A growth-oriented biopharmaceutical company improving patient lives by developing and commercializing advanced products across a range of therapies.

John Shannon was appointed Chief Executive Officer in August 2024.  He joined Xeris in 2017 as Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to President in 2020.  Mr. Shannon has 35+ years of pharmaceutical and healthcare experience with a diverse background in sales, global and US marketing, operations and manufacturing, strategic planning, and business development.

Prior to Xeris, Mr. Shannon spent two years as Chief Executive Officer for Catheter Connections, Inc., a company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative vascular access products designed to protect patients from acquiring infections during intravenous infusion therapy. Catheter Connections, Inc. was acquired by Merit Medical in January 2016.

Before Catheter Connections, Mr. Shannon spent three years as Chief Commercial Officer for Durata Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of differentiated therapeutic solutions to advance patient care in infectious disease and acute illnesses. Durata was acquired by Actavis (now Allergan) in November 2014. Mr. Shannon spent 10 years (2001–2011) at Baxter Healthcare, where he was General Manager, Global Hemophilia and Global Commercial Excellence; General Manager, US Biopharmaceuticals; Vice President, Marketing US Bioscience; and Vice President, Marketing US Renal. During his time at Baxter, he led the commercialization and drove the growth of two Baxter brands, ADVATE® and GAMMAGARD®, both of which now exceed revenues of $1 billion.

Prior to coming to Baxter, Mr. Shannon was Vice President, Marketing for Caremark. Before that, he was at Searle for 10 years; there, he held several positions, most notably Executive Director, Cardiovascular Global Commercialization, in which he was responsible for the commercial development and marketing of new cardiovascular products worldwide, and Senior Director of Cox-2 Global Commercialization, in which he led the worldwide launch and global marketing of Celebrex®. In addition, he spent 7 years at Bock Pharmacal Company, where he held various positions including Sales Representative, Sales Trainer, Sales Operations, Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Business Development.

Mr. Shannon holds a BS in Biology with an emphasis in Microbiology from Western Illinois University.

Beth P. Hecht serves as the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Xeris Pharmaceuticals. She has over 25 years of experience as a corporate executive in the life science industry, most recently serving as Managing Director and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer for Auven Therapeutics, a global biotechnology and pharmaceutical private equity firm. Beth is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Iterum Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ITRM) and a member of both the Audit and Compensation Committees there. She was previously on the Board of Directors of Neos Therapeutics where she chaired the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Ms. Hecht is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School; she began her career as an attorney specializing in intellectual property and corporate transactions at Willkie Farr & Gallagher (NY) and later Kirkland & Ellis (NY). She has established and led legal, compliance, licensing, human resource, and security departments at companies including Durata Therapeutics, Sun Products, MedPointe Inc. (formerly Carter-Wallace Inc.), Warner Chilcott PLC, ChiRex Ltd., and Alpharma Inc.

Kevin McCulloch was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Xeris in August 2024.  He joined Xeris Pharmaceuticals in October 2018 as Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Business Development and was named Chief Commercial Officer in September 2021. Mr. McCulloch has spent more than 35 years in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry in diverse leadership and general management roles spanning sales, marketing, and business operations for both US and international entities.

Prior to joining Xeris, Kevin was the President of Global Solutions at Hill-Rom and earlier, as Chief Business Officer for Water Street Healthcare Partners Pharmaceutical Holdings. Mr. McCulloch spent 15 years with Baxter Healthcare in successive management roles including GM/President of the Global Services, Global Fluid Systems (GFS), Infusion Systems (IS), and Fenwal business units. While the leader of GFS, he created Celerity Pharmaceuticals, one of the industry’s first R&D externalization ventures that has since successfully generated multiple new product launches. As leader of the IS business, he oversaw the acquisition and integration of Sigma International into the IS portfolio while successfully navigating the business out of a long-standing consent decree. As the President of Fenwal, a global leader in blood collection and apheresis technology, Mr. McCulloch led its successful divestiture to TPG in 2007. He started his Baxter career as a Vice President of Global Marketing in the Renal division. Prior to Baxter, Mr. McCulloch spent 9 years at GD Searle in roles of increasing responsibility in business development, marketing, and sales. He began his career as a territory sales representative with the Upjohn Company.

Mr. McCulloch holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Biology from the University of Michigan.
 

