James Geraghty

Chairman, Former Entrepreneur in Residence at Third Rock Ventures

Mr. Geraghty joined the Board of Directors of Pieris in May 2017 and was appointed as Pieris’ Chairman of the Board of Directors in December 2017. Mr. Geraghty is an industry leader with 30 years of strategic and leadership experience, including more than 20 years as a senior member of executive teams at biotechnology companies developing and commercializing innovative therapies. He was most recently, from May 2013 to October 2016, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Third Rock Ventures, a leading biotech venture and company-formation fund, and previously served as Senior Vice President, North America Strategy and Business Development at Sanofi, which he joined upon its acquisition of Genzyme. Mr. Geraghty spent 20 years at Genzyme, where his roles included Senior Vice President International Development, President of Genzyme Europe and General Manager of Genzyme's cardiovascular business. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Orchard Therapeutics, and serves as a Board member of Voyager Therapeutics and Fulcrum Therapeutics. Mr. Geraghty also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of BIO Ventures for Global Health, a private, non-profit global health organization. Mr. Geraghty previously served as Chairman of the Board of Juniper Pharmaceuticals and as a Board member of Aceragen (formerly Idera Pharmaceuticals). He started his career in healthcare strategy consulting at Bain and Company. A graduate of the Yale Law School, Mr. Geraghty holds an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Georgetown University. We believe that Mr. Geraghty is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors due to his strong life sciences pedigree and extensive background in company building.

Stephen S. Yoder, J.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Stephen S. Yoder joined Pieris as Chief Executive Officer in January 2010. Prior to joining Pieris, from July 2003 to December 2009 he led the intellectual property and legal departments at MorphoSys AG, a biotechnology company involved in the development and research of antibodies, as General Counsel. Prior to MorphoSys AG, from September 1999 to June 2003 he worked in several Washington, D.C. law firms, specializing in a life sciences intellectual property practice. Mr. Yoder holds degrees in molecular biology and Spanish from Grove City College and a Juris Doctorate, with honors, from The George Washington University Law School. 

Michael Richman

Chief Executive Officer of NextCure

Mr. Michael Richman joined the Board of Directors of Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in December 2014. He is co-founder of NextCure, Inc. and has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of NextCuresince 2015. Mr. Richman was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of Amplimmune, Inc., a biologics company focused on cancer and autoimmune diseases that was acquired by AstraZeneca plc. Prior to such time, Mr. Richman has gained years of experience working in research, intellectual property and business development capacities in companies such as Chiron Corporation (now Novartis), MedImmune, Inc. (now Astra Zeneca) and MacroGenics. He is a Board member of Madison Vaccines, Inc., a private company. Mr. Richman previously served as a Board member of GenVec, Inc., Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. until its merger with Acer Therapeutics Inc., and Cougar Biotechnology until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Richman obtained his B.S. in genetics/molecular biology at the University of California at Davis and his M.S.B.A. in international business at San Francisco State University.

Christopher Kiritsy

Founder and Managing Member of Precision Kapital

Mr. Kiritsy is founder and managing member of Precision Kapital, LLC, a private investment and advisory firm. Prior to forming Precision Kapital, Mr. Kiritsy co-founded Arisaph Pharmaceuticals and served as Arisaph’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 2005 through 2018. Prior to Arisaph, Mr. Kiritsy served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he played a key operating role in building the company from start-up to highly profitable, publicly traded, commercial company. During his 10-year tenure at Kos, Mr. Kiritsy spearheaded more than 10 major corporate development transactions and raised approximately $500 million in public equity, including Kos' initial public offering. Kos was acquired by Abbott Laboratories for $3.7 billion in 2016. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. Mr. Kiritsy is a seasoned entrepreneur, who possesses more than 20 years of business and technical experience, previously holding senior management positions in R&D, business development and finance.

