About Us

Paul R. Edick joined Xeris Pharmaceuticals as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in January 2017. Prior to Xeris, Mr. Edick was Founding Partner of 3G Advisors, a consultancy to the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and healthcare investor communities. From 2010 to 2014, Mr. Edick was the Chief Executive Officer of Durata Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DRTX), a biopharmaceutical company addressing the growing need for new antibiotics to treat infectious diseases. Durata was acquired by Actavis PLC, now Allergan PLC, in November 2014. Prior to Durata, Mr. Edick was Chief Executive Officer of Ganic Pharmaceuticals, a Warburg Pincus investment search vehicle, from 2008 to 2010. Before Ganic, Mr. Edick was Chief Executive Officer of MedPointe Healthcare, Inc., a US-based specialty pharmaceutical company, a position he assumed in 2006 after having been President of Pharmaceutical Operations since 2002. Mr. Edick led the growth of the business and the development of a clinical stage portfolio, and the company was subsequently sold to Meda AB of Sweden in 2007.

Mr. Edick also possesses extensive industry experience with leading consumer, pharmaceutical, and healthcare organizations, including Pharmacia as Group Vice President and President, Asia Pacific & Latin America Operations; and Searle Pharmaceuticals as President of Asia Pacific, Canada, and Latin America Operations and VP, Canada and Latin America Operations. He also led the national Managed Care and Marketing units, as well as the Global Pain & Inflammation unit, which included the commercialization and launch planning, for Celebrex®. In addition, Mr. Edick has also held sales, marketing, advertising, and advisory positions in Procter & Gamble, Ortho Pharmaceuticals, and The Hamilton Group.

Mr. Edick has previously served on a number of pharmaceutical and healthcare company boards, including Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc., Iterum Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ITRM), PDL BioPharma (Nasdaq: PDLI), Neos Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NEOS), NewLink Genetics Inc. (Nasdaq: NLNK), Circassia Pharmaceuticals PLC (London: CIR.L), Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, (acquired by Mallinckrodt), Amerita Inc., and Informed Medical Communications. Mr. Edick holds a BA in psychology from Hamilton College.

Committee Roles:
Chairman of the Board

Dawn Halkuff is the Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Protein, a wellness company focused on medically developed weight loss protocols.

Ms. Halkuff has held numerous senior-level commercial and marketing positions over 20 years, most recently as Chief Commercial Officer at TherapeuticsMD, Prior TherapeuticsMD, she was Senior Vice President of the Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Wellness Organization and a member of the Consumer Global Leadership Team. Ms. Halkuff was also commercial lead for sales and marketing of the Pfizer Women’s Health Division, focusing on the company’s reinvestment in hormone therapy treatment, including Premarin® Vaginal Cream and oral hot flash treatments. From 2005–2010, Ms. Halkuff was Head of Global Innovation at Weight Watchers International, where she created new weight-loss products, services, and solutions for women worldwide.

She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Pennsylvania State University.

Committee Roles:
Member of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Nominating Governance Committee

Garheng Kong founded and has served as managing partner of HealthQuest Capital, a healthcare venture growth fund, since 2013. He brings more than 25 years of clinical, technical, and business experience in creating and building high-growth and innovation- based healthcare businesses.

He currently serves on the board of directors of Venus Concept, Alimera Sciences, Inc., and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings. Dr. Kong previously served as the Chairman of the Board of Strongbridge BioPharma until its acquisition by Xeris Pharmaceuticals. He also served on the board of directors of Histogenics Corporation, and Avedro, Inc. Dr. Kong’s early career included positions at GlaxoSmithKline, McKinsey, and TherOx before he started his investing career.

Dr. Kong earned his MD, PhD, and MBA from Duke University and received a BS in chemical engineering and a BS in biological sciences from Stanford University.