Steve Pieper is the Chief Financial Officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, having previously served as Vice President of Finance since he joined the company in 2017. Mr Pieper brings over 20 years of experience working in the life science industry in various financial leadership roles.

Prior to Xeris, Mr. Pieper served as the CFO and COO of Catheter Connections Inc., a company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative vascular access products designed to protect patients from acquiring infections during intravenous infusion therapy. Catheter Connections, Inc. was acquired by Merit Medical in January 2016. Mr. Pieper also held the position of Director of Finance at Durata Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Actavis (now Allergan) in November 2014. Mr. Pieper started his career in healthcare at Baxter Healthcare Corporation, where he held a variety of commercial and corporate decision support finance roles.

Mr. Pieper received an MBA from Loyola University, Chicago and BS in Finance from DePaul University.

Allison Wey serves as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications of Xeris Pharmaceuticals. She brings 30+ years of experience in investor relations, corporate communications, media relations, and investment banking to Xeris leadership. Prior to joining Xeris, Ms. Wey served as Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Regulus Therapeutics, Durata Therapeutics, and Par Pharmaceuticals. Prior to these positions, Ms. Wey was VP, Investor Relations at Boron, LePore & Associates; Senior Vice President at Edelman Financial Worldwide; Managing Director, Financial Communications at Hill & Knowlton; and Associate Director, Equity Capital Markets at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. Ms. Wey is a graduate of Drake University.

Dr. Ken Johnson currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Global Development and Medical Affairs of Xeris Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Johnson is responsible for leading clinical and nonclinical development, regulatory, quality and medical affairs to effectively generate high-quality scientific and clinical evidence for Xeris' products to support product approval, advance clinical education and practice, inform policy, and improve health outcomes for patients.

Dr. Johnson has more than 30 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical benefits management, and academia. Dr. Johnson was most recently Executive Director, US Medical Affairs for Hospital Specialty Products at Merck. Previously, Dr. Johnson held senior management positions in Medical Affairs and Outcomes Research at Circassia Pharmaceuticals, Durata Therapeutics, Horizon Pharma, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, NeoPharm, Searle/Pharmacia, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He also served as Vice President, Analytics and Outcomes Research at Caremark, working with Fortune 200 employers and other pharmacy benefit purchasers. Dr. Johnson began his professional career on the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, with a practice and research focus in therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical pharmacokinetics.

Dr. Johnson has established de novo Medical Affairs and Outcomes Research functions for four emerging biopharmaceutical companies. In addition, he has established and led regional Medical Affairs teams for both large global and emerging biopharmaceutical companies. Throughout his career, Dr. Johnson has consistently been recognized for his leadership, strategic thinking, collaboration, and ability to innovate across a broad range of organizations.

Dr. Johnson received his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center. Dr. Johnson holds a number of adjunct academic appointments and is a member of several professional societies.

Kendal Korte is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Xeris Pharmaceuticals and has led the function since its inception in 2017. In addition to Human Resources, during her tenure she has led multiple functions for the Company, including IT and Corporate Administration. 

Ms. Korte brings 20 years of multi-faceted human resources experience across multiple industries including professional services, real estate, steel manufacturing and most recently, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Ms. Korte has previously served as the head of human resources at Catheter Connections, Inc, which was acquired by Merit Medical Systems, Inc in 2016. Prior to this engagement, Ms. Korte served in various human resources roles at Durata Therapeutics, EVRAZ North America, Equity Residential, and SmithBucklin Corporation.

Ms. Korte received her master’s degree in human resources management from North Park University in Chicago, IL and holds various certifications in the field of human resources.

Brian Conner serves as Senior Vice President of Quality and Chief Compliance and Risk Officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals. He brings 30+ years of biopharmaceutical industry experience within the areas of corporate ethics and compliance, quality, regulatory affairs, general management, basic R&D, manufacturing, sales/marketing and medical advertising.  

Prior to joining Xeris, Mr. Conner served as Chief Compliance Officer at Strongbridge Biopharma prior to being acquired by Xeris in the Fall of 2021. Prior to these positions, Mr. Conner served as the Assistant Compliance Officer for the U.S and Canada at Shire Pharmaceuticals. During his career, Mr. Conner has established and led compliance, quality, regulatory teams and /research facilities, and held an array senior level positions at Stiefel Laboratories, Genzyme, Biogen, Saatchi and Saatchi and Merck. Mr. Conner is a graduate of Drexel University.