Douglas O. Mckinnon – CEO
Doug McKinnon’s more than 30-year professional career includes advisory and operation experience across a broad spectrum of industry sectors, including oil and gas, technology, and communications. He has served in C-level positions in both private and public sectors, including chairman and CEO of an American Stock Exchange company, Vice President of a $12 billion market cap NASDAQ-traded company for which the management team raised over $2.2 billion, CFO of several publicly held US, Canadian and Australian companies, and CEO/CFO of several other private enterprises.
As an entrepreneur, McKinnon has been involved in organizations ranging from start-up companies using venture capital funding to publicly-traded institutional investor backed companies. McKinnon earned BA and MBA degrees from Texas Christian University. He worked for nine years as a CPA in the SEC and oil and gas practice section of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). In addition to McKinnon’s extensive merger & acquisition and turnaround Experience, he also lead the development and construction of a $44 million, 300,000 sq. ft office and technology building.
Dr. John N Bonfiglio- Chairman of the Board
Dr. John N. Bonfiglio is a seasoned well-respected CEO with over 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical/biotechnology business. Dr. Bonfiglio started his career with Allergan pharmaceuticals as a scientist and moved into project management, strategic marketing and business development. Two of his projects while at Allergan are now marketed products- Tazarotene and AlphaGan. He spent 3 years at Baxter HealthCare before starting a career in small biotech companies. He rose to the position of CEO at Peregrine Pharmaceuticals where he turned around the struggling and financially strapped company by reducing the burn rate, licensing technologies and raising capital in the public markets.
Dr. Bonfiglio was named COO at Cypress Bioscience while the company was struggling to reinvent itself as neuropharmaceutical company. He was responsible for in-licensing Milnacipran from Pierre Fabre which was subsequently commercialized in the US for fibromyalgia by Cypress and Forest Labs (nder the trade name Savella). He then joined the Immune Response Corporation as CEO and was responsible for raising over $50M and restarting clinicals in the HIV and MS areas. Recently he was the CEO at Argos Therapeutics a privately held autologous cellular therapy company and raised $35M through a series C financing. His tenure at Argos produced Phase 2 clinical data in renal cell carcinoma, which led to an IPO and subsequent financings.
Recently he completed a successful stint at Oragenics in Tampa, Fl. Here he completed two strategic deals with Intrexon Corporation, raised $29M in three financings under very favorable terms, relisted the company on the NYSE:MKT and refocused the company on new novel and proprietary antibiotics – all while reducing the burn rate. He was also responsible for completing a strategic marketing and sales initiative with the company’s OTC probiotic product line by hiring an in-house sales team and selling directly to the dentists’ offices.
Dr. Bonfiglio most recently served as Board member and President and COO a for Tapimmune, a public company in the T-cell vaccine space. In this capacity he has helped raise over $10M, uplist TapImmune to NASDAQ, formulate a clinical strategy and get new awareness to investors interested in the company.
Dr. Bonfiglio brings a strong strategic mindset and a philosophy of meeting milestones and keeping costs down. His expertise extends to most therapeutic areas with emphasis on oncology, infectious disease, auto-immune disease and cell therapies as well as diagnostics and probiotics.
Keri Williams – Secretary
Keri Williams is a current Director and Secretary of AppYea in and the senior administrative assistant for Texas A&M Technology Commercialization (TTC). She is the reception for the office which includes greeting visitors, answering phones, and providing administrative support to Licensing Managers, Patent Attorneys and New Ventures/Start-Up companies.
Keri has over 20 years administrative experience from previous employment. She recently moved to College Station to be near her sons. One is as enior at Texas A&M and the other is as opho more at Blinn.
Devin Beavers- Director
Devin joins APPYEA as an accomplished consultant in business development. After attending Tarleton State University, Devin acquired most of his business experience at Ben E Keith Beverages in Ft. Worth Texas. He brings to APPYEA more thank 25 years of experience in strategic planning, effective communication and negation skills. As a senior level manager, Devin led BEK Beverages providing superior leadership during critical transition phases. Such as, implementing budget reductions, writing business plans, and positively facilitating a work environment of consistent growth and increased productivity. Devin excels in retail sales and wholesale markets. Devin is an exceptional and successful leader in his industry.