Committee Roles:
Member of the Audit Committee

 

Ms. Fairley is a seasoned marketer with 35 years of marketing experience including 20 years in brand management at Johnson & Johnson, Nabisco, Reckitt & Colman, and The Coca-Cola Company, and over 15 years in agency leadership encompassing strategic planning and consulting for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Ms. Fairley co-founded and continues to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of TOUCH, the Black Breast Cancer Alliance, a breast cancer advocacy organization. Ms. Fairley currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation and the Center for Healthcare Innovation. In February 2012, Ms. Fairley founded and, through June 2022, served as the President and Thought Leader for DOVE Marketing Inc., a marketing consulting company. Previously, Ms. Fairley served as Partner and Chief Marketing Officer of Images USA, a marketing communications agency, from 2009 to 2012 and served as its Partner, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Planning from 2005 until 2009. Before that Ms. Fairley also served as Partner, Strategist of Powerpact, LLC, a promotion agency, and from 2000 to 2003 as Vice President, Marketing of Chupa Chups USA, a consumer goods company.

Ms. Fairley has a B.S. degree in English from Dartmouth College and a M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

John Schmid has over 30 years of experience in financial and executive management in the biotechnology industry and has raised over $900 million in private and public equity and debt financings. Mr. Schmid is currently an independent board member and audit chair for Neos Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NEOS) and AnaptysBio (Nasdaq: ANAB).

He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Neos Therapeutics, Inc., AnaptysBio Inc., Forge Therapeutics, Inc., Patara Pharma, Inc., Speak, Inc. and Poseida Therapeutics Inc. Previously, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, which he joined in 2013 and took public in early 2014 before it was sold to Teva in 2015 for $3.5 billion. Prior to Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Schmid cofounded Trius Therapeutics in 2004; there, he served as CFO through its initial public offering until its sale to Cubist Pharmaceuticals in 2013 for over $700 million.

Mr. Schmid received an MBA from the University of San Diego and a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University.

Committee Roles:
Chair of the Audit Committee
Member of the Compensation Committee

BJ Bormann is a professional with nearly 30 years of experience in academic and pharmaceutical science and biotechnology and pharmaceutical business development. She currently serves as the Vice President of Translational Science and Network Alliances for the Jackson Laboratory. In this role, Dr. Bormann is working to bring the innovations from the Jackson Laboratory faculty closer to patients by generating a series of collaborative relationships with industrial partners. Dr. Bormann’s previous work in the biotechnology area includes serving as CEO of Pivot Pharmaceuticals (OTC: PVOTF) as well as CEO of Supportive Therapeutics, LLC, a company developing a drug for the treatment of oral mucositis, a severe side effect to chemoradiation treatment in oncology patients.

Dr. Bormann has previously served as the CEO of Harbour Antibodies, based in the Netherlands, licensing transgenic mice that make human antibodies, as well as the Chief Business Advisor for NanoMedical Systems, Inc. of Austin, Texas, which licenses a unique implantable drug delivery device. Prior to these engagements, from 2007–2013, Dr. Bormann was Senior Vice President at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., responsible for worldwide alliances, licensing, and business development. From 1996– 2007, she served in a number of positions at Pfizer, Inc., the last one being Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development and the worldwide Head of Strategic Alliances.

Dr. Bormann currently serves on the board of directors of various companies, including Supportive Therapeutics, LLC, the Institute for Pediatric Innovation, and Bioline RX (Nasdaq: BLRX). Dr. Bormann received her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Connecticut Health Center and her BS in Biology from Fairfield University. Dr. Bormann completed postdoctoral training at the Yale School of Medicine in the department of Pathology.

Committee Roles:
Chair of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Audit Committee

Jeffrey (Jeff) W. Sherman, MD, FACP, is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Horizon Therapeutics. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry at IDM Pharma, Takeda Global Research and Development, NeoPharm, Searle/Pharmacia, and Squibb/Bristol-Myers Squibb. He served on the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma and Xeris Pharmaceuticals. Jeff now serves on the Board of Directors of Xeris Biopharma following the acquisition of Strongbridge by Xeris and also on the Board of Sorriso. In addition, he is also on the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Lake Forest College and medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/The Chicago Medical School. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University, where he also served as a chief medical resident. Additionally, he completed fellowship training in infectious diseases at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) and was a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UCSF in allergy and immunology. Jeff is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of a number of professional societies as well as a Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Jeff also serves on the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science College of Pharmacy Advisory Board and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Alumni Board.

