Our Team,Committed to Excellence
Management Team
Rostislav Raykov | Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr Raykov has served as director of Fennec Pharmaceuticals and Chief Executive Officer since July 2009. Prior to Fennec, he was a co-founder and portfolio manager for Alchem Investment Partners, an event-driven hedge fund. He also served as a portfolio manager for Purchase Associates, an event-driven hedge fund owned by John Levin & Co., and worked as an analyst at Arbitrage Associates, a Merger Arbitrage hedge fund owned by Tiedeman Investment Group. He began his career as a financial analyst in the natural resources group at Bear Stearns. Mr Raykov graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
Robert Andrade | Chief Financial Officer
Mr Andrade joined Fennec Pharmaceuticals in November 2015 as Chief Financial Officer. In addition, he was previously Chief Financial Officer of Fennec from 2009 to 2013. His career spans 20 years of financial and capital markets experience, including numerous financings as well as merger and acquisition transactions. Mr Andrade previously served in senior investment positions at Magnetar Capital, Millennium Partners, and Caxton Associates. He earned a master of arts degree in economics from the University of Southern California.
Adrian Haigh | Chief Operating Officer
Fennec has expanded its leadership team with the appointment of Adrian Haigh as Chief Operating Officer. Adrian has been a board member of Fennec since 2014 and with his appointment to the management team of Fennec will step down as board member. Adrian recently retired from PTC Therapeutics where his last role was Senior Vice President and Head of International. Previously, Mr. Haigh served as Chief Operating Officer at Gentium GmbH where he built and managed the company’s commercial and medical affairs organization and was also responsible for business development, playing a pivotal role in the sale of Gentium to Jazz Pharmaceuticals for $1 billion.
Mark Gowland | Controller
Mr Gowland joined Fennec Pharmaceuticals in November 2015 as Controller. He is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Global Management Accountant with 17 years of accounting experience. Prior to Fennec, Mr Gowland worked at Cisco in project management and served as Controller for DNA Group and Gorbec Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to that, Mr Gowland worked as an auditor with Southeastern regional public accounting firm, Cherry Bekaert LLP. Mr Gowland earned a masters of business administration in accounting and finance from Regis University.
Board of Directors
Dr Khalid Islam | Chairman
Dr. Islam has been a director of Fennec since April 2014 and is our current Chairman of the Board. Dr. Islam was the Chairman and CEO of Gentium S.p.A. (a Nasdaq-listed company; 2009-2014) where he led the transition from a loss-making to a cash-flow positive and profitable company. Under his leadership, the company value increased from US$25 million leading to a successful all cash US$1 billion merger with Jazz Pharmaceuticals, plc. Subsequent to the sale of Gentium, Dr. Islam has been involved from both an advisory and board level in several public and private healthcare related companies. From 1999-2008, Dr. Islam was President and CEO of Arpida AG where he transitioned the early-stage start-up to a SWX-listed company and raised US$300 million in the IPO and follow-ons. From 1987-1999, he held various positions in HMR & MMD (now Sanofi-Aventis). From 1977-1987, Dr. Islam worked in academia at Imperial College (Univ. of London) and in Milan University, where he was a contract professor. Dr. Islam is a graduate of Chelsea College and received his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London. He holds several patents and has published over 80 articles in leading journals. He is an advisor to the venture group Kurma Biofund (Paris). He is a founder/co-founder of Gain Therapeutics Inc. (GANX), Sirius Healthcare Partners GmbH (Zurich), PrevAbr LLC (D.C.), BioAim LLC (L.A.) & Life Sciences Management GmbH (Zug). Dr. Islam is Board Chair at Minoryx Therapeutics (Spain) and Gain Therapeutics Inc. (GANX), a public company. . In the past, he has served on the Board of Directors of Immunomedics (USA), Processa Pahramacueticals (PCSA), Pcovery Aps (Denmark), Adenium Aps (Denmark), C10 Pharma AS (Norway), Karolinska Development (KDEV, Sweden) and MolMed S.p.A. (MLMI, Italy). Dr. Islam’s extensive international pharmaceutical expertise in transitioning companies from development to production strengthens the Board’s collective qualifications, skills and experience.
