Meet Our Board of Directors

Mr. Gaines was the founding CEO and until 2007 Chairman of the Board of Ixion Biotechnology, Inc. Mr. Gaines is a serial entrepreneur, with 35 years of executive, legal, and entrepreneurial experience, particularly in early stage companies. He is also a trustee of Torrey Pines Institute of Molecular Studies and a director of the Florida Research Consortium.

Mr. Hennessey is Managing Director of Hennessey and Associates. Ltd., and is the former Chairman, President and CEO of Genome Therapeutics, currently named Oscient Pharmaceuticals, where he serves on the Board of Directors. He also held a number of executive positions with such industry leaders as Sterling, Abbott Laboratories, SmithKline, and Merck. He was also interim President and CEO of PenWest Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Matthew is the CFO and Secretary of Jesup & Lamont, Inc., a publicly held financial services firm. Previously, he was CFO and Secretary of Plan Express, Inc., and at Polyvue Technologies, Inc. where he also was a member of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Butler is currently a Senior Advisor to Capnia, Inc. and recently served several roles at Reliant Pharmaceuticals, including Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  He retired from ALZA Corporation where the last position he held was President of Alza International. Prior to that, Mr. Butler worked at Glaxo Inc. for 23 years where the last position he held was Vice President-General Manager of Corporate Division. He is currently on the Board of Directors of Invitrox and Sirion Therapeutics and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Respirics, Inc.  Past Board memberships include Durect Corporation, Biodelivery Sciences International, Pozen, Inc., and Osprey Pharmaceuticals.  Mr. Butler is on the Pharmacy School Board at the University of Florida and is on the Board of Advisors at Campbell University, North Carolina. Mr. Butler is also a principal in a start up pharmaceutical company called Apothogen Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. McConnell is a partner at the law firm of Murray, Seltzer & McConnell, LLP.  Additionally, he is the Director of Human Resources at Modern Business Associates, Inc. - a human resources outsourcing company with a nationwide client base.  Previously, he litigated in the area of labor and employment with Thompson, Sizemore & Gonzalez, P.A. in Tampa, Florida.