Board of Directors

Sam J. Reich has served on our Board of Directors since November 2020 and was Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer prior to the merger. Mr. Reich co-founded Biscayne Neurotherapeutics, Inc. in 2011 and served as its Executive Chairman until its sale to Supernus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SUPN) in October 2018. Biscayne Neurotherapeutics was focused on novel treatments for seizure disorders. Previously, Mr. Reich was the Executive Vice President of OPKO Ophthalmologics, a division of OPKO Health, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPK) from March 2007 to November 2008, where Mr. Reich served on the executive committee and lead the Ophthalmologics business division. Prior to his position at OPKO, Mr. Reich was the Founder and Executive Vice President of Acuity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he worked from July 2002 through March 2007, at which time Acuity Pharmaceuticals merged with OPKO Health. Mr. Reich was a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He left graduate school prior to the completion of his Ph.D. in order to establish Acuity. Prior to that, he was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the Biomedical Studies graduate program. He has authored six peer- reviewed scientific publications and is currently an inventor on sixteen issued U.S. patents and over 50 issued foreign patents. Mr. Reich holds a B.A. with High Honors in Biochemistry from Clark University, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.

Jeffrey G. Spragens has served on our Board of Directors since November 2020. From 2005 through 2013, Mr. Spragens was a Co-Founder and the CEO of SafeStitch Medical, Inc., a medical device company that pioneered incisionless surgery techniques that helped to relieve GERD and obesity. In 2013, SafeStitch merged with TransEnterix, Inc. (NYSE: TRXC). In addition, Mr. Spragens was one of the three founding board members of North American Vaccine, which became a publicly traded company in 1990. At North American Vaccine, Mr. Spragens was responsible for securing initial financing and building a commercial manufacturing facility. Mr. Spragens was instrumental in North American Vaccine’s acquisition by Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) in 1999. Mr. Spragens has also been a successful real estate developer and entrepreneur. Mr. Spragens was President of FCH services from 1973 until 1986. FCH developed and managed units of coop and condo housing financed with HUD financing with offices in several major cities. In 1986, Mr. Spragens converted to condo ownership 1,000 apartment units in San Mateo, California, resulting in one of the largest residential projects in California at that time. Mr. Spragens was Managing Partner of Gateway Associates, Inc. from 1990 to 2000. In addition, Mr. Spragens developed, owned and operated apartment units in New Jersey, Michigan and Kansas, and has successfully sold many of these units. Mr. Spragens developed and continues to own and operate Inman Grove Shopping Center in Edison, New Jersey. Mr. Spragens is also a well-known and respected philanthropist. Mr. Spragens is a Founding Board Member and Treasurer of Foundation for Peace. Foundation for Peace provides healthcare, education, and clean water to those in need in Dominican Republic and Haiti. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and Finance Committee of Hernia Help, which provides free hernia surgery to underserved children and adults in developing countries. Mr. Spragens has a BA from the University of Cincinnati, a Law Degree from George Washington University and an MA from American University. Mr. Spragens is well qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive public company management and multi-sector investment experience, and his public company board experience.

Christine Hamilton, MBA, is a co-founder of SAB and has served as a director of SAB since 2014. Ms. Hamilton is the owner and Managing Partner of Christiansen Land and Cattle, Ltd., a fourth-generation diversified farming and ranching enterprise. She also owns Dakota Packing, Inc., a wholesale company based in Las Vegas that provides high-end, “center-of-the-plate” protein products to a national customer base. Ms. Hamilton has served on the boards of directors for several financial and public companies including HF Financial Corporation, Home Federal Bank (now Great Western Bancorp, NYSE: GWB) and, in 2018, was recognized for her exemplary service as a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank (Ninth District) after a four-year term. She currently serves as a board member for publicly traded Titan Machinery, the Padlock Ranch and the Meadowlark Institute. Ms. Hamilton was a governor-appointed commissioner for South Dakota Game Fish & Parks and is a 2016 inductee to the South Dakota Hall of Fame for her contributions to the state and agribusiness. In 2000, Ms. Hamilton and her family formed the Matson Halverson Christiansen Hamilton Foundation (MHCH), a not-for-profit foundation with a mission to improve the quality of life and create opportunities for growth and enterprise development in South Dakota. Hamilton holds a philosophy degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and an MBA in entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona.

