GNPX 2017 Annual Report

85 hours per month on duties relating to Wilson & Varner, LLP; Dr. Pham spends fewer than 10 hours per month in continuing medical practice to comply with licensing requirements; and Mr. Confer spends fewer than 10 hours per month providing financial consulting services to other companies that are not competitive with us. Non-Employee Directors David E. Friedman has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2012. Since August 2010, Mr. Friedman has served as a partner of TCG Group Holdings, an Austin, Texas based SEC-registered investment advisor to separately-managed institutional and private client accounts. In addition, since January 2012, Mr. Friedman has served as a managing partner of ACM Investment Management, which manages hedge fund assets acquired from KeyCorp, the bank holding company parent of KeyBank. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Friedman served as the Chief Operating Officer of Austin Capital Management, which was owned by KeyCorp, where he led the company’s non-investment functions, including all legal, finance, investor relations, technology and operations teams. Before joining Austin Capital, Mr. Friedman was a Director on the Global Prime Brokerage desk of Citigroup in New York, and an associate at the law firm of Proskauer Rose in its New York headquarters. Mr. Friedman received his BS in management from Tulane University and his JD from Duke University School of Law. He is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York and holds FINRA Series 4, 7, 24 and 63 securities registrations. We believe that Mr. Friedman’s unique and valuable mix of high-level and relevant finance, legal and operations experience makes him a well-rounded business leader and a valuable member of our board of directors. Robert W. Pearson has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2012. In June 2009, Mr. Pearson joined W2O Group, a global network of complementary marketing, communications, research and development firms, and has held a number of senior positions at W2O Group, including Chief Technology Officer, President and since February 2017, Vice Chair and Chief Innovation Officer. From March 2012 to February 2017, Mr. Pearson served as President of W2O, and from June 2009 to March 2012 as its Chief Technology & Media Officer. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Pearson served as Dell Inc.’s Vice President, Communities and Conversations, and before that as its Vice President, Corporate Group Communications. From 2003 to 2006, Mr. Pearson served as Head of Global Corporate Communications and as Head of Global Pharma Communications at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he also served on the Pharma Executive Committee. Before joining Novartis, Mr. Pearson served as President, The Americas and Chair, Healthcare Practice for GCI Group, a global public relations consultancy, and was responsible for creating and building the firm’s global healthcare practice. Mr. Pearson previously served as Vice President of Media and Public Affairs at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, or RPR (now Sanofi-Aventis) and worked at RPR and Ciba-Geigy in communications and pharmaceutical field sales. Mr. Pearson holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. We believe that Mr. Pearson’s senior management experience at international pharmaceutical companies and public relations/ investor relations firms, as well as with start up businesses, and his knowledge and personal contacts in the pharmaceutical industry, and his business management acumen, make him a valuable member of our board of directors. Board Composition The primary responsibilities of our board of directors are to provide oversight, strategic guidance, counseling and direction to our management. Our board of directors meets on a regular basis and additionally as required. Our board of directors currently consists of three directors. In accordance with our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our board of directors is divided into three classes with staggered, three-year terms. At each annual meeting of stockholders, the successors to directors whose terms then expire will be elected to serve from the time of election and qualification until the third annual meeting following election. Our directors are divided among the three classes as follows: • the Class I director will be David Friedman, and his term will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders following the recently completed initial public offering of our common stock; • the Class II director will be Robert Pearson, and his term will expire at our second annual meeting of stockholders following the recently completed initial public offering of our common stock; and • the Class III director will be Rodney Varner, and his term will expire at the third annual meeting of stockholders following the recently completed initial public offering of our common stock.