Board of Directors

Board Chairman

Mark S. Germain – Mr. Germain is the Managing Director of The Olmsted Group, LLC, a merchant bank serving primarily the biotech and life sciences industries. He has been involved as a founder, director, Chairman of the Board, and/or investor in over twenty companies in the biotech field, assisting many of them in arranging corporate partnerships, acquiring technology, mergers and acquisitions, and financings. He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1975, Order of the Coif, and practiced corporate and securities law before leaving for the private sector in 1986. Since then, and until he entered the biotech field in 1991, he served in senior executive capacities, including as president of a public company sold in 1991. Among the public biotech companies, Mr. Germain is a director of Wellford Real Properties, Inc. and chairman of its audit committee, and a director of Stem Cell Innovations, Inc.. Mr. Germain is a consultant to the Company and serves on its Board of Directors.

 

Vice Chairman

Frank C. Carlucci – Chairman Emeritus, The Carlyle Group, Washington, DC.,  Mr. Carlucci was U.S. Secretary of Defense from November 1987 through January 1989, following his service as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs under President Reagan.  Before serving in these positions, Mr. Carlucci was Chairman and CEO of Sears World Trade, a business he joined in 1983.  Mr. Carlucci preceded his affiliation with Sears World Trade, Inc. with a career in government service, which included the positions of Deputy Secretary of Defense (1980-82), Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (1978-80), U.S. Ambassador to Portugal (1975-78), Under Secretary of Health Education and Welfare (1973-75), Deputy Director of OMB (1970-72), and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969).  Mr. Carlucci was a Foreign Service Officer from 1956 to 1980, and he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1952 to 1954.

 

Chief Executive Officer – Collexis Holdings, Inc.

Bill Kirkland – Mr. Kirkland completed his studies at the University of South Carolina before a 20-year career of managerial and executive assignments throughout Pfizer and IBM. During this period, Mr. Kirkland ran multiple sales, business unit, operational, and product marketing teams. In his last assignment, Mr. Kirkland ran the Business Consulting Services Sales division of IBM's Life Sciences Business in the Americas. He serves on the boards of several industry organizations and groups throughout the United States. Mr. Kirkland is the CEO, President and a Director of the Company.

 

Mark Auerbach – Mr. Auerbach is currently a director on the board of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of late-stage anti-infective products and Chairman of the Board for Neuro Hitech.  He is the former Executive Chairman of the Board of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc. (NYSE: PRX), a manufacturer and marketer of generic and branded pharmaceuticals.  From 1993 through November 2005, he was CFO of Central Lewmar, a fine paper distributor.  A Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Auerbach has been a board member of several small cap companies over the last twenty years.

 

John D. Macomber – Mr. Macomber is currently a director of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and AEA Investors LLC.  Since 1992, he has been a Principal of the JDM Investment Group.  He was Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 1989 to 1992.  Before that, Mr. Macomber was Chairman and CEO of Celanese Corporation (1973 to 1986).  From 1954 to 1973 he was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Co.  He also held director positions at numerous companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, The Brown Group, Inc., Celgene Corporation, Chase Manhattan Bank, Florida Power & Light, Rand McNally, RJR Nabisco, Pilkington Ltd., Textron Inc., and Xerox Corporation.  Mr. Macomber is also Chairman of the Council for Excellence in Government, Vice Chairman of The Atlantic Council of the United States, a Trustee of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and The Folger Library, and Director of the Smithsonian National Board.  Former non-profit directorships include the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York Zoological Society.

 

John Regazzi – A pioneer in the electronic information industry, Dr. Regazzi served as Vice President of The H. W. Wilson Company from 1983-1988, leaving to become President and CEO of Engineering Information, Inc. (Ei).  In 1998, he led the integration of Ei into Elsevier, a world leading scientific, technical and medical publisher. He was subsequently appointed CEO of Elsevier Inc.  He has served on the Boards of Directors of Elsevier, NFAIS and the Division of Scholarly Communications of the American Association of Publishers.  Dr. Regazzi is currently on the Boards of the British Standards Institute, Ei Foundation, and CABI.  From July 2005 through August 2007, Regazzi held the position of Dean, College of Information and Computer Science and Dean, Palmer School of Library and Information Science at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.  Currently he is a tenured professor in the departments of Computer Science as well as Library and Information Science, teaching and conducting research in the areas of scholarly communication and management engineering.

 

Management ­– Collexis Holdings, Inc.

 

Bill Kirkland, Chief Executive Officer
Bill is the CEO, President, and a member of the Board of Directors of Collexis Holdings Inc.  He completed his studies at the University of South Carolina before a 20-year career of managerial and executive assignments throughout Pfizer and IBM. During this period, Bill ran multiple sales, business unit, operational, and product marketing teams. In his last assignment, he ran the Business Consulting Services Sales division of IBM's Life Sciences Business in the Americas. He serves on the boards of several industry organizations and groups throughout the United States.

