Class I Director Nominated for Election
The following individual has been nominated by our Board to be elected as a Class I director at the Annual Meeting:
Daniel J. O’Connor, J.D. has been a director since January 2019. Mr. O’Connor has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Larkspur Health Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: LSPR), a special purpose acquisition company, since March 2021. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of OncoSec Medical Incorporated from 2017 to 2021. Prior to that, Mr. O’Connor served as President, Chief Executive Officer, Director and in other senior roles at Advaxis, Inc., a cancer immunotherapy company, from January 2013 until his resignation in July 2017. Prior to that, Mr. O’Connor was Senior Vice President and General Counsel for BRACCO Diagnostics Inc., a diagnostic imaging company, from 2008 until 2012; Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for ImClone Systems Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2002 until 2008; and General Counsel at PharmaNet (formerly inVentiv Health, now Syneos Health), a clinical research company, from 1998 until 2001. Mr. O’Connor is a 1995 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and previously served as a Trusted Advisor to its Dean. He graduated from the United States Marines Corps Officer Candidate School in 1988 and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marines, attaining the rank of Captain while serving in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield. Mr. O’Connor was also a member of the Board of Trustees of BioNJ from 2015 to 2021 and previously served as its Vice Chairman and Chairman of its Nominating Committee for several years. In October 2017, Mr. O’Connor was appointed to the New Jersey Biotechnology Task Force by its Governor. Prior to his career in drug development, Mr. O’Connor was a former criminal prosecutor in Somerset County, New Jersey. The Board believes Mr. O’Connor is qualified to serve as a director based on the depth and diversity of his experience in senior management of pharmaceutical companies.
Class II Directors Continuing in Office until 2024
The following directors will continue in office until the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders, or until their earlier resignation or removal in accordance with our Bylaws:
Raj Mehra, Ph.D., has been our President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors since January 2019. He also served as our Interim Chief Financial Officer from January 2019 until September 2021. Dr. Mehra has served as a director at Larkspur Health Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: LSPR), a special purpose acquisition company, since July 2021. Prior to founding Seelos, Dr. Mehra spent nine years at Auriga USA, LLC as a Managing Director focused on private and public equity investments in global healthcare companies. Prior to Auriga, Dr. Mehra was the sector head for healthcare equity investments at Bennett Lawrence Management, LLC in New York. He also founded and managed a long-short equity hedge fund at Weiss, Peck & Greer LLC. Dr. Mehra started his career as an investment professional at Cowen Asset Management, LLC. Dr. Mehra holds M.S., M.Phil., Ph.D., JD and MBA degrees from Columbia University in New York. He is also a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he was ranked first in his class. The Board believes Dr. Mehra is qualified to serve as our Chairman based on his experience in the healthcare industry, including his significant business knowledge based on his experience with healthcare-based investment banking.
Brian Lian, Ph.D., has been a director since January 2019. He is the Chair of our Compensation Committee and our Audit Committee and a member of our Corporate Governance/Nominating Committee. He is currently President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VKTX), a biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Lian has over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology and financial services industries. Prior to joining Viking, he was a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, an investment bank, from 2012 to 2013. At SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, he was responsible for coverage of small and mid-cap biotechnology companies with an emphasis on companies in the diabetes, oncology, infectious disease and neurology spaces. Prior to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, he was Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Global Hunter Securities, an investment bank, from 2011 to 2012. Prior to Global Hunter Securities, he was Senior Healthcare Analyst at The Agave Group, LLC, a registered investment advisor, from 2008 to 2011. Prior to The Agave Group, he was an Executive Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at CIBC World Markets, an investment bank, from 2006 to 2008. Prior to CIBC, he was a research scientist in small molecule drug discovery at Amgen, a biotechnology company. Prior to Amgen, he was a research scientist at Microcide Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company. Dr. Lian holds an MBA in accounting and finance from Indiana University, an MS and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from The