Board of Directors
J. David Hansen
President, CEO and Chairman
David Hansen serves as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Hansen is an experienced biopharmaceutical executive with more than 30 years of industry experience. He has held senior management roles in both private startup companies as well as small to mid-sized public companies. His senior level experience includes executive management, finance and accounting, corporate development, and sales and marketing. During his career, he has executed a wide variety of in and out licensing agreements, research and development collaborations, joint ventures, divestitures, and acquisitions. He has developed expertise in the therapeutic areas of immunology, oncology, and infectious disease. He gained executive management experience at several life sciences companies prior to co-founding the Company, making him particularly suited for his leadership role at MabVax. He was a corporate officer of Avanir Pharmaceuticals where he held the titles of Vice President of Commercial Development, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, and President and Chief Operations Officer of the Avanir Subsidiary Xenerex Biosciences in which is was a founder. Prior to Avanir, he served in multiple roles at Dura Pharmaceuticals including National Sales Director, Director of Marketing, and Director of Business Development. He has additional management experience with Merck & Co. (Schering-Plough), Key Pharmaceuticals, and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Kenneth M. Cohen
Director
Mr. Cohen holds an A.B. in Biology and Chemistry from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey F. Eisenberg
Director
Jeffrey F. Eisenberg has served as a member of our Board of Directors since February 2016. Mr. Eisenberg has served in a variety of senior management positions, and has developed significant experience in the areas of corporate transactions, strategic alliances, product development, commercialization, manufacturing and talent management. From July 2016 to the present, Mr. Eisenberg has served as a director of Xenetic Biosciences, Inc., a biotech company based in Lexington, MA, and from December 2016 to the present, Mr. Eisenberg has served as Chief Executive Officer of Xenetic. From November 1998 to December 2015, Mr. Eisenberg held various executive management positions including President, CEO and a board member of Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the U.S. prescription pharmaceutical division of Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Inc., a Japanese pharmaceutical company and the world's largest manufacturer of transdermal drug patches. Mr. Eisenberg led the post-acquisition integration of JDS Pharmaceuticals, a private specialty pharmaceutical company purchased by Noven in 1997, as well as the integration of Noven and Hisamitsu following the 2009 acquisition. From 2007 to August 2014 Mr. Eisenberg also served as President of Novogyne Pharmaceuticals, a Women's Health commercial joint venture between Noven and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Mr. Eisenberg was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Noven following Hisamitsu's acquisition of Noven. Prior to Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Mr. Eisenberg gained extensive legal experience serving as Associate General Counsel and then as Acting General Counsel of IVAX Corporation, at the time a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company with global operations. Prior to serving at IVAX, Mr. Eisenberg was a lawyer in the corporate securities department of the Florida law firm of Steel Hector & Davis, where he began his professional career in 1990.
Mr. Eisenberg is an expert in corporate governance, having advised the boards of IVAX, Noven and others through a number of significant internal and external issues, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate financings, strategic alliances, CEO transitions, securities class action lawsuits, FDA warning letters and consent decrees, and development and implementation of corporate governance policies. Mr. Eisenberg holds a BS, Economics degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD degree from Columbia University Law School.
Philip O. Livingston, M.D.
Director
Paul V. Maier
Director
Mr. Maier holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University.
Thomas C. Varvaro
Director
Mr. Varvaro holds a B.S. in Accounting from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and is a Certified Public Accountant.