatment technology company, where Mr. Haghighat serves as Vice Chairman; Angel Medical Systems, Inc., a commercial stage private medical device company with a pipeline of implantable cardiovascular devices with product distribution in US, Australia and Asia, where Mr. Haghighat serves as Lead Director and FRX Polymers, Inc., a global sustainable ESG company serving electric vehicle, consumer electronics and other industrial applications, where Mr. Haghighat serves as Chairman. Mr. Haghighat received a Bachelor of Science in Advanced Materials Engineering from Rutgers University and Master of Science in Organometalic Chemistry from Rutgers University, as well as an MBA from Boston College — Wallace E Carroll School of Management.

Ronald Eastman, — [Appointed 9/22/22]
Director

Since December 2021, Ronald Eastman has served as Vice Chairman of BioPlus Acquisition Corp. Mr. Eastman has over 40 years of experience in building and leading both publicly-traded and private healthcare businesses. Mr. Eastman is currently a Senior Advisor of EW Healthcare Partners (“EW”), one of the oldest healthcare growth equity firms in the world with $3 billion currently under management, where he previously served for 15 years as Managing Director of multiple funds before transitioning to Senior Advisor in 2021. Mr. Eastman led and served on the Board of Directors of EW’s investments in ProteinSimple, Inc. (acquired by Bio-Techne Corporation), Corium, Inc. (acquired by Gurnet Point Capital), and Open Monoclonal Technology, Inc. (acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: LGND)). He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of EW portfolio company Suneva Medical, Inc.. Mr. Eastman began his career at American Cyanamid Company, which was acquired by American Home Products (now Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE)), where Mr. Eastman spent 15 years managing various pharmaceutical products, divisions, and subsidiaries in the U.S. and overseas. Later as CEO of Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN), Mr. Eastman led the company’s growth from a venture-backed start-up to a publicly traded pioneer in the fields of regenerative medicine and cancer. As CEO of Rinat Neuroscience Corporation (“Rinat Neuroscience”), a private biotechnology company spun out of Genentech, Inc. with the support of EW in late 2001, Mr. Eastman led the effort to build the first company dedicated to discovering and developing large molecule drugs for treating nervous system disorders. Rinat Neuroscience was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. in 2006. Mr. Eastman has also previously served as a board member of Revance Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: RVNC), the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, and as a Trustee of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Mr. Eastman has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University.

Louis G. Lange, M.D., Ph.D., — [Appointed 9/22/22]
Director

Louis G. Lange, M.D., Ph.D., has served as a director of BioPlus Acquisition Corp. since December 2021. Mr. Lange has a long and distinguished career as a leading entrepreneur, investor and academic leader in the biotechnology sector, and has been at the forefront of the development of the biotechnology industry over the last three decades. Dr. Lange founded CV Therapeutics, Inc. (“CVT” and Nasdaq: CVTX), a biotechnology company focused on cardiovascular diseases, in 1992 and served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Lange led the initial public offering of CVT in 1996 after $50 million in venture investments and oversaw the commercial success of CVT, spearheading the growth of Ranexa^® and Lexiscan^®, two drugs with combined annual sales in excess of $1.5 billion dollars. Dr. Lange led the sale of CVT to Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) in 2009 for $1.4 billion, and stayed on part time until 2019 as a Senior Advisor reporting until 2018 to the Chief Executive Officer of Gilead Sciences. After successfully selling CVT, Dr. Lange founded and sold two additional biotechnology companies. In 2017, GE Healthcare acquired one of these companies, Rapidscan Pharma Solutions Inc. (“RPS”), a developer of a biopharmaceutical stress agent used in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. In 2015, Audentes Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: BOLD) acquired the second of these companies, gene therapy products developer Cardiogen Sciences, Inc.; Dr. Lange stayed on as lead Director up to the sale of Audentes Therapeutics to Astellas Pharma Inc. (TYO:4503) in 2020 for $3.1 billion. Currently, Dr. Lange is a Partner at Asset Management Ventures (“AMV”), an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investments in the digital health, technology, and life sciences sectors, sitting at the forefront of key innovation trends and deal flow within the biotechnology space. Dr. Lange has led over 12 investments across all areas of biotechnology companies. In addition to Dr. Lange’s operational and investing experience, Dr. Lange spent 22 years in academic medicine at Harvard University and Washington University, where he served as Chief of Cardiology and Professor of Medicine at Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine from 1985-1992 and was one of the first academicians in molecular cardiology. Currently, Dr. Lange serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Rochester, a role he has held since 1998. As Chair of the Health Affairs committee that oversees all of the medical operations, Dr. Lange has been part of the leadership team for strategic re-invigoration of the medical center, overseeing projects including construction of two research buildings and recruitment of over 100 faculty members. Dr. Lange has also led the most respected industry and trade associations in the biotechnology sector. From 1999 to 2009, Dr. Lange served on the Board of Directors of Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the trade organization of biotechnology companies, leading the largest committee of member companies for two years. Dr. Lange has been on numerous other public and private Boards in both the non-profit and for-profit arena, including the Institute of Systems Biology (“ISB”), a nonprofit biomedical research organization co-founded by industry stalwart Dr. Leroy (“Lee”) Hood, and the UCSF Gladstone Institute, an independent, nonprofit life science research organization located in the epicenter of biomedical and technological innovation in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Lange has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, an M.D. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry, also from Harvard University.

Stephen Sherwin, M.D., — [Appointed 9/22/22]
Director

Since December 2021, Stephen Sherwin, M.D. has served a director of BioPlus Acquisition Corp. Dr. Sherwin is a medical oncologist who has spent over 35 years in the biotechnology industry, helping to create and manage companies that discover and develop new treatments for patients with cancer. During his career as a C-level executive, Dr. Sherwin co-founded and served as CEO and/or chairman of industry-leading biotechnology companies that generated over $2.0 billion in shareholder value. From 1990 to 2009, Dr. Sherwin served as the Chief Executive Officer of Cell Genesys, Inc., a cancer immunotherapy company, and was its Chairman from 1994 until the company’s merger in 2009 with BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Nasdaq: ANIP). In addition, Dr. Sherwin co-founded and served as chairman of Abgenix, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABGX), an antibody company that was acquired by Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN) in 2006 and co-founded and served as Chairman of Ceregene, Inc., a gene therapy company acquired by Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO) in 2013. Prior to Cell Genesys, Dr. Sherwin served as Vice President of Clinical Research at Genentech, Inc. (NYSE: DNA) and was the first medical doctor hired by the company. In addition to his corporate experience, Dr. Sherwin previously served on the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization from 2001 to 2014 and as its chairman from 2009 to 2011. Dr. Sherwin currently divides his time between advisory work in the life science industry and patient care and teaching in his specialty of medical oncology. Dr. Sherwin is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a volunteer Attending Physician in Hematology-Oncology at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. In addition, Dr. Sherwin currently serves as an Advisory Partner at Third Rock Ventures, a leading healthcare venture firm, and on the boards of directors of Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB), a multinational commercial-stage biotechnology company and Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: NBIX), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on neurological and endocrine diseases. Dr. Sherwin received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Yale University, and his M.D. at Harvard Medical School.