Nodality, Inc.
Home Technology About Careers News Contact
About Us
Management Team Investors Board of Directors

MANAGEMENT TEAM

David ParkinsonDavid R. Parkinson, M.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer
Member of the Board of Directors

David R. Parkinson is President and CEO of Nodality, a South San Francisco-based biotechnology company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancy to enable more effective therapeutics development and decision-making. Until October 2007 Dr. Parkinson was Senior Vice President, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec. At Biogen Idec he oversaw all oncology discovery research efforts and the development of the oncology pipeline. Previously he had served as Vice President, Oncology Development, at Amgen and Vice President, Global Clinical Oncology Development at Novartis. During his tenures at Amgen and Novartis, Dr. Parkinson was responsible for clinical development activities leading to a series of successful global drug registrations for important cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec, Femara, Zometa, Kepivance, and Vectibix.

Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, serving as Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as Acting Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, before leaving for Novartis. He has also held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas and New England Medical Center of Tufts University School of Medicine.

He received his M.D. as gold medalist from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1977, with Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology training in Montreal at McGill University and in Boston at New England Medical Center. Dr. Parkinson is a past Chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. He is a past President of the International Society of Biological Therapy, and past Editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy. He currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine, serves as co-chair of the Cancer Steering Committee of the NIH Foundation Biomarkers Consortium and is Chairman of the AACR Finance Committee. He has just completed a term as a member of the FDA's Science Board and has also just completed a term on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research. In 2008 Dr. Parkinson became a Director of Facet Biotech, Inc., a public biopharma company.

David SpellmeyerDavid C. Spellmeyer, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer and Chief Informatics Officer

Dr. Spellmeyer joined Nodality in September of 2006.  Prior to Nodality, he held positions as a research staff member in the IBM Almaden Services Research group, as chief scientific officer and vice president of drug discovery at Signature BioSciences, as executive director at DuPont Pharmaceuticals, as vice president at CombiChem, and a principal scientist at Chiron.  Dr. Spellmeyer received his Ph.D. in 1987 from UCLA, and completed his post-doctoral work in pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF.  He continues his interaction with the UCSF research groups through his adjunct assistant professorship.  He has authored more than 35 scientific publications and two modeling packages, and frequently makes presentations at scientific seminars.

Jim AgnelloJames V. Agnello

Chief Financial Officer

Jim Agnello joined the company in December 2008 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Nodality he held positions as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Clarient, Inc.(NASDAQ:CLRT), a rapidly growing cancer diagnostics company, and as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Motion Systems and Marine Divisions and Chief Accounting Officer for Teleflex Inc. (NYSE:TFX), a large multi-national manufacturing company. Mr. Agnello has over 17 years of experience leading finance teams in diagnostic companies, including 14 years in various senior finance positions with SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmith Kline)'s clinical laboratory sector prior to its merger with Quest Diagnostics. He is a CPA, formerly with Deloitte and Touche, and has a B.A. degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a Masters degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Phil McGarriglePhil McGarrigle

General Counsel and Chief IP Officer

Phil McGarrigle joined Nodality in February 2008 as General Counsel and Chief IP Officer. Prior to Nodality, he was employed at Affymetrix from 1998 to 2008 and held the position of VP and Chief IP Counsel. Prior to Affymetrix, he was employed at Cetus and then Chiron after the two corporations were merged. He also worked at Chevron Corporation and Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical. Mr. McGarrigle has been an adjunct professor at Santa Clara School of Law from 2000 to the present. He obtained a B.A. degree from the University of New Hampshire and a J.D. from the University of Santa Clara Law School.

Alessandra CesanoAlessandra Cesano, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Alessandra Cesano joined Nodality in March 2008 as Chief Medical Officer. From 2006 until joining Nodality she was at Biogen Idec as Vice President and Medical Officer, Oncology Medical Research. Alessandra has over 15 years experience within the biotech / pharmaceutical industry concentrating in oncology pre-clinical research at The Wistar Institute (Philadelphia, PA), clinical development at both SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (Collegeville, PA) and Amgen Inc. Along her career path, Alessandra has authored over 85 articles for research publications and is co-inventor in five patents. Additionally, Alessandra, a board certified medical oncologist, holds a PhD in tumor Immunology and a visiting professor and adjunct assistant professor status for the University of Turin (Turin Italy) and University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) respectively. Alessandra is fluent in Italian, French, and English.

