Executive Officers

David P. Jenkins, 60
Chief Financial Officer

David P. Jenkins is a finance and business executive with over thirty-five years of experience in the technology, health and higher education sectors, and is currently serving as Chief Financial Officer of Gardiner Founder, LLC. Mr. Jenkins was an Audit Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) with over thirty-one years of experience (1983 to 1994, and 1997 to to 2017) serving in the firm’s audit practice. Many of his audit clients were publicly traded technology and/or bioscience companies. Early in his career, he also served as controller to a small, advanced materials business. Since retiring from PwC, Mr. Jenkins has provided financial consulting to several different venture-backed health software or bioscience companies, assisting with business planning, capital raising and financial analysis. In his capacity as an independent financial consultant, Mr. Jenkins’ work includes serving as the Chief Financial Officer of PatientWisdom, Inc. from June 2018 until its sale to NRC Health in January 2021, the Vice President of Finance at Aeromics, Inc. from March 2019 to the present, and the Chief Financial Officer of Bioasis Technologies Inc. from May 2021 to the present. He received his B.A. in Accounting and Business Administration from Muhlenberg College. Mr. Jenkins was also a Certified Public Accountant for many years, but no longer maintains an active license.

Paul R. McGuirk, 70 [Resigned]
Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer and Director

Paul R. McGuirk, PhD brings nearly 40 years of pharmaceutical industry leadership experience to our company. Prior to joining Gardiner, from March 2009 to November 2020, Dr. McGuirk served in numerous capacities at Aeromics Inc., including as Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Head of Medicinal Chemistry, Process Chemistry, and Clinical Development, and as a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. McGuirk was responsible for the discovery and development of the only documented clinical stage aquaporin-4 inhibitor for the treatment of brain edema, which is preparing for Phase II clinical trials in China. Prior to Aeromics, Dr. McGuirk was at Pfizer from 1982 to 2009. As a Medicinal Chemist and Manager of Infectious Diseases Medicinal Chemistry at Pfizer Global Research and Development in Groton, CT, Dr. McGuirk was responsible for leading the discovery and development of the marketed drug danofloxacin/Advocin®, which is approved for treatment of bovine respiratory disease. Dr. McGuirk chaired the Allergy and Respiratory Early Clinical Management Team, addressing numerous development challenges while progressing the inhaled PDEIV inhibitor tofimilast into Phase 2 studies. As a Director, Dr. McGuirk led the nearly 100-person interdisciplinary team that pioneered Pfizer’s Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion (ADME) & Toxicology program. As Group Director and Executive Director of Chemical Technologies, Dr. McGuirk co-led the large matrix multi-company team that helped build a successful three million compound HTS library. As Executive Director, Dr. McGuirk led the global review and evaluation of 310 clinical candidates, over a ten-year period, as a prerequisite to their entry into formal development. The candidate reviews spanned ten therapeutic areas and included several successful drugs such as Maraviroc®, Chantix®, and Zeljanz®. Dr. McGuirk is an expert on new molecular entity (“NME”) attributes needed for success in drug development.

Board of Directors

Marc F. Pelletier, 51
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Marc F. Pelletier, PhD is a scientist-entrepreneur with over thirty years of research and operational experience in the life sciences industry. Dr. Pelletier is a co-founder of Gardiner Founder, LLC and has been serving as its Managing Member since October 2020. Dr. Pelletier founded his first company, Aeromics, as a James Hudson Brown-Alexander B. Coxe Fellow at Yale School of Medicine. He led Aeromics’ drug discovery and development program from bench to clinic, developing a clinical-stage Aquaporin inhibitor to treat diseases of water imbalance, starting with brain swelling or cerebral edema. At Aeromics, Dr. Pelletier served as Chief Executive Officer from 2008-2019, Chief Financial Officer from 2008-2016 and as a Director from 2013-2019, overseeing strategic business and scientific operations. Dr. Pelletier also held the position of Chief Science Officer at Aeromics from 2008 through September 2020, when he launched Gardiner Founder, LLC. In 2015, he co-founded Iridia, Inc., a company developing DNA-based computer hard drive or molecular information storage technology. Dr. Pelletier served as a Director of Iridia from 2016-2019, and as secretary of Iridia from 2017-2019. Dr. Pelletier has extensive training in the life sciences sector, having completed three Post-Doctoral Fellowships at Yale University: one in the Department of Genetics, another in the Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and a third in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Cell Biology from McGill University and both a M.Sc. in Genetics and B.Sc. in Biology and Economics from Concordia University in Montreal.