Jeff is a past chairperson and former member of the Drug Information Association (DIA) Board of Directors. He also was chairperson of the DIA Annual Meeting, received an Outstanding Service Award, is an inaugural fellow, and had served as the DIA liaison to the FDA Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative (CTTI) Steering Committee. Jeff now serves as the Horizon representative to CTTI and in addition serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP). He is also a member of the Global Genes Medical and Scientific Advisory Board and involved with the National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD). Jeff in addition co-chairs the Science Advisory Board of Cures Within Reach and is on the Boards of the Erie Family Health Foundation and the Center for Healthcare Innovation (CHI).

Committee Roles:
Member of the Compensation Committee
Member of the Nominating Governance Committee

Marla Persky is CEO and President of WOMN LLC, a company dedicated to helping women succeed in the business of law by increasing their knowledge of and acuity with financial drivers, client development, and leadership. Throughout her professional life, Ms. Persky has had the opportunity to understand and practice business principles that lead to personal and company success. Ms. Persky retired in 2013 as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Boehringer Ingelheim USA, where she oversaw a department of over 70 individuals. She also was a member of Boehringer’s executive management team and a director of the company and several of its subsidiaries.

Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Ms. Persky spent 19 years at Baxter International Inc. where she held numerous business and legal positions, the most recent of which was Acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. During her career at Baxter, Ms. Persky managed global legal services, was General Manager of an international medical device business, led international crisis management teams, acquired and integrated international businesses, and designed/implemented strategies to manage global mass torts.

Ms. Persky is currently chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee and serves on the Audit and Compensation Committees of Panavance Therapeutics Inc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company advancing the development of GP-225, a novel oncology therapeutic. She is also a member of the board of directors of Revolo Biotherapeutics, a venture funded biotechnology company engaged in the development of therapies that reset the immune system to achieve long-term disease remission. Previously, she served on the board of directors of Cytyc Corporation (Nasdaq diagnostics company). She was also on the board of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation, the world’s largest privately owned pharmaceutical company. Ms. Persky was a director of Watermark, Inc., a private publisher and broker of children’s literature.

In addition to her corporate activities, Ms. Persky is on the board of several not-for-profit organizations such as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Primary Stages (an off- Broadway theater company), and World Neighbors Inc. Ms. Persky is a frequent speaker on a variety of subjects, including leadership principles, mentoring, diversity, crisis management, and negotiation techniques.

Throughout her career, Ms. Persky has focused on improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. She has been awarded for her contributions by elite organizations such as the Lawyer's Collaborative for Diversity and the Connecticut Appleseed Foundation. She was recognized as one of the 10 most innovative in-house counsels for her strategy and efforts to increase the opportunities and visibility of women in high-profile litigation.

She is a graduate of the Washington University School of Law and Northwestern University.

Committee Roles:
Chair of the Nominating Governance Committee
Member of the Audit Committee

John H. Johnson is a recognized leader in the biopharmaceutical industry with more than 30 years of experience at leading global organizations, including Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Company, ImClone, and Pfizer, Inc. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Autolus Therapeutics as well as a member of the board of directors of Verastem, Inc., and Axogen, Inc.

Mr. Johnson previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Strongbridge BioPharma as well as a member of its board of directors until its acquisition by Xeris Pharmaceuticals. He also served on the board of directors of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Health Section Governing Board of Biotechnology Industry Organizations (BIO), and BioNJ.

Mr. Johnson holds a BS from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Committee Roles:
Member of the Nominating Governance Committee