Board Members - Biographies
Angiotech's current Board of Directors is comprised of the following members:
- David T. Howard, Chairman of the Board
- William L. Hunter, President & CEO
- Hank McKinnell
- Hartley T. Richardson
- Ned Brown
- Arthur H. Willms
- Laura A. Brege
David T. Howard, Chairman of the Board
Director, SemBioSys Genetics, Inc.
David Howard joined Angiotech's Board of Directors in March 2000. Mr. Howard is a director of SemBioSys Genetics, Inc. and James Richardson International, Inc. Previously he was CEO and Chairman of the Board of SCOLR, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company located in Redmond, WA. Prior to this, he has served as President & Chief Operating Officer of Novopharm International of Toronto, Ontario and President of Novopharm USA, Inc. Mr. Howard's industry experience includes operational and strategic positions with Boehringer Mannheim Canada, where he was Vice President Pharmaceuticals, and Rhone-Poulenc Pharma in Montreal and Paris.
William L. Hunter
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. William Hunter is one of Angiotech's co-founders and currently serves as President and CEO of the company. He has led Angiotech through significant corporate milestones from its initial rounds of private and public financings, to product commercialization and profitability. The company's initial lead product, the TAXUS® drug-eluting coronary stent - which was co-developed and is now sold by Boston Scientific Corporation - is implanted in over four million patients worldwide. Today, Angiotech is a global leader in the field of drug-device combination products and a major manufacturer of over 5,000 specialty, single-use medical devices and medical device components targeting various surgical and interventional medical markets.
Active in a variety of business and scientific organizations, Dr. Hunter serves as the chair of the board for Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and a director on the Cardiome Pharma Corp. board. Dr. Hunter has been honoured with many awards including the 2006 Principal Award for Innovation from the Manning Foundation, the 2005 BC Innovation Council’s Cecil Green Award for Science and Technology Entrepreneurship and the co-recipient of 2006 NSERC Synergy Awards for Innovation along with Dr. Helen Burt, recognizing the collaboration between the University of British Columbia and Angiotech.
Dr. Hunter received his BSc from McGill University and MSc and MD from the University of British Columbia.
Hank McKinnell
Chairman & CEO (Ret.), Pfizer Inc.
Hank McKinnell is the former Chief Executive Officer and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pfizer Inc. He is currently Chairman of the Accordia Global Health Foundation, an organization dedicated to fighting infectious diseases in Africa, and the Lead Director of the Board of Directors of Moody’s Corporation.
Dr. McKinnell joined Pfizer in 1971 in Tokyo and over the years, held positions of increasing responsibility around the world, including service as President of Pfizer Asia. In 1984, Dr. McKinnell relocated to New York, where he served as Vice President-Strategic Planning, Chief Financial Officer, President-Pfizer Medical Device Group, President-Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group, and President and Chief Operating Officer. He was named Chairman and Chief Executive officer in 2001 and served in this role until his retirement in the second half of 2006.
Dr. McKinnell is the Chairman Emeritus of the Business Roundtable, an association of the CEOs of America’s largest companies, the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers Association, the Food and Drug Law Institute, and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. He has also served as vice chairman of the World Economic Forum, as a member of the WEF Foundation Board of Trustees, and on the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Dr. McKinnell holds a Bachelor's Degree in business from the University of British Columbia, and M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Hartley T. Richardson
President & Chief Executive Officer, James Richardson & Sons, Limited
Hartley T. Richardson is the seventh family President of James Richardson & Sons, Limited, a private, family-owned corporation, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada. The company has interests in agriculture and food processing, financial services, real estate and energy sectors.
James Richardson & Sons has over 150 years of experience in Canadian agriculture and specifically the international grain distribution industry. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, James Richardson International, operates the largest privately owned network of grain facilities in Canada.
Richardson Capital is the company’s private equity arm, investing in Canadian companies in a range of industry sectors outside of the company’s core business. Another entity, Richardson Partners Financial Limited, is responsible for providing highly personalized family wealth management services and advice.
Tundra Oil & Gas Limited is involved in oil exploration and production in Canada's Williston Basin. Real estate interests controlled through Lombard Realty Limited are currently concentrated in the ownership and management of office towers in Winnipeg.
Besides Angiotech, Mr. Richardson serves as a Director of Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, and Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He is past-Chairman of the Business Council of Manitoba and Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. Other affiliations include the Trilateral Commission, the World Economic Forum Global Leaders of Tomorrow and the Young President’s Organization. He is also actively involved in a number of charitable endeavours and community organizations. The University of Manitoba conferred upon Mr. Richardson the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 2004. Mr. Richardson was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007, and to the Order of Manitoba in 2008.
Ned Brown
Managing Director, TPG Growth
Ned Brown is a Managing Director at TPG Growth, where he is responsible for making private equity investments in a broad range of companies in the healthcare industry. Prior to joining TPG in 2007, Mr. Brown co-founded Healthcare Investment Partners, or HIP, a private equity fund focused exclusively on healthcare, and served as a Managing Director of HIP since its inception in June 2004. Before forming HIP, Mr. Brown had over 17 years of experience in healthcare investment banking, most recently as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he led the firm's West Coast healthcare effort and was one of the senior partners responsible for the firm's global life sciences practice, from August 2000 to June 2004. In addition to his work with Angiotech, Mr. Brown also serves as a member of the board of directors with Replidyne, Inc., Sleep Solutions, Inc. and Tandem Diabetes, Inc.
Mr. Brown received a B.A. in English from Middlebury College and an M.B.A. from UCLA, and attended graduate school at Oxford University in English Literature.
Arthur H. Willms
President and COO (Ret.), Westcoast Energy, Inc.
Prior to his 29 years with Westcoast Energy, Mr. Willms was a public school teacher in Alberta in Wheatland County and for the Calgary Public School Board from 1961 to 1967. In 1969, Mr. Willms became a lecturer in Economics at the University of Calgary.
Willms was born in Namaka, Alberta. He holds a Bachelor of Education, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Masters in Economics from the University of Calgary.
In addition to Mr. Willms' Board experience at Angiotech, he is also Chairman of the Board for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. His other numerous directorships include: Pacific Northern Gas, BC Lotteries Corp., Pristine Power, Inc., and Trustee of the 2010 Games Operating Trust.
Laura A. Brege
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Ms. Brege is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she is responsible for Sales and Marketing, Medical Affairs, Legal, Business Development, and Compliance. Onyx Pharmaceuticals is focused on developing and commercializing innovative cancer treatments.
Prior to joining Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Brege was a General Partner at Red Rock Management, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage financing for technology companies. Prior to her work at Red Rock Management, she was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at COR Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that specialized in drug therapies for cardiovascular disease. While at COR, Ms. Brege was instrumental in helping the company grow from a research and development start-up to an operations-based enterprise with a commercialized product. Before joining COR, Ms. Brege was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Flextronics, a multi-billion dollar electronics manufacturer. She was also Vice President and Treasurer of The Cooper Companies, a Fortune 500 diversified company with operations worldwide.
Ms. Brege earned her undergraduate degree from Ohio University and has an MBA from the University of Chicago.