Janelle R. Anderson, 48 [Resigned]
Director

Janelle R. Anderson, PhD was most recently the Chief Strategy Officer at Century Therapeutics (2019-2021), where she drove the execution of deals and external partnerships that enabled Century’s scientific objectives and furthered its strategic goals. Prior to Century Therapeutics, Dr. Anderson was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Versant Ventures (2017-2019), where she was instrumental in establishing Century Therapeutics’s funding and core technology. Prior to Versant Ventures, Dr. Anderson was Managing Partner at CTI Life Sciences Fund (2014-2017), where she led U.S. biotech transactions. Prior to CTI Life Science Fund, Dr. Anderson worked at Merck (2008-2014), as a Finance Director and later as Managing Director of the MRL Ventures Fund, Merck’s therapeutic-focused venture group. Prior to Merck, Dr. Anderson held roles at Boston Consulting Group (2002-2004) before taking on various operational and deal-making positions in medical venture capital, including serving as interim Chief Executive Officer of Access Scientific while at Carrot Capital (2005-2007) (now known as Embark Healthcare). Dr. Anderson earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry (Honors) from McGill University, and A.M. and Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

Frank C. Sciavolino, 81
Director

Frank C. Sciavolino, PhD has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including a distinguished thirty-five year career at Pfizer Global Research & Development from 1968 to 2003. At Pfizer, Dr. Sciavolino held various management roles and responsibilities in drug discovery, development, registration and licensing, culminating in his role as Vice President of Research &Development Operations, in which he oversaw a team of more than one thousand scientists in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was responsible for two of Pfizer’s leading franchises, Zithromax and Celebrex. After leading the discovery chemistry team responsible for the initial macrolide antibiotic research, he served as principal investigator for the Phase I evaluation of eleven compounds in first-in-human (FIH) studies. This led to the identification and development of Zithromax, an antibiotic widely considered as one of the most important new drugs of the twentieth century, and one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. He also played a major role in the licensing of Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor that reached several billion in peak annual sales globally. From 2003 until 2007, Dr. Sciavolino was Vice President of Product Development and Regulatory Affairs at Indigene Pharmaceuticals, at which he later served as Executive Vice President of Global Design and Development from 2007-2010. Between 2010 and 2013, Dr. Sciavolino served as a Senior Management and Board Advisor at Max Zeller Söhne AG. In 2012, along with Drs. Gregory Gardiner, B. L. Mylari and Mr. Gary Mathias, Dr. Sciavolino co-founded Thetis Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company developing drugs for multiple diseases rooted in immune system deficits like cancers, respiratory conditions and gastro-intestinal disorders. As President and Chief Scientific Officer of Thetis, positions he has held since the founding of Thetis in 2012 to present, Dr. Sciavolino has pioneered the discovery and development of the HEALER platform, a technology that is enabling clinical evaluation of the extraordinarily potent Resolvins, an endogenous class of mediators that regulate both the innate and adaptive components of the immune system. Dr. Sciavolino has served on numerous editorial boards, including Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Journal of Antibiotics. Dr. Sciavolino has more than forty-eight issued patents and has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John’s University.

