Steven Lo
Director
Mr. Lo is a highly experienced biopharma executive with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries, including over 12 years of C-level experience in publicly traded biotech companies.
Prior to Vaxart, Mr. Lo was Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Valitor, a private biotech company, from 2022 to 2024. From 2019 to 2022, he was the President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Zosano Pharma. From 2015 to 2019, he was the Chief Commercial Officer at Puma Biotechnology. At that company, he built and led business development and the worldwide commercialization of the company’s first product. Prior to that, he was Chief Commercial Officer of Corcept Therapeutics, where he established the commercial organization to launch the company’s first product. Earlier in his career, he spent 13 years at Genentech in a variety of leadership roles in commercialization and market access.
Mr. Lo obtained a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis.
Kevin Finney
Director
Mr. Finney currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Autobahn Therapeutics and Chairman of its Board of Directors since 2019.
Prior to joining Autobahn, Mr. Finney served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and a Director of Abide Therapeutics through the company’s acquisition by Lundbeck in 2019. Prior to this, Mr. Finney founded and served as the Chief Operating Officer of Zavante Therapeutics through the company’s acquisition by Nabriva Therapeutics in 2018. Mr. Finney previously spent a decade as Head of World-Wide Corporate Development at Allergan, Inc.
Prior to Allergan, Mr. Finney held executive management roles at Prometheus Laboratories, Inc. (now Nestle Health Science), Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) and the Parke-Davis division of Warner-Lambert (now Pfizer). In addition to his role at Autobahn, Mr. Finney serves on the board of Eirion Therapeutics, and previously served on the boards of Elsie Biotechnologies (now GSK), Taris Biomedical (now J&J) and Anterios (now Allergan).
Mr. Finney holds an MBA from the George L. Graziado School of Business, Pepperdine University, and a B.A. in exercise physiology from California State University Long Beach.
W. Mark Watson
Director
Mr. Watson is a Certified Public Accountant with over 40 years of experience in public accounting and auditing, having spent his entire career from January 1973 to June 2013 at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its predecessor, most recently as Central Florida Marketplace Leader.
He has served as lead audit partner and lead client service partner on public companies ranging from middle market firms to Fortune 500 enterprises.
Mr. Watson also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Inhibitor Therapeutics, Inc. He previously served as a director and member of the Audit Committee of Sykes Enterprises, Inc and BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc.
A member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Mr. Watson is qualified to serve on the Board due to his expertise in public accounting and his experience with life science and pharmaceutical companies.
He received his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Marquette University.
Dr. David Wheadon
Director
David Wheadon is a former senior executive of AstraZeneca Plc, having recently retired as senior Vice-President (SVP), global regulatory affairs, patient safety and quality assurance. He joined the board of Vaxart in April 2021.
David has had a long and distinguished career in the healthcare sector in senior leadership positions, including: Executive VP, research and advocacy at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; SVP, scientific and regulatory affairs at PhRMA; SVP of global pharmaceutical regulatory and medical sciences at Abbott Laboratories; SVP of US regulatory affairs at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals; Vice-President and director CNS/GI Clinical Research at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals; and clinical research physician at Eli Lilly and Company.
David has been integral to the successful development and approval of several important drugs for central nervous system diseases, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders and diseases in other therapeutic areas. He currently serves on the board of Karuna Therapeutics Inc. and ConnectiveRx.
David holds a M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University. He completed his post-doctoral training in Psychiatry at Tufts/New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Elaine J. Heron, Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Heron currently serves on the boards of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., a leader in developing and commercializing first- or best-in-class therapies for rare genetic diseases, Palvella Therapeutics, Inc., a private clinical-stage therapeutics company, Visgenx, Inc., a private early-stage therapeutics company, and Watershed Medical, Inc., a private early-stage therapeutics company. Dr. Heron also serves as an advisor to Kyto Technology and Life Science, Inc.
From February 2009 to October 2015, Dr. Heron served as Chair and CEO of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private drug development company acquired by Pfizer, Inc.
From July 2001 to October 2008, Dr. Heron was Chair and CEO of Labcyte Inc., a private biotechnology company. Before joining Labcyte Inc., she spent six years in positions of increasing responsibility at the Applied Biosystems Group of Applera Corporation, a biotechnology company, including the position of General Manager and Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Dr. Heron earned a B.S. in chemistry with highest distinction, a Ph.D. in analytical biochemistry from Purdue University, and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.
