Meet Our Management Team
Jerzy “George” Szewczyk Ph. D, Co-Founder, CEO and CSO
Dr. George Szewczyk, Co-Founder of BioKier, has been the CEO and CSO since its inception in November 2008. He is the inventor of the BioKier Intellectual Property, which came from his novel approach to treatment of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Szewczyk created the clinical strategy for the BioKier drug and is currently overseeing the Company’s ongoing clinical studies. Additionally he is expanding the Company’s patent portfolio.
Dr. Szewczyk has more than 15 years working for GlaxoSmithKline and legacy organizations where he led cross-disciplinary teams in drug discovery efforts. Dr. Szewczyk has considerable experience in pharmaceutical research and development in the area of metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes. He has experience in collaboration with scientists in other disciplines, including pharmacokinetics, biology, biochemistry, clinical and regulatory, and has an in-depth understanding of drug development.
Dr. Szewczyk was educated at Technical University of Gdansk, Poland where he earned his Ms.S. and a doctorate in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Synthesis. He worked at Technical University of Gdansk as adjunct professor and then spent three years as Duke University as research scientist.
Subsequently, Dr. Szewczyk worked for 6 years at Research Triangle Institute where, among other accomplishments, he developed a novel synthesis of galanthamine (Reminyl/Razadyne). From 1992 to 2008 he worked at Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome and GSK.
Roger D. Nolan, Ph.D, Co-Founder, President and COO
Roger Nolan is responsible for the development of BioKier’s drug candidates for type 2 diabetes, including capital-raising, preclinical, clinical and regulatory strategy, and management of consultant and strategic partner interactions.
Dr. Nolan is experienced in management of preclinical and clinical drug development programs, regulatory strategy and interactions, evaluation of new technologies for in-licensing, and outsourcing to specialist service providers. His specific areas of expertise are in diabetes, oncology and cardiovascular indications.
Previous positions held by Dr. Nolan include Senior Director, Science and Technology Evaluation for Calvert Research, Senior Scientist in Clinical Development at Cato Research, and Director Pharmacology at Insmed Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Nolan started his career at Eastern Virginia Medical School where he had a joint appointment in Biochemistry and Internal Medicine and conducted basic and clinical research at the Strelitz Diabetes Research Center. He received a PhD in Pharmacology and Biochemistry from Melbourne University and completed Postdoctorate fellowships at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and at Burroughs Wellcome.
W. Bennett Love, VP and Chief Financial Officer (Part-Time)
Mr. Love has held financial, strategic and general senior management positions and invested in biotech companies for over twenty years. In addition to his role with BioKier, he is a co-founder and Vice President of Synereca Pharmaceuticals, a startup focused on the antibacterial field.
Prior to cofounding Synereca, his biotech roles included the development, funding, and collaborations of Ercole Biotech and its subsequent sale to AVI BioPharma; the management buyout of Medic Computer Systems; the $75 million IPO for Sphinx Pharmaceuticals; the $37 million IPO for what became Incara Pharmaceuticals; and the initial technology university spinout funding of Renaissance Cell Technologies. He received his MBA and undergraduate degrees from the University of North Carolina.
Joann Giannone, MBA, Operations
Ms. Giannone has over twenty-five years of domestic and global pharmaceutical product development experience. She has established operational infrastructure within numerous early and late stage pharmaceutical companies, and successfully led more than a dozen multi-disciplinary pharmaceutical product development teams responsible for advancing asset development to meet key regulatory and corporate milestones (i.e., venture capital funding and asset acquisition). In addition to her role at BioKier, Ms. Giannone is the founder, President and CEO of Clinical Strategies and Tactics, Inc. (CSTI), a pharmaceutical product development service provider specializing in clinical operations infrastructure and clinical trial execution, and development team project and portfolio management. Prior to establishing CSTI, she held leadership and management positions with two major Pharmaceutical companies; Johnson & Johnson (RW Johnson Research institute) and Pharmacia, Hospital Care Division.
