Team Category: Board of Directors

Joseph Truitt is Chief Executive Officer for and a board member of Biospecifics Technologies Corporation. Prior to joining Biospecifics, Mr. Truitt served as Chief Executive Officer for Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He joined Achillion from Viropharma, Inc. following its acquisition of Lev Pharmaceuticals. At Lev, Mr. Truitt was Vice President of Business Development and Product Strategy, leading the build out of the commercial team and infrastructure in preparation for product launch. He also served as Vice President of Sales and Operations at Johnson & Johnson, where he directed commercial operations for the company’s OraPharma subsidiary. Mr. Truitt served as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He holds a BS in Marketing from LaSalle University and an MBA from St. Joseph’s University.

Frank E. Thomas has served as a member of the Zafgen Board of Directors since June 2014. Mr. Thomas has been the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Orchard Therapeutics since January 2020, a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with rare disorders through innovative gene therapies. Mr. Thomas served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Orchard from January 2018 to January 2020. Prior to joining Orchard, Mr. Thomas served as President and Chief Operating Officer of AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded, specialty pharmaceutical company, from 2015 to 2017, and previously served as AMAG’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from 2012 through 2015 and as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer from 2011 through 2012. Prior to joining AMAG, he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for Molecular Biometrics, Inc., a commercial stage medical diagnostics company, from 2008 to 2011. Prior to Molecular Biometrics, Mr. Thomas spent four years at Critical Therapeutics, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company, from 2004 to 2008, where he was promoted to President in 2006 and Chief Executive Officer in 2006 from the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He also served on the board of directors of Critical Therapeutics from 2006 to 2008. Prior to 2004, Mr. Thomas served as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations at Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company. Since July 2017, Mr. Thomas has served on the board of directors of Spero Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded, development-stage biotechnology company. Mr. Thomas was a member of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council from 2007 to 2015. Mr. Thomas holds a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Peter Barrett, PhD, joined Atlas Venture, an early-stage venture capital fund, in 2002, and currently serves as a Partner in the Life Sciences Group. Previously, from 1998 to 2002, he was a Co-founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Celera Genomics. Prior to Celera, from 1979 to 1998, Dr. Barrett held senior management positions at Perkin-Elmer Corporation, most recently serving as Vice President, Corporate Planning and Business Development. Dr. Barrett currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation and Synlogic, Inc. and several other privately held companies. Dr. Barrett is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School and is the Faculty Chair of the Key Advisory Board of the Blavatnik Fellowship Program. Dr. Barrett holds a B.S. in chemistry from Lowell Technological Institute (now known as the University of Massachusetts, Lowell) and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Northeastern University. He also completed Harvard Business School’s Management Development Program.

Jonathan Leff is a Partner on the Private Transactions team at Deerfield Management Company and Chairman of the Deerfield Institute. Jonathan joined Deerfield in 2013 and focuses on venture capital and structured investments in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Deerfield, for more than 16 years, Jonathan was with Warburg Pincus, where he led the firm’s investment efforts in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Jonathan has also been active in public policy discussions related to healthcare and medical innovation. He previously served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and previously led NVCA’s life sciences industry efforts as Chair of NVCA’s Medical Innovation and Competitiveness Coalition (NVCA-MedIC). Jonathan also serves on the Emerging Companies Section Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Jonathan is a member of several not-for-profit Boards, including the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, Friends of Cancer Research, and the Columbia University Medical Center Board of Advisors. Jonathan received his A.B. from Harvard University, and earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tom Hamilton is the current President, Chief Executive Officer and owner of Construction Forms, Inc. (Con Forms), an industrial manufacturing company based in Port Washington, WI. In addition, he serves as a managing member of FA Life Sciences, an early stage biotech investment company focused on bridging the gap to cure Friedreich’s ataxia. Mr. Hamilton is also a Director and Executive Committee member of the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). Prior to Con Forms, he was a managing director and strategic advisor to the head of fixed Income, currencies and commodities at Barclays Capital in New York. Mr. Hamilton was responsible for the build out of the Global Securitized Products businesses at Barclays along with Municipal Trading and Investment Banking. Prior to Barclays Tom worked at Citigroup Global Markets and began his career at Salomon Brothers, Inc. in New York.