GNPX 2017 Annual Report

84 PART III Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance. The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers and directors as of April 10, 2018. Name Age Position Executive Officers J. Rodney Varner............................................................... 61 Chief Executive Officer, Secretary, Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors Julien L. Pham, MD, MPH................................................ 41 President and Chief Operating Officer Ryan M. Confer................................................................. 36 Chief Financial Officer Non-Employee Directors David E. Friedman ............................................................ 54 Director Robert W. Pearson............................................................. 55 Director Set forth below is biographical information about each of the individuals named in the tables above: Executive Officers J. Rodney Varner is a co-founder of Genprex and has served as our Chief Executive Officer and Secretary, and as a member of our board of directors and as Chairman of our board of directors since August 2012. Mr. Varner also served as our President until April 10, 2018. Mr. Varner served as a partner of the law firm Wilson & Varner, LLP, since 1991. Mr. Varner has more than thirty- five years of legal experience with large and small law firms, and as outside general counsel of a Nasdaq listed company. Mr. Varner has represented for-profit and non-profit companies at the board of directors or senior management levels in a wide variety of contractual, business, tax and securities matters, including technology transfers, licensing, collaboration and research agreements, clinical trial contracts, pharmaceutical and biologics manufacturing and process development contracts, state and federal grants, including NIH and SBA grants, corporate governance and fiduciary issues, and real estate matters. Mr. Varner served as counsel in company formation, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, other business transactions, protection of trade secrets and other intellectual property, real estate, and business litigation. Mr. Varner is a member of the State Bar of Texas and has been admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States Tax Court. Mr. Varner received his BBA, with high honors, from Texas A&M University and his J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law. Julien L. Pham, MD, MPH has served as our Chief Operating Officer since October 2016 and as our President since April 10, 2018. In March 2013, Dr. Pham co-founded RubiconMD, a healthcare IT company that connects primary care providers to specialists for additional guidance and opinions on medical cases, and served as its Chief Medical Officer from March 2013 to September 2016. Prior to co-founding RubiconMD, Dr. Pham served on the faculty at Harvard Medical Schools Brigham and Womens Hospital, where he joined as a fellow in July 2008 and became an Associate Physician in the Division of Nephrology in August 2011. Dr. Pham has over fifteen years of leadership experience in clinical settings and in emerging medical technology companies. During this time, he has held various research and teaching positions including Chief Residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, and has received multiple awards including excellence in teaching awards from AOA and Harvard Medical School. He is a board-certified internal medicine doctor and nephrologist. Dr. Pham has received NIH research funding for translational research while at Harvard Medical School, and he has published in basic science, translational, and health policy fields. He holds a BS in Cell and Molecular Biology from University of Washington and received his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine and his MPH at the Harvard School of Public Health. Ryan M. Confer has served as our Chief Financial Officer since September 2016. From December 2013 through September 2016, he served as our Chief Operating and Financial Officer, and from June 2011 to December 2013 as our business Manager. Mr. Confer has served us in a variety of strategic, operations, and finance capacities since our inception in 2009 both as a consultant through his own firm, Confer Capital, Inc., and as an employee. Mr. Confer has over ten years of executive experience in planning, launching, developing, and growing emerging technology companies and has served in the chief operating and chief financial roles for non-profit and for-profit entities since 2008. Mr. Confer has also served as an international business development consultant for the University of Texas at Austins IC2 Institute, where he focused on evaluating the commercialization potential of nascent technologies in domestic and international markets applicable to technology incubator programs associated with the University. Mr. Confer holds a BS in finance and legal studies from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and an MS in technology commercialization from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Each of Mr. Varner, Dr. Pham and Mr. Confer is currently a full-time employee of Genprex. Mr. Varner spends fewer than 10