Board of Directors

Mr. Mahaffy has served as one of our directors and as Chairman of our Board of Directors since 2009. Mr. Mahaffy has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Clovis Oncology, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since 2009, and also serves on the Board of Directors of Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Previously, Mr. Mahaffy served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors at Pharmion Corporation, a pharmaceutical company that he founded in 2000 and sold to Celgene Corporation in 2008. From 1992 through 1998, Mr. Mahaffy was President and Chief Executive Officer of NeXagen, Inc. and its successor, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Mr. Mahaffy was a Vice President at the private equity firm E.M. Warburg Pincus and Co. He is also a trustee of Lewis and Clark College. Mr. Mahaffy earned a BA in international affairs from Lewis and Clark College and an MA in international affairs from Columbia University.

Dr. Clayman is a co-founder of Flexion Therapeutics and has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and as one of our directors since our inception in 2007.  Dr. Clayman also serves on the Board of Directors of Akebia Therapeutics and Anokion, both biopharmaceutical companies.  Previously, Dr. Clayman had a lengthy career at Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical company, where he was most recently Vice President, Lilly Research Laboratories, and General Manager of Chorus, Lilly’s early-phase development accelerator. During his career at Lilly, Dr. Clayman also led its Global Regulatory Affairs division; the Cardiovascular Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation, Research and Development at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, a medical device subsidiary of Lilly; the Internal Medicine Division; the Lilly Clinic, Lilly’s dedicated Phase 1 unit; and served as Chair of Lilly’s Bioethics Committee. Prior to his tenure at Lilly, Dr. Clayman was an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research centered on the immunopathogenesis of renal disease. Dr. Clayman is the recipient of the Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health. He earned a BA, cum laude, from Yale University and an MD from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Following an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Moffitt Hospitals, Dr. Clayman completed clinical and research fellowships in Nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott A. Canute joined the Flexion Board of Directors in 2015. Scott spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company, ultimately serving as President, Global Manufacturing Operations from 2004 until 2007. In this capacity, Scott directed all manufacturing and supply chain activities for Lilly’s global operations. Following his distinguished career at Lilly, Scott served as President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations at Genzyme from 2010 until 2011. In this role, Scott served as the architect and leader of the organizational evolution that resulted in the supply of life-saving products to patients in need. Scott currently serves as a member of the Board of Oncobiologics, Inc and the Technology Advisory Board of Moderna Therapeutics. Scott previously served as board member of Allocure Inc, Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Indiana Manufacturers Association. Scott received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Colella has served as one of our directors since 2008. Mr. Colella is a Managing Director of Versant Ventures, a healthcare venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999, and has been a general partner of Institutional Venture Partners since 1984. Mr. Colella currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Fluidigm Corporation, a biotechnology tools company, and is a member of the Board of Directors of Genomic Health, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company, and the boards of several private companies. Mr. Colella served on the Board of  Directors of Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from 2002 to 2012 and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2003 to 2012. Mr. Colella earned a BS in business and engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Stanford University.

Dr. Lukatch has served as one of our directors since 2012. He is a Partner and Managing Director at TPG Biotech. Prior to joining TPG Biotech in 2015, Dr Lukatch was a Partner at Novo Ventures (US), where he helped establish Novo Ventures’ San Francisco office. During his 9 years at Novo, Dr. Lukatch served as Chairman of Cianna Medical, Inogen (Nasdaq: INGN), NTP and Spinifex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis in 2015), and he served as a board member at Amira Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BMS in 2011), AnaptysBio, Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sunovion in 2012), Flexion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FLXN), FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer in 2010), InSound Medical (acquired by Sonova in 2010), Nora Therapeutics and Synosia Therapeutics (acquired by BioTie in 2011), he was also a board observer at Alios BioPharma (acquired by J&J in 2014). Prior to joining Novo Ventures (US), Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director responsible for biotechnology venture investments at Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners, where his investments included Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX) and Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM). Before Piper Jaffray Ventures, Dr. Lukatch worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in McKinsey’s biotechnology practice. Dr. Lukatch also served as co-founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, a biotechnology instrumentation company, and he has held scientific positions with Chiron, Roche Bioscience and Cetus, doing molecular biology, electrophysiology and protein chemistry, respectively. Dr. Lukatch received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University where he was a DOD USAF Fellow, and his B.A. with high honors in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sandy Mahatme has served as one of our directors since 2014.  He has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. since November 2012. From January 2006 to November 2012, Mr. Mahatme worked at Celgene Corporation, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, where he served in various roles, including Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Senior Vice President of Finance, Corporate Treasurer and Head of Tax. While at Celgene, Mr. Mahatme built the treasury and tax functions before establishing the Corporate Development Department, focused on strategic, targeted initiatives including commercial development in emerging markets, acquisitions and licensing and global manufacturing expansion. Prior to working at Celgene, Mr. Mahatme worked for Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company, for eight and a half years in senior roles in Business Development and Corporate Tax. Mr. Mahatme started his career at Ernst & Young LLP where he advised multinational corporations on a broad range of transactions. Mr. Mahatme holds Master of Laws (LLM) degrees from Cornell Law School and NYU School of Law and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.  Mr. Mahatme is also a member of the Board of Directors of Aeglea Therapeutics and Excelyx Therapeutics, both biopharmaceutical companies.

Ms. Merrifield has spent much of her career leading the development of high growth, profitable biotechnology businesses. She most recently served as President and CEO of PathoGenetix, Inc.  During an 18-year tenure at Genzyme Corporation, a diversified, global biotechnology company, Ms. Merrifield served as President of Genzyme Biosurgery, where she led global business strategy across a complex portfolio of biologics, therapeutic devices and combination products; and as Vice President of Marketing, General Manager and then President of Genzyme Genetics, where she played an instrumental role in developing and shaping its diagnostic business. Prior to Genzyme, Ms. Merrifield was a Partner at Bain and Company, a global strategy consulting firm, and an Investment Officer at Aetna Life & Casualty. She serves as Trustee and Director on several boards including Partners Continuing Care, the non-acute care services division of Partners HealthCare; the YMCA of Greater Boston; MassMutual Premier; Juniper Pharmaceuticals,  focused on medical needs in women’s health; and Select and MML Series Investment Funds. Ms. Merrifield earned a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology and a Master of Education from The University of Maine, and a Master of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Mr. Milinazzo has served as one of our directors since 2011. Since January 2016, Mr. Milinazzo has been a Partner of Heidrick & Struggles International Inc.  Previously, Mr. Milinazzo served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of InspireMD, President and Chief Executive Officer and  Chief Operating Officer of Orthofix International N.V., a Nasdaq-listed medical device company. He also served as a director of Orthofix International N.V. from December 2006 until June 2012. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Milinazzo was the General Manager of Medtronic, Inc.’s coronary and peripheral vascular businesses. Mr. Milinazzo also spent 12 years as an executive with Boston Scientific Corporation in numerous roles, including Vice President of Marketing for SCIMED Europe. Mr. Milinazzo has over 20 years of experience in management and marketing, including positions with Aspect Medical Systems and American Hospital Supply.

Mark Stejbach joined the Flexion Board of Directors in 2016. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Alkermes and has 30 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceuticals, including senior roles in a broad range of commercial functions including marketing, sales, economic affairs, managed care and finance. Prior to his current role, Mark served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Tengion, Inc. from 2008-2012 and previously held senior positions at Merck and Biogen. Mark received his MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Virginia Tech.