Greg StelzerGregory T. Stelzer

Senior Vice President, Advanced Development

Gregory T. Stelzer, Ph.D. joined Nodality in May 2008 as its Senior Vice President Advanced Development. Prior to joining the company, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Esoterix, Inc. In 1988, Dr. Stelzer was the co-founder and Scientific Director of Cytometry Associates, Inc., one of the first independent clinical flow cytometry reference laboratories, and the first operating company acquired by Esoterix in 1995. Dr. Stelzer has been actively involved in the field of flow cytometry and cell analysis since 1981. During his career as a laboratory director in hospital, university and private laboratory settings he has authored over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, mostly in the area of cellular immunology and flow cytometry. He is actively involved in the evolving field of clinical cytometry, and was a co-organizer of the 1996 National Cancer Institute-sponsored Consensus Conference on Flow Cytometry of Leukemia and Lymphoma. He has held the position of Secretary in the Clinical Cytometry Division of the International Society of Analytical Cytology, and has also been a Counselor of the Clinical Cytometry Society, which in 2001 honored him (along with Keith Shults the Director of Cytometric Applications at Nodality) with the prestigious Wallace Coulter Lecture Award for his pioneering work on the analysis of human bone marrow by flow cytometry. Dr. Stelzer received his B.S. (1974) and M.S. (1975) in microbiology from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. (1979) in microbiology and immunology from the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Bill TiltonBill Tilton

Vice President, Clinical Laboratory Operations

Mr. Tilton is currently Vice President of Clinical Laboratory Operations for Nodality, Inc., responsible for the operational launch of CLIA services in Franklin, TN. Mr. Tilton has experience in the laboratory industry starting in 1980. His appointments include eight years of research and clinical work in pediatric hematology with Columbia University and the Presbyterian Hospital in New York with a primary focus on improving outcomes for chronically transfused patients. Mr. Tilton spent fourteen years with DIANON Systems, Inc. serving in various management roles including QA, operations, and IT. He served two years as General Manager of UroCor in Oklahoma City. The operation serviced physician customers with pathology, molecular genetics, and cytogenetics, and received over 200,000 clinical and diagnostic cases annually. Mr. Tilton served as Vice President and General Manager of Oncology for Esoterix, Inc., managing operations in TN, TX, FL, CA, and NJ. These laboratories specialized in hematopathology, flow cytometry, molecular genetics, and cytogenetics with over 80,000 cases received annually. Prior to his current role with Nodality, Inc. he was Vice President and General Manager for NeoGenomics Laboratories, directing operations in FL, CA, and TN, as well as corporate IT. Mr. Tilton holds a Bachelors degree in Biology from Long Island University with a minor and certification in Secondary Education Science and a Master of Science degree in Biology from the University of Hartford.

Andrew HindmanAndrew Hindman

Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Andrew Hindman joined Nodality in May 2010 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development. Most recently, Andrew held the position of Vice President, Corporate Development at Onyx Pharmaceuticals from August 2008. During his tenure, he helped build a world-class corporate development capability, executed strategic partnerships and led the acquisition of Proteolix. Previously, Andrew was with Gilead Sciences as the Senior Director, Alliance Management and, over his ten years with the company, held a series of positions with increasing responsibility within Corporate Development, Commercial Operations, and Government Affairs. During his tenure, he led the global launch of Hepsera® and helped lead the merger with NeXstar Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Gilead, he helped establish the biotechnology investment banking franchise at J.P. Morgan. Andrew holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA (Biochemistry and Economics, with High Honors) from Wesleyan University.

Jim ZieglerJim Ziegler

Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Jim Ziegler joined Nodality in November 2008 as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, and is responsible for the company's commercial organization including marketing, reimbursement, market research, and sales. Prior to Nodality, he was a marketing director at Gilead Sciences. He has over 16 years of biopharmaceutical experience and held sales and marketing positions with increasing responsibility at Pfizer, Amgen, and BiogenIdec. Jim's commercial experience includes EPOGEN®, Aranesp®, and Kepivance® and several pre-approved drug candidates. He has received awards from the National Medical Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association, and the National Minority Quality Forum for his leadership and contributions in reducing health disparities. Prior to his career in the biopharmaceutical industry, he served as an armor officer in the United States Army. Jim received a B.S. in General Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

INVESTORS

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) is an active venture capital partnership headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with a large capital base for investment. Since 1972, KPCB has invested in over 400 technology companies which have accrued market valuations exceeding $164 billion, achieved combined revenues of over $81 billion, and created over 279,000 jobs. In this process, KPCB has been privileged to work with some of America's most outstanding entrepreneurs, Chief Executive Officers, and management teams.

Maverick Capital

Since their founding in Dallas in 1993, Maverick has been dedicated to the preservation and growth of its investors’ capital. Today the team of 162 is based in Dallas and New York, conducts research and trading activities in London and has research offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Shanghai and Taipei. They have been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission since 1994, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission since 2000, and the Financial Services Administration since 2006. They are owned by fourteen partners, all current or past participants in their business. Lee S. Ainslie III, who joined the firm at its inception, has served as the sole Portfolio Manager since March of 1995.

Maverick manages private investment funds offering six investment profiles, certain separately managed client accounts and a fund-of-funds (Maverick Stable). Their assets under management totaled $11.3 billion as of March 31, 2008 (all figures herein are updated through this date unless otherwise indicated). Collectively, their partners, employees and related entities are their largest investors, accounting for 21% of their managed assets and confirming the alignment of their interests with those of their investors.

Pfizer Venture Investments

Pfizer Venture Investments (PVI), the venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc., was founded in 2004 and invests for return in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer. As part of the Worldwide Business Development, Strategy, and Innovation division, PVI seeks to remain at the forefront of life science advances, looking to identify and invest in emerging companies that are developing compounds and technologies that have the potential to enhance Pfizer's pipeline and shape the future of the pharmaceutical industry. PVI invests in companies at any stage of development, with a strong focus on growth stage opportunities, in a broad array of healthcare related areas, including therapeutics, platform technologies, diagnostics, drug delivery, pharmaceutical services, healthcare IT, and other technologies impacting drug discovery and development.

TPG Biotechnology

TPG is a private equity investment firm founded by David Bonderman, James G. Coulter, and William S. Price, III in 1993. The principals of TPG, with affiliated partnerships, have aggregate committed capital of more than $50 billion. TPG’s diverse holdings include Quintiles Transnational, Biomet, IASIS, Neiman Marcus, Burger King and Harrah’s. Founded in 2001, TPG Biotechnology has a total of $1B devoted to investments in information technology and the life sciences in the United States.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Risa Stack, Ph.D.

Member of the Board of Directors
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Dr. Stack joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2003. Dr. Stack specializes in the development of life science companies. She was the founding CEO and is currently a board member of several companies including CardioDx, Nodality, and an incubation in the personalized medicine area. She is currently on the Board of Directors of Corthera and Trius and a board observer at Codon Devices, Xdx, Orexigen (OREX), Tethys and Pacific Biosciences.

Prior to joining KPCB, Dr. Stack was a Principal at J.P. Morgan Partners in the life science practice for 6 years. While at J.P. Morgan Partners she sponsored a series of investments including Acurian, AlgoRx (now Anesiva), Connetics, Diatide, Ilex Oncology, Illumina, Praecis Pharmaceuticals and Triangle Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to working in the venture capital industry, Dr. Stack worked as a Derivative Specialist on the Chicago Board of Trade where she traded futures and options on government securities. As an intern at ARCH Development Corporation she participated in the development of several companies based on the research of University of Chicago scientists. At Abbott Laboratories, she worked to develop a new Hepatitis C assay system and researched new procedures for evaluating patient samples for HIV and Hepatitis B. Dr. Stack received her B.S. in Genetics and Development with distinction from the University of Illinois and her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago. She was also a member of the second class of Kauffman Fellows. Dr. Stack was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Business by the San Francisco Business Times in 2004.

Fred Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.

Member of the Board of Directors
Partner and Managing Director, TPG Biotechnology

Dr. Cohen is a partner at TPG, where he initiated their investment efforts in the life sciences forming TPG Biotechnology. He also retains a position as a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. He also serves as a member of the boards of GenomicHealth, XDx, CardioDx, Axcan, Quintiles Transnational, Five Prime Therapeutics, and Matrix Laboratories. He received his M.D. from Stanford, his D.Phil. in Molecular Biophysics from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and his Bachelor’s degree from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Dr. Cohen has been a member of the faculty of UCSF since 1986 and is best known for his work on protein structure and the conformational basis of prion disease. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Garry P. Nolan, Ph.D.

Co-Founder
Member of the Board of Directors
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Director of the Stanford NHLBI Proteomics Center

Dr. Nolan received his Ph.D from the Department of Genetics at Stanford at the Herzenberg laboratory, and his B.S. in Genetics from Cornell University, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Baltimore at MIT and Rockefeller University. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed papers and holds numerous issued patents. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, and was recently honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. He was a Hume Faculty Scholar (1993-98), Trustee of the Leukemia Society of America (1995-98), Burroughs Welcome Fund New Investigator Awardee (1996-2000), HHMI Junior Faculty Scholar Awardee, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Stohlman Scholar (2000), among others. He is the co-founder of 3 companies, including publicly traded RIGEL (NASDAQ:RIGL).

David R. Parkinson, M.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer
Member of the Board of Directors

David R. Parkinson is President and CEO of Nodality, a South San Francisco-based biotechnology company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancy to enable more effective therapeutics development and decision-making. Until October 2007 Dr. Parkinson was Senior Vice President, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec. At Biogen Idec he oversaw all oncology discovery research efforts and the development of the oncology pipeline. Previously he had served as Vice President, Oncology Development, at Amgen and Vice President, Global Clinical Oncology Development at Novartis. During his tenures at Amgen and Novartis, Dr. Parkinson was responsible for clinical development activities leading to a series of successful global drug registrations for important cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec, Femara, Zometa, Kepivance, and Vectibix.

Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, serving as Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as Acting Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, before leaving for Novartis. He has also held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas and New England Medical Center of Tufts University School of Medicine.

He received his M.D. as gold medalist from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1977, with Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology training in Montreal at McGill University and in Boston at New England Medical Center. Dr. Parkinson is a past Chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. He is a past President of the International Society of Biological Therapy, and past Editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy. He currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine and is a member of the FDA's Science Board. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research, and continues to serve as Chairman of the AACR Finance Committee.

David B. Singer

Limited Partner
Maverick Capital

Mr. Singer is responsible for Maverick’s Private Investments. He joined Maverick in 2004 from Oscient Pharmaceutical Corporation, where he was Chairman of the Board. Mr. Singer is a founder and former CEO of three biotech companies: Affymetrix, Inc., Corcept Therapeutics, Inc., and Genesoft Pharmaceuticals, Oscient’s predecessor. He began his career at Baxter International and worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. Mr. Singer currently serves on the boards of several private companies.

Mr. Singer received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.B.A. from Stanford University. He was a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, and is currently a Sterling Fellow of Yale University, on the Rand Corporation’s Health Advisory Board and a director of College Track.

Russell W. Bradley

Member of the Board of Directors
Vice President Strategic Planning and Business Development, Luminex Corporation

Mr. Bradley joined the Board of Directors of Nodality in September of 2008. Mr. Bradley has over twenty years of international industry experience in both the Life Science and Clinical Diagnostic Testing markets. He is currently Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development at Luminex Corporation, a leading provider of biomedical testing technologies. Prior to joining Luminex Corporation in May 2005, Mr. Bradley spent much of his career at Beckman Coulter Corporation where he served in numerous roles of increasing responsibility in the Cellular Analysis Division finally serving as the Director of the Beckman Coulter CARES initiative. During his tenure at Beckman Coulter, Mr. Bradley was involved in the evaluation, market assessment and successful commercial launch of multiple life science technologies and applications. Mr. Bradley obtained a B.Sc. in Immunology and Biochemistry from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D.

Member of the Board of Directors

Dr Allen joins the board of Nodality having most recently been Chief Medical Officer and EVP at Pharmion Corp, a young cancer therapeutics company acquired by Celgene for $2.9B in 2Q08. Pharmion was the leading company in the fast-growing field of epigenetic therapy, and was the first to show that epigenetic therapy, in the form of Vidaza, a DNA methylation inhibitor, could substantially extend survival in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. Pharmion also secured the approval in Europe of thalidomide for the front-line treatment of multiple myeloma patients ineligible for transplant.

Prior to Pharmion, Dr Allen was Vice President Oncology Drug Development at Chiron, one of the original biotechnology companies in the Bay Area, which was acquired by Novartis in 2006. At Chiron, Dr Allen's team initiated clinical development of three early-stage oncology drugs, both small molecules and biologics, and worked extensively to apply biomarkers and diagnostics to the process of early drug development. His team also collaborated closely with academia, and pioneered a clinical partnership with the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium. Previously, Dr. Allen served as global project head in Abbott Laboratories' oncology franchise, and prior to that he progressed through positions of increasing responsibility at McKinsey & Company, in the development and execution of business strategies for top-tier biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, with a focus on oncology.

Dr. Allen qualified in Medicine at Oxford University and earned his Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London. Dr. Allen also obtained post-graduate internal medicine qualification as a Member of Royal College of Physicians (MRCP).

Nodality

California Office:
201 Gateway Blvd.
South San Francisco, CA 94080
650-827-8000 – Main number
650-827-8001 – Fax number
info@nodality.com


Tennessee Office:
405 Duke Dr., Suite 240
Franklin, TN 37067
650-827-8000 – Main number
615-764-0030 – Fax number
info@nodality.com