Board of Directors

Stephen C. Glover

Stephen C. Glover

Co-founder, Chairman, CEO, and President

Mr. Glover has over 32+ years of business experience in biopharmaceuticals and life sciences. Before founding ZyVersa, Mr. Glover was Co-Founder and CBO of Coherus Biosciences where he was focused on the business strategy, partnerships, product development efforts and capitalization of the company. Prior to Coherus, he was the President of Insmed Therapeutic Proteins, a biosimilar company, as well as Chief Business Officer of Insmed Incorporated.

Prior to Insmed, Mr. Glover held the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager at Andrx Laboratories and Andrx Therapeutics, both divisions of Andrx Corporation. At Andrx Mr. Glover was responsible for the strategy and operation of Andrx Labs which developed and marketed products in metabolic diseases and Men's Health and Andrx Therapeutics which was focused on the development of new controlled release products and contract manufacturing. He earlier held multiple sales, marketing and operational roles at Hoffman LaRoche, Amgen Inc. and IMS Health.

Mr. Glover has multifaceted experience in Fortune 100, start up and entrepreneurial environments. He has demonstrated results in start ups, large cap and turnarounds with a focus on business strategy, commercial execution, product development, business transformation and corporate development. He has over 25 life sciences transactions in licensing and M&A and has raised over $300M in capital. His strategic and operational experience includes strategic planning, corporate development, operations management, product development, product marketing and sales management.

Currently Mr. Glover serves on the Board of Directors of ZyVersa Therapeutics and The Coulter Foundation at the University of Miami, and he is Chairman of the Board at PDS Biotechnology and Chairman of the Board at Ambrx Biopharma.

Robert (Rob) G. Finizio

Robert (Rob) G. Finizio

Executive Director of PleoPharma

Mr. Finizio is Executive Director of PleaPharma, an ethical pharmaceutical development company focused on finding safe and effective FDA approved treatments for substance use disorders where therapies are lacking. With over 20 years of healthcare experience, Rob started his career in an operational role at Endoscopy Specialist, Inc. (ESI), a leader in laparoscopic equipment outsourcing and intraoperative technical support. During his tenure at ESI, Rob advanced to a regional management role, eventually leaving to join Omnicell Technologies (OMCL), a leader in pharmacy automation. While at Omnicell, Rob served as a sales director, ultimately leaving the company to co-found CareFusion in 2001. CareFusion was a pioneer in hospital patient safety systems for Medication, Blood, and Specimen verification at the point of care. The company was successfully sold to Cardinal Health in 2006. Rob co-founded TherapeuticsMD (TXMD) in 2008, combining his background in women’s healthcare, pharmaceutical technology, clinical software, and patient safety. Today, TXMD is a leader in women’s health, pharmaceutical development, and commercialization. In 2011, Rob took TXMD public, with a current market capitalization of over a billion dollars. Since inception, Rob raised more than $500 million in capital and listed TXMD on the NYSE before transferring to the Nasdaq in 2017. Rob sits on the Board of Directors for two non-profit organizations, BioFlorida and the Boca Raton Police Foundation. Prior to his healthcare career, Rob, a University of Miami graduate who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Premed and Psychology, taught English in Osaka, Japan.

GREGORY G. FREITAG, JD, CPA

GREGORY G. FREITAG, JD, CPA

Principal of FreiMc

Mr. Freitag has more than 30 years of executive management, legal and financial experience in the Life Science, Medical Device, and Healthcare markets. Mr. Freitag is currently a member of the board of directors of PDS Biotechnology Corporation, a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a growing pipeline of targeted cancer and infectious disease immunotherapies based on its proprietary Veramune and Infectimune T cell-activating platforms, and Axogen, Inc. Mr. Freitag was Axogen’s Special Counsel from June 2020 until March 2021, General Counsel from September 2011 until June 2020, Chief Financial Officer from September 2011 until May 2014 and August 2015 until March 2016, and Senior Vice President Business Development from May 2014 until October 2018. Mr. Freitag was the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and a member of the board of directors of LecTec Corporation, an intellectual property licensing and holding company that merged with Axogen Inc. in September 2011, from June 2010 until September 2011. From May 2009 to the present, Mr. Freitag has been a principal of FreiMc, LLC, a healthcare and life science consulting and advisory firm he founded that provides strategic guidance and business development advisory services. Prior to founding FreiMc, LLC, Mr. Freitag was a Director of Business Development at Pfizer Health Solutions, a former subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc., from January 2006 until May 2009. From July 2005 to January 2006, Mr. Freitag worked for Guidant Corporation in the business development group. Prior to Guidant Corporation, Mr. Freitag was the Chief Executive Officer of HTS Biosystems, a biotechnology tools start-up company, from March 2000 until its sale in early 2005. Mr. Freitag was the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of Quantech, Ltd., a public point of care diagnostic company, from December 1995 to March 2000. Prior to that time, Mr. Freitag practiced corporate law in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Minchul Park, Ph.D

Minchul Park, Ph.D

Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Curebio Therapeutics
Adjunct Professor, Korea University, Department of Pharmacy

Dr. Park is Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Curebio Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company in Seoul, Korea, which develops peptide drugs for cancer, alopecia, and wound care. With 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Park has worked in the field of drug target discovery, assay development, and drug candidate optimization. He has expertise in basic and applied molecular and cellular biology.

In his current role, Dr. Parks has led financing and business development deals, including co-development agreements with three pharmaceutical companies, one in-license deal, and he has raised $7 million in equity. Additionally, he has developed cosmetic peptides, and he co-developed antibodies, circulating tumor cell-based diagnostics, and a cancer stem cell assay system.

Prior to Curebio, Dr. Park was CEO and Director at Neomics in Seoul, Korea, where he led the company to profitability by expanding the contract experiment and biomaterial business, and he led efforts to merge Neomics with Curebio and Bumyoung Bio Co., Ltd to form Curebio.  Dr. Park developed cosmetic peptides, and a dermatology peptide drug candidate that he out-licensed.  

Dr. Park began his career as a Senior Research Associate at Medicinal Bioconvergence Research Center at Seoul National University, where he developed and led an out-licensing deal for an exosome isolation device, and he was responsible for two out-licensing deals for an anti-tumorigenic peptide.

Dr. Park obtained his PhD in pharmaceutical bioscience at the Seoul National University, Department of Pharmacy.

JAMES SAPIRSTEIN

JAMES SAPIRSTEIN

Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of First Wave Biopharma

Mr. Saperstein has served for over thirty-eight years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of First Wave BioPharma. Mr. Sapirstein started his career in smaller biotech companies when he later joined Gilead Sciences, Inc. to lead the Global Marketing team in its launch of Viread (tenofovir). In 2002, he accepted the position of Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories. Later, in 2006, he became the founding Chief Executive Officer of Tobira Therapeutics, then a private company. Tobira Therapeutics was acquired by Allergan in 2016. In 2012, Mr. Sapirstein became the Chief Executive Officer of Alliqua, Inc. Thereafter, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Contravir Pharmaceuticals from March 2014 until October 2018. Mr. Sapirstein has raised over $300 Million dollars in venture capital and public capital markets financing in his various engagements as Chief Executive Officer. He was named as a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015 as well as in 2016. Mr. Sapirstein currently holds board positions on Enochian Biosciences and Blue Water Vaccines . He was Chairman of the Board for BioNJ, an association of biopharma industries in New Jersey from February 2017 to February 2019. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors for BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization), the leading biotechnology trade organization promoting public policy and networking in the healthcare space, where he sits on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board.