BioLeap > About > Board of Directors

Board of Directors

William A. Frezza, Chairman and Director

Mr. Frezza joined Adams Capital Management in 1997 as a General Partner. Prior to his work at Adams Capital, Mr. Frezza was Founder and President of Wireless Computing Associates, providing technology and strategic consulting services to major vendors in the semiconductor and telecommunications industries. Mr. Frezza served as the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Ericsson, Inc.’s wireless data division and has extensive engineering and product management experience from General Instrument Corp. and Bell Laboratories. Mr. Frezza has also been involved in several start-up ventures, holds seven patents, and was a regular columnist for Network Computing Magazine and InternetWeek. He is a former of Director of the Materials Research Society (MRS). Mr. Frezza holds a master’s of science in electrical engineering, a bachelor’s of science in both biology and electrical engineering; all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brenda D. Gavin, DVM, Director

Dr. Gavin is a Founding Partner of Quaker Partners. Previously, she was President of S.R. One, Limited, GlaxoSmithKline’s bioscience venture capital investment company, and a general partner of EuclidSR Partners, an independent venture capital limited partnership focused on health care and information technology. Dr. Gavin has been responsible for dozens of venture and strategic investments, and serves as a board member for many portfolio companies including Celator Pharmaceuticals, Tengion, Tetralogic Pharmaceuticals, and Tranzyme Pharma; as well as the Ben Franklin Technology Center of Southeastern PA, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, Innovation Philadelphia, BioAdvance, and the Penn State University Research Foundation. Dr. Gavin received her B.S. from Baylor University, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Missouri, and a MBA from the University of Texas – San Antonio.

Eugene H. Cordes, Ph.D., Director

Dr. Cordes has more than 40 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry as a researcher, executive and strategic advisor. Dr. Cordes currently serves as a board member of Vertex Pharmaceuticals and was formerly Chairman of Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from January 2002 until March 2006. Prior to joining Vitae Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Cordes was a professor of pharmacy at the University of Michigan. Dr. Cordes received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Brandeis University.

David Pompliano, Ph.D., CEO

David has nineteen years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry with a strong track record in joint venture management, international business development, and driving strategic change in research and development. Most recently he served as Vice President, Worldwide Basic Head, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Franchise for Merck Research Laboratories, where he created the global antimicrobial research strategy and led the research and business development teams that integrated internal discovery activities with external shared-risk venture partners. Prior to Merck, David was Vice President, Head of Biology, Microbial Musculoskeletal and Proliferative Diseases Center for Excellence in Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline. As a drug hunter, David has contributed to the discovery or development of four marketed drugs (Tykerb, Promacta, Votrient and Altabax) and four drugs that have reached clinical proof of concept. David has published >50 research papers and is co-inventor on 3 patents. David earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.

John Kulp, Ph.D., Founder/CTO

John has a broad background including senior management positions with responsibility for product development, research, operations, business development, and strategic planning. He has a 10-year background in BioLeap’s core technologies, achieving several innovations in fragment-protein simulations and fragment-based design tools. He founded the large-scale biophysical simulation team at Sarnoff Corp., where he was Vice President, and has played a leading role in a number of successful business launches, including Symbolics and Locus Pharmaceuticals. John’s Ph.D. is in Electrical Science (statistical physics) from MIT.