Dr Marco Brughera | Director
Dr. Brughera has been a director of Fennec since August 2016. Currently, he is the founder at Brucon srls and Strategic Advisor at Essetifin. From 2011 until 2021, Dr. Brughera had been CEO of Lediant Biosciences and has held several positions for the Sigma-Tau Group, including CEO and Global Head of Sigma Tau Rare Disease, President of Sigma-Tau Research and President of Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals. He drove the commercial revival of a lead oncology product line resulting in its successful sale for a total of around $900M. He also successfully out-licensed the Defibrotide US rights to Jazz Pharmaceuticals. From 2004 to 2010, Dr. Brughera served as the Vice President of Preclinical Development at Nerviano Medical Sciences (NMS), a pharmaceutical oncology-focused integrated discovery and development company. He also served as the Managing Director at Accelera, an independent contract research organization with the NMS Group. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Brughera held several senior level positions in the areas of research and development with Pharmacia and Pfizer. Prior to 1999, he held various positions at Pharmacia & Upjohn and Farmitalia Carlo Erba SpA, an Italian pharmaceutical company. He currently serves on the Board of Leadiant Biosciences Inc and Limited; advisor and biotech champion at Indaco Ventures Partners SGR. Previously was a Board member of Gentium, Exelead, Soligenix, Lee’s Pharmaceuticals and Naicons. Dr. Brughera earned his degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Milan and is a European Registered Toxicologist. Dr. Brughera has wide-spread experience and knowledge of pharmaceutical drug development in international companies. His knowledge in particular, of clinical drug development in Europe, deepens the Board’s collective qualifications, skills and experience.
Jodi A. Cook, PhD | Director
Dr. Cook has been a director of Fennec since September 2019. Dr. Cook is currently CEO of Skylark Bio Inc, an early-stage Company working on gene therapy for genetic disorders. Dr. Cook previously served as SVP and Head of Gene Therapy Strategy at PTC Therapeutics from August 2018 until February 2020. Previously she was one of the founding members and Chief Operating Officer of Agilis Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage company focused on gene therapies for rare diseases of the central nervous system, from December 2013 until its acquisition by PTC Therapeutics in August 2018. While at Agilis she led the sale of the company to PTC in a deal that represented significant value to all parties. Dr. Cook’s career spans a wide range of experiences including VP of Clinical Research at InSound Medical and Director of Audiology at Songbird Hearing, both successful biotech start-up companies within the hearing industry. She has been Assistant Professor of Audiology and Director of the Hearing Aid Program at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Cook earned a BA from Loyola University in Maryland, M.Aud. from University of South Carolina, and PhD from Arizona State University in Hearing Science. She completed a clinical fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD. Her extensive scientific, clinical and executive business experience strengthens the Board’s collective qualifications, skills and expertise.
Chris Rallis | Director
Mr. Rallis, age 69, has served as a director of Fennec since August 2011. Mr. Rallis has been an executive-in-residence at Pappas Capital, a life science venture capital firm since January 2008. Previously, Mr. Rallis was the President and Chief Executive Officer of ImmunoBiosciences, Inc. (“IBI”), a vaccine technology company formerly located in Raleigh, North Carolina from April 2006 through June 2007. Prior to joining IBI, Mr. Rallis served as an executive in residence (part-time) for Pappas Capital, and as a consultant for Duke University and Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Rallis is the former President and Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) and director of Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Gilead Sciences in January 2003 for approximately $465 million. Prior to assuming the role of President and COO in March 2000, he was Executive Vice President, Business Development and General Counsel. While at Triangle, Mr. Rallis participated in 11 equity financings generating gross proceeds of approximately $500 million. He was also primarily responsible for all business development activities which included a worldwide alliance with Abbott Laboratories and the in-licensing of ten compounds. Before joining Triangle in 1995, Mr. Rallis served in various business development and legal management roles with Burroughs Wellcome Co. over a 13 year period, including Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development. Mr. Rallis also serves on the board of Lung Cancer Initiative of NC, located in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Rallis received his A.B. degree in economics from Harvard College and a J.D. from Duke University. As a result of these and other professional experiences, Mr. Rallis possesses particular healthcare industry knowledge and experience which strengthens the Board’s collective qualifications, skills, and experience.
Rostislav Raykov | Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr Raykov has served as director of Fennec Pharmaceuticals and Chief Executive Officer since July 2009. Prior to Fennec, he was a co-founder and portfolio manager for Alchem Investment Partners, an event-driven hedge fund. He also served as a portfolio manager for Purchase Associates, an event-driven hedge fund owned by John Levin & Co., and worked as an analyst at Arbitrage Associates, a Merger Arbitrage hedge fund owned by Tiedeman Investment Group. He began his career as a financial analyst in the natural resources group at Bear Stearns. Mr Raykov graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration.