Mr. Schelling has 21 years of commercial strategy and orphan drug development expertise. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Acer, which he founded in December 2013. Mr. Schelling also founded Censa Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2015, which was sold to PTC Therapeutics in May 2020. In addition, Mr. Schelling has also served as a director at Cascade Prodrug, Inc. since June 2017. Prior to founding Acer, he was Executive Director of Strategic Marketing at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., a Nasdaq-listed biotechnology company, from May 2006 to October 2012. He has also held roles at Abgenix, Inc., Cell Therapeutics, Inc., Stanford Research Institute Consulting and Organon. Mr. Schelling earned a B.A. in biology and history from Carroll College.
Adrian Quartel was appointed as our Chief Medical Officer in February 2022. He previously oversaw all scientific and medical functions as Chief Medical Officer at Adamas Pharmaceuticals from September 2020 to February 2022. Prior to Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Quartel served in various positions at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc., including as Group Vice President, Global Medical Affairs from June 2017 to September 2020 and as Vice President, Medical Affairs, Americas from February 2016 to June 2017. Earlier in his career, Dr. Quartel held senior medical leadership roles where he was responsible for clinical development, pharmacovigilance, and medical affairs at Chiltern, at Astellas, and at ICON Clinical Research. Dr. Quartel worked as a clinical research fellow at UCLA Cedar Sinai and as a resident in cardio-thoracic surgery at Erasmus University Medical Center. Dr. Quartel received an M.D. from Erasmus University Medical School, Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, and a post graduate specialization in pharmaceutical medicine from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in London. He is board certified by the General Medical Council (GMC) in pharmaceutical medicine in the United Kingdom.
As Acer’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ms. Hayden has primary responsibility for supporting operational and commercial growth and effectiveness, as well as establishing, improving, and scaling the company’s executional operations. Ms. Hayden joined Acer in June 2021 as Vice President of Program and Strategic Alliance Management and has played a critical role in the advancement of Acer’s investigational programs, including the Company’s ongoing preparations for the potential commercial launch of ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) for treatment of urea cycle disorders (UCDs), and management of its strategic collaborations. Ms. Hayden continues to oversee program and strategic alliance management responsibilities in her role as COO. Prior to joining Acer, Ms. Hayden spent 20-years at Lonza (formerly Bend Research/Capsugel) and was responsible for business unit planning, operational excellence, clinical and commercial contract manufacturing, and program management. Throughout her career, Ms. Hayden has had the opportunity to lead internal cross-functional teams to introduce new capabilities and improve performance, as well as collaborate with external partners to advance new products to the market. Ms. Hayden received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Gonzaga University.
Mr. Palmin has served as our Chief Financial Officer since the completion of the 2017 merger of Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. and Acer. He has over 25 years of corporate and finance experience. From December 2013 to February 2016, Mr. Palmin served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Acer, and from February 2016 to September 2017 he served as Acer’s acting Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Acer, he served in a variety of roles at Novelos Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, including as President and director from 1998 to October 2013, Chief Executive Officer from January 2005 to October 2013 and acting Chief Financial Officer from 1998 to September 2005. Mr. Palmin has also held roles at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. He earned a B.A. in economics from Brandeis University and an M.A. in international economics and finance from the Brandeis University International Business School.
Jeff Davis joined Acer as Chief Business Officer in February 2021. Mr. Davis is a veteran life science executive and transaction specialist with over 25 years of experience in business and corporate development. Mr. Davis has led or supported over 40 transactions with an aggregate value more than $2B across all major therapeutic platforms, including antibodies, small molecules, aptamers, gene therapy, vaccines, and proteins.
He most recently served as the Vice President of Corporate Development for Censa Pharmaceuticals prior to their acquisition by PTC Therapeutics. Prior to Censa, he was a Partner at Extera Partners, acting Chief Business Officer for Acer Therapetuics, and was a co-founder of Censa Pharmaceuticals and Atacama Therapeutics. In addition, Mr. Davis held senior business and corporate development roles at Genzyme, Archemix, ImmunoGen, GenVec and Eli Lilly. Jeff started his career at Sphinx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Eli Lilly) as a Biochemist. Mr. Davis received a BS in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Duke University.
Mr. Klopp joined Acer as Vice President, Manufacturing in January 2018 and was promoted to Chief Technical Officer in September 2019. He brings over 18 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry developing small molecule drug candidates in positions ranging from research to process development to contract manufacturing management. Mr. Klopp has spent the last 11 years working on the development and commercialization of orphan drugs at BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN) and later Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE). His expertise includes selecting and managing contract manufacturing sites producing drug substance and various oral dosage forms including associated sponsor clinical and commercial CMC regulatory strategy. Mr. Klopp received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University and a M.S. degree in Chemistry from University of California at Berkeley.