Ann Barbier, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer of CAMP4 Therapeutics

In March 2022, Dr. Barbier became the Chief Medical Officer of CAMP4 Therapeutics. Prior to this, Dr. Barbier served as the Chief Medical Officer of Translate Bio until the company's acquisition by Sanofi in September 2021. Prior to joining Translate Bio, Dr. Barbier was Vice President of Clinical Development, Rare Genetic Diseases, at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development program of a small molecule in rare benign hematological diseases. Previously, Dr. Barbier spent seven years at Shire, most recently as Global Clinical Development Lead and Senior Medical Director, where she worked on a variety of rare genetic diseases including lysosomal storage diseases and hereditary angioedema. Her prior experience includes positions at Envivo, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis. During her career, Dr. Barbier has made significant contributions to several approved products such as Elaprase® (Hunter syndrome), Aubagio® (multiple sclerosis) and Firazyr® (hereditary angioedema) and has led several investigational new drug applications for new chemical entities. Additionally, she has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Barbier received her M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and a Master of Science from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Peter Kiener, D.Phil.

Director, Former Chief Scientific Officer of Sucampo

Dr. Kiener is an industry veteran with extensive experience across the entire value chain of biopharmaceutical research and development. Most recently, Dr. Kiener served as Chief Scientific Officer at Sucampo until the company's acquisition by Mallinckrodt in February 2018. Prior to Sucampo, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of Ambrx Inc., a company focused on developing antibody-drug conjugates. Previously, Dr. Kiener was President and Co-founder of Zyngenia Inc, a monoclonal antibody company developing drugs for oncology and inflammatory diseases. His prior experience also includes positions at MedImmune LLC, where he was Head of Global R&D, and at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Kiener has led or contributed to the development of over 30 different clinical-stage therapeutics and seven approved drugs, including two immunoglobulin-based fusion proteins, one monoclonal antibody, two vaccines, and one bispecific T-cell engager. Additionally, he has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is listed as an inventor on over 60 patents and patent applications. Dr. Kiener received a B.A. in Chemistry from Lancaster University and a D.Phil. in Biochemistry from Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, where he also pursued a postdoctoral fellowship.

Maya R. Said, Sc.D.

Chief Executive Officer of Outcomes4Me

Dr. Said is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Outcomes4Me Inc., a health technology company focused on providing patients diagnosed with cancer and other chronic life-altering diseases with personalized treatment options as well as outcomes information. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of Celsius Therapeutics, where she established and managed the company’s operations from inception through the company’s first year post-launch. Before founding Outcomes4Me, Dr. Said was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Oncology Policy & Market Access at Novartis, where she defined Novartis’ oncology franchise value and pricing strategy to address pricing pressures and established global pricing guidance for numerous oncology products. Her previous experience also includes a senior position at Sanofi, where she served as Vice President, Head of Strategy, Science Policy & External Innovation, Global R&D, and at Boston Consulting Group, where she most recently served as a Principal. She currently serves on the Board of Transgene. Dr. Said received her Sc.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science & Systems Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also obtained a Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a Master of Science in Toxicology, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She has authored over 20 publications in high-impact journals.

Matthew L. Sherman, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Sherman is a physician-scientist with clinical development expertise in oncology, hematology and pulmonary diseases across large pharma, biopharma and venture-funded biotechnology startup companies. Dr Sherman currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, Dr. Sherman was Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Acceleron Pharma. At Acceleron, Dr. Sherman provided executive leadership for medical research, and clinical operations, including biostatistics and data and program management, clinical pharmacology, and pharmacovigilance. Before joining Acceleron in 2006, Dr. Sherman was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Synta Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw all therapeutic areas, including oncology, inflammatory diseases, and immunology. Previously, Dr. Sherman spent over a decade at Wyeth-Ayerst Research/Genetics Institute in numerous clinical research and development roles. Prior to his career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, Dr. Sherman spent nine years at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, ultimately as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. He has authored more than 260 original articles, review chapters, and abstracts, and is listed as an inventor on 11 issued patents. Dr. Sherman received a S.B. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Georgetown University Medical Center.