James P. Linton, 59
Director

James P. Linton, PhD, MBA has over thirty years of entrepreneur and executive experience in the biotechnology space, co-founding or serving as a cofounding management member of six companies and leading the operations, fund raising and business development efforts for several of these companies.  Since September 2021, Dr. Linton has served as interim Chief Executive Officer of Resolute Bio, Inc., which focuses on developing novel human drug delivery and immunotolerance technology by coupling therapeutic peptides and proteins to circulating red blood cells. Among his previous start-ups, Dr. Linton co-founded (with Dr. Pelletier) Iridia Inc., a company developing DNA-based microchip data storage, where he served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman (2016-2017), and President and Director (March 2016 through November 2019). During his tenure as Iridia’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Linton was responsible for raising more than $26 million, including investment capital from Western Digital Corporation. Also, in this role he oversaw all operations, financing efforts, financial management, intellectual property, human resources and investor relations. Currently, he serves as a Director and Chief Executive Officer emeritus, collaborating with the Chief Executive Officer in fundraising, strategic planning and investor relations. In late 2020, Dr. Linton also co-founded New Frontier Bio, a biotechnology-driven health and wellness company, where he is a Director and serves as an Executive Consultant, supporting strategic planning and fundraising. Dr. Linton has successfully raised over $129 million in capital, negotiated over $298 million in deals, and has participated in a number of exits, including Protometrix Inc, Genicon Sciences, Axiom Biotechnologies and Owl Biomedical, Inc. Early in his career, Dr. Linton was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories working on molecular cloning of genes responsible for FK-506-induced immunosuppression. He obtained his M.B.A. from the University of California at Davis and his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Emory University.

Thomas F. Ryan, Jr., 44
Director

Thomas F. Ryan, Jr. has approximately twenty years of business development, marketing and sales management experience in the life sciences sector. Mr. Ryan founded NavigatorBIO in October of 2017 and currently serves as its Chief Executive Officer. In that role, Mr. Ryan leads the operational and business development teams to help the company’s global clientele overcome challenges in brand recognition, market positioning, and business development. Prior to NavigatorBIO, Mr. Ryan served as the Director of Business Development at Eurofins Central Laboratory from November 2014 until October 2017. During his time at Eurofins, Mr. Ryan earned the “Business Development Representative of the Year” award in 2016 in recognition of his excellence in sales and participated on several steering committees. Prior to Eurofins, Mr. Ryan served as Strategic Account Manager for Lantheus Medical Imaging from May 2011 to May 2014. In that role, Mr. Ryan partnered with sales representatives to initiate, design and negotiate agreements with healthcare systems such as Yale New Haven Health, Columbia Presbyterian, Northwell Health and Mass General Brigham. For his efforts, Mr. Ryan earned the “Summit Award” in 2011 in recognition of his outstanding sales leadership and the “Lantheus Star Award” in 2013 in recognition of his exemplary commitment, contribution and leadership. Mr. Ryan began his career in the life sciences sector with Covidien, where his tenure ran from June 2003 through March 2011. Mr. Ryan was fortunate to have moved through various positions at Covidien that continuously increased his level of responsibility. He started as a Business Development Representative in the New York area, was eventually promoted to Sales Trainer and rounded out the last 3 years of his tenure as a Region Manager. Mr. Ryan led a sales team of several business development executives covering the Midwest market, and, in 2010, he earned Covidien’s “Sharp – Safety Manager of the Year” award. In addition to his strategy and business development background, Mr. Ryan has extensive experience with building teams and ensuring execution of sales plans. His career has focused on business and sales process optimization to ensure successful execution of corporate strategy in the most efficient manner possible.

Matthew Rossen, 44
Director

Matthew Rossen, MBA has 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech arena, working across multiple therapeutic categories including Anti-Infectives, Alzheimer’s, Cardiovascular, Hematology, Solid Tumor, and Sleep Science. From April 2019 until May 2021, Mr. Rossen was Vice President of Marketing at QED Therapeutics, a subsidiary of BridgeBio. From August 2010 until April 2019, Mr. Rossen held various roles at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, eventually becoming Senior Director of New Product Planning. Prior thereto, from July 2001 to July 2010, Mr. Rossen worked at Pfizer Inc., where he spent 10 years in positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately becoming Senior Manager of Commercial Development for Dimebon, a neuroprotective drug. He holds a B.S. in Kinesiology and Applied Human Physiology from the University of Colorado and received his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.