Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer – James A. Hayward
Dr. James A. Hayward was appointed by the Board of Directors as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors on June 12, 2007. Dr. Hayward has been our Chief Executive Officer since March 17, 2006, prior to which he was acting Chief Executive Officer since October 5, 2005. Since June 2004, Dr. Hayward has been the Chairman of Evotope Biosciences, Inc., a drug development company based in Stony Brook, New York. Since 2001, Dr. Hayward has been a director of Q-RNA, Inc., a biotech company based in New York, New York. Since 2000, Dr. Hayward has been a General Partner of Double D Venture Fund, a venture capital firm based in New York, New York. Between 1990 and July 2004, Dr. Hayward was the Chairman, President and CEO of The Collaborative Group, Ltd., a provider of products and services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and consumer-product industries based in Stony Brook, New York. Dr. Hayward received his bachelor's degree in Biology and Chemistry from the State University of New York at Oneonta in 1976, his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1983, and an honorary Doctor of Science from Stony Brook in 2000. Dr. Hayward has served on the boards of the Council on Biotechnology, the Long Island Association, the Stony Brook Foundation, The Research Foundation of State University of New York Board of Directors, and the New York Biotechnology Association and the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative.

Director – Yacov Shamash
Dr. Yacov Shamash has been a member of the board of directors since March 17, 2006. Dr. Shamash is Vice President of Economic Development at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since 1992, he has been the Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Harriman School for Management and Policy at the University, and Founder of the New York State Center for Excellence in Wireless Technologies at the University. Dr. Shamash developed and directed the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for the Design of Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits from 1989 to 1992 and also served as Chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Washington State University from 1985 until 1992. Dr. Shamash also serves on the Board of Directors of Keytronic Corp., Netsmart Technologies, Inc. , American Medical Alert Corp., and Softheon Corp.

Director – Sanford R. Simon
Dr. Sanford R. Simon has been a member of the board of directors since March 17, 2006. Dr. Simon has been a Professor of Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Pathology at Stony Brook since 1997. He joined the faculty at Stony Brook as an Assistant Professor in 1969 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 1975. Dr. Simon was a member of the Board of Directors of The Collaborative Group from 1995 to 2004. From 1967 to 1969 Dr. Simon was a Guest Investigator at Rockefeller University. Dr. Simon received a B.A. in Zoology and Chemistry from Columbia University in 1963, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1967, and studied as a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel Prize winner Max Perutz in Cambridge, England.

Corporate Secretary – Ming-Hwa Benjamin Liang
Ming-Hwa Benjamin Liang has been our Secretary and Strategic Technology Development Officer since October 2005. Between May 1999 and September 2005, Mr. Liang was the director of research and development at Biowell Technology Inc. Mr. Liang received his B.S. in Bio-Agriculture from Colorado State University in 1989, a M.S. in Horticulture from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1991, his Ph.D. in Plant Science from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 1997 and his LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law from Shih Hsin University, Taiwan in 2004.