Leadership Team

Mr. Shah has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2017. Previously, he served as our Chief Financial Officer since December of 2013. Prior to that he served as a consultant and acting Chief Financial Officer for us from June 2012 to December 2013. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Shah served as Director, Health Care Investment Banking for Citigroup Inc., where he was responsible for managing client relationships and executing strategic and financing related transactions for clients focused in life sciences. From 2004 to 2010 Mr. Shah was employed with Credit-Suisse, last serving in the capacity as Vice President, Health Care Investment Banking Group. Mr. Shah currently serves on the Board of Tvardi Therapeutics. Mr. Shah received a M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Ms. Dickinson has served as our Chief Regulatory and Quality Assurance Officer since October 2020. Previously, she served as our Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer since January 2019 and as our Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance from June 2017 to January 2019. Prior to that she served as Senior Vice President, Chief Regulatory Officer of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From 2007 to 2014, she was Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance at Hyperion Therapeutics Inc. Ms. Dickinson also spent three years at CoTherix, Inc. as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Healthcare Compliance Officer, and held various positions at biopharmaceutical companies Scios, Inc. and DEY Laboratories, a subsidiary of Mylan, Inc. Ms. Dickinson holds a B.S. in Biology from the College of Great Falls in Montana and is certified by the Regulatory Affairs Certification Board.

Dr. McWherter has served as our Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research and Development since November 2022. Previously he served as our Chief Scientific Officer since 2013. From 2007 to 2013 he served as our Senior Vice President, Research and Preclinical Development and from 2003 to 2007, he served as Vice President and head of the cardiovascular therapeutic area of Pfizer Inc. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. McWherter served as Vice President of Drug Discovery at Sugen, Inc., a subsidiary of Pharmacia acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2003. Dr. McWherter was a Visiting Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and obtained his Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry from Cornell University.

Mr. Shantharam has served as our Chief Financial Officer since May 2023. Previously, he served as senior finance advisor at Eikon Therapeutics from August 2022. Prior to Eikon, Mr. Shantharam held several senior financial leadership positions at Gilead Sciences, including Vice President of Global Commercial Finance, where he supported a $20-30 billion revenue business across North America, Europe, Asia, and emerging markets. Before joining Gilead, Mr. Shantharam served in various roles of increasing responsibility supporting forecasting, commercial analytics, and business development at Amgen. Mr. Shantharam holds an MBA in finance from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a graduate degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas, Arlington and is also a CFA charter holder.

Mr. Boehm has served as our Senior Vice President, Human Resources since July 2020 and was previously Vice President, Human Resources since April 2019. Prior to CymaBay, Mr. Boehm served as the Senior Vice President, HR for Aimmune Therapeutics, helping to take them public in 2015. Prior to 2015, he also held SVP or VP Human Resource roles at public and life sciences and high technology companies such as Gilead Sciences, CV Therapeutics, Synopsys, and Palm. Mr. Boehm received a Ph.D. (ABD) from Golden Gate University, his MBA from Pepperdine University, as well as his B.A. in Mathematics from UCLA.

Ms. Filice has served as our Senior Vice President, Portfolio and Product Leadership since November 2020. Prior to CymaBay, she was Senior Vice President, Portfolio and Product Management at Aimmune Therapeutics, where she was a key executive involved in the approval and launch of Palforzia™, an oral immunotherapy indicated for the mitigation of allergic reactions to peanut, and the subsequent merger of the company with Nestle Health Sciences. Prior to Aimmune, Ms. Filice served in senior roles at SFJ Pharmaceuticals and Achaogen. She also spent fifteen years in operational and strategic product development leadership roles at Genentech. Ms. Filice received her Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from University of California at Davis, and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Mr. Kozub has served as Head of Commercial since December 2023 and previously as Vice President, Liver Disease Franchise Lead and VP of Marketing since November 2020.  Prior to CymaBay, Mr. Kozub had served as Head of Marketing at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals and multiple commercial leadership positions at Gilead Sciences, including as Executive Director, Marketing for the US buildout of the HIV PrEP franchise. Prior to Gilead, he also worked as a Group Product Director at Janssen Therapeutics and Product Director at Boehringer Ingelheim.  Mr. Kozub received his J.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago-Kent College of Law and B.A., in Journalism from Loyola University of Maryland.

Dr. Martin has been Senior Vice President, Manufacturing and Nonclinical Development since 2015. Previously, he served as our Vice President of Nonclinical Development and Project Management since 2008. Dr. Martin served as our Sr. Director of Preclinical Development and Project Management from 2006 to 2008 and our Director of Preclinical Development and Project Management from 2004 to 2006. From 1994 to 2004, Dr. Martin served in various positions of increasing responsibility with Roche Palo Alto, a division of F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. Dr. Martin obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.

Mr. O’Mara has served as our Senior Vice President of Business Development since January 2017. Previously, he served as our Vice President of Business Development since August 2006. He joined CymaBay in 1991 and has served CymaBay in a variety of operational and business development positions. Prior to joining CymaBay, Mr. O’Mara held positions of increasing responsibility at Thymax Corporation and Thomas Research Corp. Mr. O’Mara received a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Quinlan has served as our General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary since October 2020. He was also our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary from December 2017 to February 2020. Previously, Mr. Quinlan served as General Counsel and Secretary at TerraVia Holdings, Inc. (formerly Solazyme, Inc.) since 2010. From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Quinlan was General Counsel and Secretary at Metabolex, Inc. and from 2000 to 2005, Mr. Quinlan held various positions in the legal department at Maxygen, Inc., most recently that of Chief Corporate Securities Counsel. Prior to joining Maxygen, Mr. Quinlan was an associate at Cooley LLP and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Mr. Quinlan obtained a law degree from Columbia Law School and a M.Sc. in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto.