Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain
Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers
Appointment of Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer
On November 28, 2017, the Board of Directors (the
Board
) of Versartis, Inc. (the
Company
) appointed Jay P. Shepard, the Companys Chief Executive Officer, to the position of principal financial officer, effective December 1, 2017, following the previously announced resignation of Joshua T.
Brumm, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Company.
Also on November 28, 2017, the Board appointed Kevin
Haas, the Companys Corporate Controller, to the positions of Vice President, Finance and principal accounting officer, effective December 1, 2017.
Jay P. Shepard, 59, has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since May 2015 and as a member of our Board of Directors since
December 2013. From December 2013 to May 2015, Mr. Shepard also served as the chairman of our Board of Directors. Until May 2015, Mr. Shepard was an Executive Partner at Sofinnova Ventures, or Sofinnova, a venture capital firm focused on
the healthcare industry, which he joined as an Executive in Residence in 2008. Mr. Shepard previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer and was a member of the Board of Directors of NextWave Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty
pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing unique pediatric products utilizing proprietary drug delivery technology that was acquired by Pfizer in November 2012, from January 2010 to November 2012. From December 2005 to October 2007,
Mr. Shepard served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ilypsa Inc., a biopharmaceutical company pioneering novel
non-absorbed
polymeric drugs for renal and
metabolic disorders that was acquired by Amgen in July 2007. Mr. Shepard has served on the boards of directors of numerous public companies, including Ilypsa, Relypsa, Inc., Durect Corporation, Bullet Biotechnology, Inc., Intermune, Inc., and
Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. Mr. Shepard holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. We believe Mr. Shepard is able
to make valuable contributions to our Board of Directors due to his extensive knowledge of the biopharmaceutical industry and his prior experience as an executive officer.
Kevin Haas, 52, has served as our Vice President, Finance since December 2017. Mr. Haas previously served as our
Corporate Controller from January 2014 until December 2017 and was a consultant to the Company from December 2013 to January 2014. From May 2005 to June 2013,
and prior to its acquisition by Roche Holdings, Inc., Mr. Haas served in various financial management roles at Intermune, Inc., including Director of Financial Reporting and most recently as Director of Financial Planning. Prior to his tenure
at Intermune, Mr. Haas spent three years at Gilead Sciences, Inc. from 2001 until 2004 and eight years at Cisco Systems, Inc. from 1993 until 2001 in various capacities in finance. He began his career in public accounting with Grant Thornton,
LLP. Mr. Haas holds a B.S. in Business Administration, emphasis Accounting, from Western State Colorado University.
There are no
family relationships between either Mr. Shepard or Mr. Haas and any director or executive officer of the Company, and neither has any direct or indirect material interest in any transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404(a)
of Regulation
S-K.