Leadership
Management | Board of Directors
Joseph S. Zakrzewski was elected as a director of Zelos Therapeutics and appointed as Chairman of its Board of Directors in February 2009. Mr. Zakrzewski is currently the President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Xcellerex, a privately held company focusing on commercializing its proprietary next generation manufacturing technology for biotherapeutics and vaccines. Mr. Zakrzewski recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular drugs from 2005 through the first quarter of 2007. Mr. Zakrzewski had responsibility for the company’s pharmaceutical operations including, R&D, business development, supply chain/manufacturing, quality, IT, and compliance. From 1988 to 2004, Mr. Zakrzewski served in a variety of executive level capacities at Eli Lilly & Company including R&D, manufacturing, finance and business development. His most recent position was Vice President, Corporate Business Development, where he had global responsibility for all business development activities on a global basis. Mr. Zakrzewski received a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1986; an MS in Biochemical Engineering from Drexel University in 1988; and an MBA in Finance in 1992 from Indiana University. In addition to his role on the Xcellerex Board of Directors, Mr. Zakrzewski also serves as a member of the Board of Insulet Corporation and is Chairman of the Boards of Promedior Inc. and Zelos Therapeutics.
Alex Barkas, Ph.D., is a Managing Director of Prospect Venture Partners. Prior to co-founding Prospect Venture Partners I, II and III, Dr. Barkas was a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Previous to that, Dr. Barkas was a founder and CEO of BioBridge Associates, a health care industry consulting firm, and was Director of Technology Development at Advanced Biosearch Associates, a regulatory affairs advisory firm. Dr. Barkas’ research experience was gained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Genetics Department at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, and Duke University. He currently serves or has served on the board of directors of Connetics, Geron and Tercica, all public companies, and of Amicus, Archemix, NeoMend, Novacept, SurgRx, Transave, Verus Pharmaceuticals, Zelos Therapeutics and several other privately held companies.
Farah Champsi is a Managing Director at Alta Partners. Prior to joining Alta in 2000, Ms. Champsi was an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Company, where she focused on biotechnology and other life science companies, was elected a General Partner and then head of the global life sciences investment banking group. During that time, she was responsible for building one of the most successful investment banking life sciences franchises on Wall Street. She currently serves on the board of directors of Aerovance, Agensys, Myocor, Sanarus Medical, Portola Pharmaceuticals and Zelos Therapeutics.
Ms. Champsi holds an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Smith College.
Jeff Courtney is General Partner at VenGrowth Private Equity Partners Inc.
Prior to joining VenGrowth, he was a Partner and Co-President of the Scientific Advisory Board at CDP Capital - Technology Ventures (formerly CDP Sofinov), where he was involved in leading investments in life science companies in Canada and the United States. Mr. Courtney also served as President of Hospital Pharmaceuticals at Faulding Canada Inc., EVP Marketing and Sales for Pharmascience Inc., as well as 11 years of numerous senior leadership roles with Johnson & Johnson Medical Products. He has served as a director on the board of multiple Canadian and U.S. life science companies, and is currently an active board member of VisualSonics Inc., Axela Biosensors Inc., Zelos Therapeutics, Metrigenix, Kadmus Pharmaceuticals, Activbiotics, Interface Biologics, and Targanta Therapeutics.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Guelph.
Colin Goddard, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Since 1989, when he joined as a scientist, Dr. Goddard has served as President, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Vice President, Research Operations; Director, Pharmaceutical Operations; Director, Drug Discovery; and Program Manager, Drug Discovery. Dr. Goddard also served as Chairman of the Board from 2000–2002. Dr. Goddard is active in many organizations that promote the advancement of cancer treatment and awareness, science education and the biotechnology industry, including: Board of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO), Cancer Care of Long Island, the Long Island Association, and the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. He is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research. Before joining OSI, Dr. Goddard spent four years at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Goddard currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zelos Therapeutics Inc.
Dr. Goddard trained as a cancer pharmacologist in Birmingham, U.K., where he received his Ph.D. from the University of Aston in September 1985.
Brian MacDonald, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Zelos. From 2003 to 2005, he served as an R&D strategy consultant to the biotechnology industry, with projects that included Head of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for Gentara Corporation. In 2002, Dr. MacDonald joined 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals as Head of Development and a member of the corporate management team, until the acquisition of that organization by Johnson & Johnson in 2003. Prior to that, he held a variety of positions in Clinical R&D at SmithKline Beecham, finally assuming worldwide responsibility for osteoporosis and rheumatology, a role that, following the merger to form GlaxoSmithKline, was expanded to include a range of therapeutic areas including dermatology and analgesia.
Dr. MacDonald received his Ph.D. , M.B., and Ch.B. from the University of Sheffield in the UK after which he undertook specialty clinical training in metabolic bone disease and rheumatology.