Don Joseph joined Acer as Chief Legal Officer and Secretary in April 2018. He has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, including general counsel and senior management positions in biopharmaceutical and global health organizations. Mr. Joseph served as Chief Legal Officer and Board Secretary of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly listed biopharmaceutical company. Prior to KaloBios, he was Chief Executive Officer, and before that, Chief Operating Officer of BIO Ventures for Global Health, or BVGH. Mr. Joseph is currently a member and Secretary of the BVGH board of directors, having served previously as its Chairman. He previously served as general counsel, corporate secretary, and in other senior management roles at publicly held biopharmaceutical companies, including Abgenix and Renovis. Mr. Joseph has served since August 2017 as lead independent director of Achieve Life Sciences, a publicly held pharmaceutical company. Before entering the life sciences industry, he practiced corporate law for a number of years in major firms, including as an international partner at Baker & McKenzie, one of the world’s largest law firms. Mr. Joseph received his J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law, with honors.
Mr. Paul has over 25 years of experience in human resources. He most recently served as Vice President of Human Resources at Acer Therapeutics. Prior to Acer, Mr. Paul served as Vice President of Human Resources at Clarisonic, a device company acquired by L’Oreal. Over his career he has played a major role in developing organizational cultures within various companies assisting them in scaling through different stages of growth while achieving significant milestones including IPO’s, M&A integrations and product commercialization. Mr. Paul has held senior HR leadership roles at Trubion Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Emergent BioSolutions) and Corixa Corporation (acquired by GSK). He holds a B.S. from MSU-Billings and an M.S. from SUNY Buffalo State.
Mr. Auci joined Acer as VP, Market Access and Reimbursement in the beginning of January 2022. He has over 24 years of biopharma industry experience starting his career in sales and sales management with leading market access, distribution, and reimbursement for the past 12 years. During his career, Mr. Auci has led or had a significant leadership role for 10 commercial product launches. Prior to joining Acer, he was the VP of Market Access and Distribution at Avadel Specialty Pharmaceuticals and TherapeuticsMD where he successfully built out all aspects of market access and distribution for those company’s first commercial drug launches. Previously, he held the position of senior director of market access and specialty distribution role at Lumara and KV Pharmaceuticals in which he designed a unique distribution model for a rare orphan injectable specialty therapy and led the team that drove revenue which led to AMAG buying the company for $700MM dollars. He earned his B.S. in Biology at Georgia State University.
Renee Carroll joined Acer in January 2020 as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. She has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 25 years with increasing responsibilities in regulatory affairs in all phases of development and commercialization of drug, biologic, and combination products. Prior to joining Acer, Ms. Carroll held senior positions during her 15-year tenure at Sunovion Pharmaceuticals (formerly Sepracor) and was responsible for all aspects of regulatory activities for the Respiratory franchise, including US approvals of multiple commercial products. She also led a dedicated program to harmonize and increase efficiency for review of US Advertising and Promotion activities. Her expertise spans multiple therapeutic areas including pulmonary, CNS and oncology and experience in both brand and consulting companies, including ViaCell, Paraxel, OraVax, and Alkermes. Ms. Carroll received an M.S. degree in Chemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Merrimack College. In addition, Ms. Carroll is certified in Regulatory Affairs (RAC).
Bill DeVincenzi joined Acer in March 2021 as Vice President, Quality. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 29 years with increasing responsibilities in quality assurance, supporting the development and commercialization of several small-molecule pharmaceuticals across a wide spectrum of dosage forms. Mr. DeVincenzi has led multiple sponsor and third-party inspection readiness programs that resulted in successful regulatory inspections which enabled multiple product approvals. He also brings expertise in multi-regional compliance, global manufacturing and outsourcing, and auditing. Prior to joining Acer, Mr. DeVincenzi held senior positions in Quality at Zogenix, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, and as a consultant with Pharmatech Associates. He received a B.S. degree in Genetics from University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from San Jose State University.
Mr. Kneeland joined Acer as VP Finance, Controller in November 2017. He brings over 20 years of progressive experience in the corporate finance leadership of technology and related companies. Prior to joining Acer, Mr. Kneeland was VP Finance at TechTarget, Inc., a public company with 700 employees and $100M of annual revenue, where he led a team responsible for the day-to-day finance and accounting operations, as well as several key initiatives around revenue recognition and systems implementations. Prior to TechTarget, Mr. Kneeland was a Senior Manager at CFGI, where he assisted domestic and international bio-tech and technology clients with public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and other complex accounting, reporting and internal-control matters. Prior to that, Mr. Kneeland was Director of Technical Accounting of a multi-billion-dollar publicly traded retail pharmacy and pharmacy benefit management company. He has fulfilled various accounting and reporting roles with publicly traded companies in the technology industry since beginning his career in the audit practice of KPMG LLP. Mr. Kneeland is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Massachusetts and holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Johnson & Wales University.