Dr. William J. Polvino, MD, has served as a Director of SAB since 2019, after having served as a Business Advisor to the company for several years. Dr. Polvino is pharmaceutical entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare arena. He is currently CEO of Bridge Medicines, a pioneering drug discovery company focused on advancing promising early technologies from concept to clinic. Prior to Bridge Medicines, Dr. Polvino was president and chief executive officer of Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S (NASDAQ: VELO), a public biotechnology company that deployed proprietary formulation technology to develop and commercialize an innovative oral drug product for transplant patients. He also served as president and CEO of Helsinn Therapeutics (formerly Sapphire Therapeutics) and has held executive and senior-level positions in drug development at Merck, Wyeth and Theravance. Dr. Polvino earned his medical degree from Rutgers Medical School and a B.S. in Biology from Boston College. He trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a fellow in clinical pharmacology at the National Institutes of Health prior to entering the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.

Dr. Mervyn Turner joined the SAB board of directors in 2020. Dr. Turner has nearly 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery, research and development, licensing and business development, emerging markets strategy development and implementation. He spent 27 years at Merck & Co. Inc., holding positions of increasing responsibility in Merck Research Laboratories before joining the company’s Executive Committee as Chief Strategy Officer. Since his retirement from Merck & Co., he is currently an Advisor to Bay City Capital, a San Francisco-based venture firm, to Bridge Medicines, a commercial incubator for early-stage innovation based in New York City, and to Adagene, a China-based therapeutic antibody company. Dr. Turner is also a member of the Board of EnGeneIC (Sydney, Australia), and the Chairman of the Board of LUNAC. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Blade Therapeutics and Spinogenix. Dr. Turner was previously a Senior Healthcare Advisor to Lazard, a leading financial services and investment banking firm. He holds his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield.

David Link, MBA, has served as a Director of SAB since 2018 and is currently Vice-Chairman. Mr. Link is the former Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Office at Sanford Health with more than three decades of experience in strategy, planning and financial operations. During his tenure, Mr. Link contributed significantly to growing the organization from a regional health system into one of the nation’s largest non-profit, integrated health care delivery systems. He was also charged with overseeing Sanford Health Plan, Sanford Foundation and research and development, including Sanford Research. Under his leadership, the initial Sanford Clinic was created as well as the development of Sanford World Clinics, an initiative designed to provide communities around the world with permanent, sustainable health care infrastructure. Currently, Dave serves as an appointed program director in the President’s Office at Dakota State University, one of the nation’s leading programs in cyber security. Dave holds board or committee positions with Enterprise 605, the South Dakota REACH Committee, South Dakota Research and Commercialization Council and Sanford Research. In 2019, he was honored for his exemplary leadership and support of the state’s bioscience industry with the LIVE Award at the South Dakota Biotech. Dave holds a bachelor’s degree in data processing and computer science, an MBA from the University of South Dakota and a master’s in health care administration from the University of Minnesota.

Eddie J. Sullivan, PhD, is a co-founder of SAB and has been serving as president and CEO of SAB since 2014. Dr. Sullivan has served in biopharma leadership positions for more than 25 years. Prior to SAB, he held the CEO role or other leadership roles in predecessor entities to SAB, including CEO of Hematech, a subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kirin. During that time, he led initiatives to develop infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune immunotherapies. In addition to raising over $250 million in capital to develop biopharmaceutical platform technologies, he has also led several successful mergers and acquisitions. A recognized thought leader in antibodies and transgenic animals, Dr. Sullivan serves on the Board of Directors for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and has served on its Executive Committee. He has worked with industry committees and discussion groups that have focused on animal biotechnology, regulatory framework, human immunotherapies and global health threats. Dr. Sullivan was governor-appointed to South Dakota’s Research Commercialization Council and is Chairman of the state’s National Science Foundation-EPSCoR committee. He also founded, served as president and remains an advisor to the state affiliate of BIO, South Dakota Biotech, and in 2014 was honored for his leadership, innovation, vision and entrepreneurship with the inaugural LIVE award. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and graduate degrees from Brigham Young University, Kennedy-Western University, and Utah State University in both reproduction and business.