Akela Pharma announces new leadership

04-Sep-2009 - Canada

Akela Pharma, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, PharmaForm, announced the appointment of Greg McKee to the position of president and chief executive officer and Robert Rieder to the position of chairman, effective immediately.

Mr. McKee, who currently serves as, and will remain a member of, Akela's board of directors, brings more than 20 years of biotechnology and life sciences management and leadership experience to the company. Before joining Akela, he served as president and chief executive officer of Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation, which successfully merged with Akela in May of 2009. Prior to his position as chief executive officer of Nventa, Mr. McKee served as the company's vice president, corporate development and chief financial officer. Mr. McKee previously served as senior director, corporate development for Valentis, Inc., a San-Francisco-based gene delivery company, and held several positions at Genzyme Corporation including Director - Asia. He spent several years overseas as an investment banker and aide to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Mr. McKee earned an MBA and an M.A. from the Wharton School and the Joseph H. Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Washington.

Mr. Rieder currently serves as executive chairman of the board of directors of Cardiome Pharma Corp. He served as Cardiome's chief executive officer from the time he joined Cardiome in April 1998 until August 2009 and has extensive previous experience in venture capital and operational management. Prior to joining Cardiome, Mr. Rieder was vice president at MDS Ventures Pacific Inc., the Vancouver-based affiliate of MDS Capital Corp., through which he served as a director for nine public and private technology companies. Mr. Rieder has also held the positions of chief operating officer for DBA Telecom Inc., and chief executive officer for Synapse Technologies Inc. Mr. Rieder received his MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/105891/akela-pharma-announces-new-leadership.html