Leadership

Paul R. Edick

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. 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, 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 has extensive industry experience with leading consumer, pharmaceutical, and healthcare organizations, including Pharmacia as Group Vice President and President, Asia Pacific & Latin America Operations at Pharmacia; and Searle Pharmaceuticals as President of Asia Pacific, Canada, and Latin America Operations, VP, Canada and Latin America Operations. He also has experience leading the US managed care organization, US marketing organization, and Global Pain & Inflammation Business, including 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 currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Iterum Therapeutics. Mr. Edick has also previously served on a number of pharmaceutical and healthcare company boards, including 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 Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Hamilton College.

Committee Roles:

Chairman of the Board

Steven Prestelski, _{Ph.D, MBA}

Chief Scientific Officer & Cofounder

Dr. Prestrelski currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals. He is also the inventor of the Xeris platform technologies. Dr. Prestrelski is an internationally recognized expert in drug formulation and delivery, with over 20 years of product development experience. Prior to joining Xeris, Dr. Prestrelski was Vice President of Pharmaceutical R&D at Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Bydureon^® program at Amylin, leading this program from Phase 2 through global regulatory filings. Prior to Amylin, Dr. Prestrelski was Vice President, Biopharmaceuticals at PowderJect Technologies, Inc. where he pioneered the delivery of solid biopharmaceuticals. Dr. Prestrelski has also worked with Alza and Amgen in technical and management roles.

Dr. Prestrelski serves on the Board of Directors of BaroFold, Inc. and on the Scientific Advisory Board of iMEDD, Inc., a Bay Area drug delivery company. Dr. Prestrelski has published over 50 invited book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles and has over 10 issued and 12 pending patent applications in the field of drug formulation and delivery. 

Dr. Prestrelski has a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from the City University of New York and a Master of Business Administration from Rady School of Business at the University of California, San Diego.

Barry Deutsch

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Deutsch serves as Chief Financial Officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, having previously served as Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Deutsch has more than 25 years of healthcare and life sciences experience encompassing positions in investment banking and senior management roles at companies ranging from start-ups to large, multinational organizations.

Prior to joining Xeris, Mr. Deutsch was a vice president for the BioScience Division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Baxalta Incorporated, following its spinoff from Baxter, and Shire plc following its acquisition of Baxalta. As Vice President, Head of Business Development and Public-Private Partnerships, Intercontinental Region, he led the evaluation, execution, and negotiation of partnerships for Baxalta and Shire for Latin America, Russia, and Asia Pacific. Prior to this position, he was a member of the BioScience Senior Management Team and Vice President, Business Development, serving as a key member of a small group leading the global business development and licensing activities for Baxter's BioScience Division and Baxalta.

Mr. Deutsch also has held Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of business and corporate development roles at start-up and emerging healthcare companies, namely Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and TLContact, Inc., as well as positions in investment banking at Salomon Brothers and Vector Securities International.

Mr. Deutsch received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

John Shannon

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Shannon currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Xeris Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Shannon has 30+ years of pharmaceutical and healthcare experience with a diverse background in sales, global and US marketing, operations and manufacturing, strategic planning, and business development.

Most recently, Mr. Shannon spent 2 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.

Prior to Catheter Connections, Mr. Shannon spent 3 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 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 2 Baxter brands, ADVATE^® and GAMMAGARD^®, both of which now exceed revenues of 1 billion dollars.

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 importantly, Executive Director, Cardiovascular Global Commercialization, 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 has a Bachelor of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Microbiology from Western Illinois University.

Ken Johnson, _Pharm.D.

Senior Vice President, Clinical Development. Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Medical Affairs

Dr. Johnson is currently serving as the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Medical Affairs at Xeris Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Johnson is responsible for leading these efforts 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 25 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 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 4 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.

Beth P. Hecht

Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Beth P. Hecht serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel 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 also a member of the Board of Directors of Neos Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NEOS) where she chairs the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Ms. Hecht is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School and started her career as an attorney specializing in intellectual property and corporate transactions at Willkie Farr & Gallagher (NY) and then 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 known as Carter-Wallace Inc.), Warner Chilcott PLC, ChiRex Ltd., and Alpharma Inc.

Allison Wey

Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

Ms. Wey serves as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. She brings over 30 years of experience in investor relations, corporate communications, media relations, and investment banking to Xeris. 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.

Kevin McCulloch

Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Business Development

Kevin McCulloch joined Xeris Pharmaceuticals in October 2018 as Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Business Development. Mr. McCulloch has spent more than 30 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, 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 Infusion Systems 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 bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Michigan.

BJ Bormann

Independent, Nonexecutive Board Member: The Jackson Laboratory

BJ Bormann is a professional with almost 30 years of experience in academic and pharmaceutical science and biotechnology and pharmaceutical business development. Her current role is serving as the Vice President of Translational Science and Network Alliances for the Jackson Laboratory. In this role, BJ is working to bring the innovations from the Jackson Laboratory faculty closer to patients by generating a series of collaborative relationships with industrial partners. BJ’s previous work in the biotechnology area include leading Pivot Pharmaceuticals as the CEO (OTC: PVOTF); the CEO of Supportive Therapeutics, LLC, a company that is developing a drug for the treatment of oral mucositis, a severe side effect to chemoradiation treatment in oncology patients. BJ has previously been the CEO of Harbour Antibodies based in the Netherlands, licensing transgenic mice that make human antibodies, and the Chief Business Advisor for NanoMedical Systems, Inc. of Austin, Texas that licenses a unique implantable drug delivery device. Prior to these engagements, BJ was Senior Vice President responsible for worldwide alliances, licensing, and business development at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2007 to 2013. From 1996 to 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. BJ 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 from Fairfield University in Biology. 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

Dawn Halkuff

Independent, Nonexecutive Board Member: TherapeuticsMD

Dawn Halkuff is the Chief Commercial Officer at TherapeuticsMD, a healthcare company focused on developing products exclusively for women

Ms. Halkuff has held numerous senior-level commercial and marketing positions over 20 years. Prior to 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 to 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

Marla S. Persky

Independent, Nonexecutive Board Member: WOMN LLC

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 on the Audit and Strategic Planning Committees of the Board of Directors of YGEIA, a medical technology company, and is on the Board of Advisors of Text IQ, a technology company that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to prevent legal, compliance, and reputational disasters. 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 (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 Schmid

Independent, Nonexecutive Board Member

Mr. 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 (IPO) until its sale to Cubist Pharmaceuticals in 2013 for over $700 million.

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

Committee Roles:

Chair of the Audit Committee

Member of the Compensation Committee

Jeffrey W. Sherman, MD, FACP

Independent, Nonexecutive Board Member: Horizon Pharma

Jeffrey (Jeff) W. Sherman, MD, FACP, is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Horizon Pharma based in Lake Forest, Illinois. Jeff has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry at IDM Pharma, Takeda Global Research and Development, NeoPharm, Searle/Pharmacia, and Squibb/Bristol-Myers Squibb. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Strongbridge Biopharma.

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.

Jeff is a past President of the Drug Information Association (DIA) and a former member of the Board of Directors. He also was Chairperson of the DIA Annual Meeting, received an Outstanding Service Award, is an inaugural fellow, and serves as the DIA liaison to the FDA Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative (CTTI) Steering Committee. Jeff, 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.

Committee Roles:

Member of the Compensation Committee

Member of the Nominating Governance Committee