Board
DR. IRWIN SCHER
CHAIRMAN
Dr. Scher is certified by the American Board of Rheumatology and American Board of Internal Medicine. He received his M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed residencies at Presbyterian Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Scher holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany.​
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Following his medical training he joined the Navy, eventually attaining a position as Captain USN Medical Corps at the Bethesda Naval Medical Complex. While there, Dr. Scher served as Professor of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, and Head, Immunology Branch, Naval Medical Research Institute. Following that, he spent 22 years in various positions at Merck, Astra/Merck, Astra Zeneca, and as Consultant to the Chief Executive Officer at Merck KGaA. From 2005-2011, Dr. Scher was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Biosynexus, a biotechnology company focused on treating and preventing Staphylococcal infections.
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Dr. Scher is Chairman and a Founder of Opertech and is chairman of the board of VaxImmune and a board member of the of Score Pharmaceuticals. He is currently actively involved as an angel investor in several biologically focused startup companies.
KEVIN KLEINSCHMIDT
DIRECTOR
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Kevin Kleinschmidt is a private investor and partner at Gabriel Investments, and is currently involved with a variety of early stage ventures. Previously, he was co-founder and president, then CEO, of West Philadelphia-based Energy Plus, an energy marketing company that grew to over $350 million in annual revenue in 5 years and was acquired by NRG Energy in 2011. Prior to this, Kevin served as managing director of both partnership marketing and strategic planning and financing for Juniper Bank, a venture-backed start up, and then Barclays Bank (which purchased Juniper in 2005). At Juniper, Kevin led financing efforts which secured over $250 million in venture backing, and helped grow the partnership business to over $3 billion in annual transaction volume through strategic alliances with US Airways, Apple, and Barnes & Noble among many others.
Kevin began his career in New York, in finance and investment banking at JP Morgan and then Morgan Stanley. Kevin has served as a trustee, board, or advisory board member at Careerminds and Energy Plus, and at several local nonprofit arts and education organizations, including WXPN, Fringe Arts, The Mann Center, The Lantern Theater, KIPP, Philadelphia Classical School, and Resurrection Philadelphia. Kevin has an undergraduate degree from The College of William and Mary, and a MBA in finance and accounting from NYU.
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