 

Mark Murphy, Chief Financial Officer

Mark Murphy brings more than thirty years of financial expertise to Collexis and is primarily responsible for the company’s financial reporting and corporate governance. Most recently, Mark served as the Senior Vice President of Finance for PCA International, Inc. where he directed all finance and treasury functions for the multi-million dollar retail photography business that operated over 2,000 studios in Wal-Mart stores in six countries. Previously, Mark spent eight years with the Kellogg Company. Working in several positions, including Director of Operations for Kellogg Snacks DSDD, he directed supply chain efforts and was responsible for product forecasting, deployment, and tracking. As the CFO of the Kellogg Company Warehouse Club and Specialty Products business units, Mark managed strategic planning and analysis, trade spending, business and financial reporting, and a variety of other financial efforts.  Mark received a B.B.A. from Ohio University.

 

Stephen A. Leicht, Chief Operating Officer
Steve joined Collexis in early 2006 and is responsible for the management of the company’s three industry business units and the overall execution of Collexis Worldwide operations. Prior to Collexis, he worked at IBM in increasing roles of responsibility in Territory and Emerging Technology management and executive positions for the IBM sales and distribution organization.  In his early career, Steve founded, ran, and eventually sold International Telecommunications Distributors, acting as the Chairman and CEO. He has an MBA from The Pennsylvania State University and a Business Degree from Bucknell University.  Steve currently serves on the Advisory Boards of the University of South Carolina Engineering and Computer Sciences School, and the iAdvantage Software Company, and he is a committee member for the United Way of the Midlands.

 

Darrell W. Gunter, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Darrell is responsible for the worldwide strategy and marketing to support the company’s short- and long-term objectives.  Previously, Darrell was the Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing for the Americas marketplace for Elsevier.  Over his eleven-year tenure, he led the development and growth of Elsevier’s first commercial sales organization and moved the customer print base to long-term electronic agreements.  Prior to Elsevier he worked for Dow Jones Financial News Services where he started as an Account Manager and was promoted up to the National Sales Director position.  He began his career in sales at Xerox Corporation. He serves on the Content Board of the SIIA, the Double7Film Advisory Board and is the Chairman of the Board for the Women’s Venture Fund.


Martin Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer

Martin is responsible for Collexis’ global product development and software innovation.  Prior to Collexis, Martin found the German company SyynX Solutions GmbH, together with Mario Diwersy in 1999. He served as Managing Director. Under the leadership of Martin and Mario, SyynX became the global leader in application development on top of the Collexis core environment. Before joining SyynX, Martin was an independent consultant for SHARED - a project funded by the European Commission to share healthcare information with developing nations via the Internet. For the decade proceeding Martin’s foray into IT, he was a successful independent musician and composer in jazz and modern music. Martin serves on the supervisory board of e.Consult AG.

 

Bob Schijvenaars, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer

Bob manages the Collexis Research team.  He is a graduate of Leiden University, where he majored in Astronomy and Computer Science. He participated in research projects that involved signal analysis, image processing, and pattern recognition.  His Ph.D. work focused on the automated interpretation of electrocardiograms (ECG’s).  Bob played a major role in transferring the interpretation software to companies licensing it.  Bob is a demanded speaker on knowledge management technologies and has led the efforts with his team on the success of Collexis at the National Institutes of Health.

 

Mario Diwersy, Executive Vice President of Technology

Mario currently manages the global development effort for Collexis.  Mario founded the German company SyynX Solutions GmbH, together with Martin Schmidt in 1999. He served as Managing Director. Under the leadership of Mario and Martin, SyynX became a global leader in application development on top of the Collexis core environment. Before joining SyynX, Mario worked within GTZ (German development co-operation agency) in the implementation of Internet and Intranet and in the implementation of SHARED - a project funded by the European Commission to share healthcare information with developing nations via the Internet.

 

Christian Herzog, MD, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Life Sciences

Christian is responsible for Collexis Life Sciences business and global sales organization.  He is a medical doctor with an economics degree from the Private University Witten/Herdecke in Germany. After his studies, Christian worked for the GTZ GmbH on health insurance programs and large medical software implementations in Sub-Saharan Africa.  After holding various managerial positions in different consulting companies focused on health care and the life science industry, Christian joined SyynX as a shareholder and CEO in 2005, until the acquisition of the company.  Christian has (co-)authored three books and several scientific papers.

  

Steven Newsom, General Manager Legal Markets

Steve is responsible for Collexis Legal business and global sales organization.  With over 25 years experience in business development, marketing and sales, Steve has been at the forefront of many successful ventures, primarily international companies wishing to establish a foothold in North America.  As a former Vice President of Sales and Marketing, General Manager, CEO, business owner and venture capital advisor, he has a broad range of business knowledge that he has brought with him to Collexis.  Steve currently resides in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife and boasts that his proudest accomplishments are his two daughters.

 

Jon Lieberman, General Manager for Government and Enterprise markets

Jon is responsible for Collexis Government and Enterprise business and global sales organization.  He brings 20 years of experience with federal government contract work.  After beginning his career in the U.S. Department of Labor, Jon built two successful technology services companies for government contracting.  He spent ten years representing software technologies including Convera, Siderean, and Vivisimo, building significant partner business relationships. Jon was Convera’s most successful manager of DOD and defense intelligence business over its more than 20 year history.  He forged long-lasting relationships with some of the military’s most respected advisors.  He closed significant business deals with every major branch of military service, including Army, Navy, Air Force and joint commands under the Office of the Secretary of Defense.